Update time. A few weeks back I questioned the list about what I suspected was
substandard clutch parts. Although I didn't have it apart yet I was theorizing
that it was the parts, not my workmanship or my wife riding the clutch on her
daily driver as some suggested. I am here to tell you that it IS THE PARTS.
I wasn't sure where I bought the throw-out bearing bushing\carrier\whatever
it's called so I bought a new one from Victoria British and compared it to
used OEM and others that I had saved. I had a really nice one set aside for
the race car, and an older bronze one that I rejected because of wear. I held
onto to for just this situation. The new VB bushings measure .373" inside the
slot, while the OEM measures .385". The new fork pins they supplied measure
.372" and bind easily inside the slot, but of course work well in the OEM
piece. I didn't measure the pins on the new fork I bought from them but it
wouldn't fit inside the slot on the matching bushing. The bushing I took out
of the car measured .378", explaining why I didn't catch the problem when I
installed it, but it still bound on the fork pins. What went wrong was simple.
The bushing stuck in place one day when hot and never moved again. It wore out
both itself and the fork pins and clutch operation faded. I ended up putting 2
new anti-rotation pins in the bronze bushing to relocate the fork pins from
the wear spots and reused it. I could have taken the VB parts to be machined
but I'd rather send them back. She has a clutch again!
Bob Kramer
rkramer3@austin.rr.com
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