The saga continues. I split the engine and tranny last night. No one can
accuse me of replacing the clutch before it was due. The rivets were less
then .010" (.25mm) below the surface of the clutch so it would not have
been long before the rivets started tearing up the flywheel. What may have
been worse, however was that the rivets were loose and the friction
material was fairly free to move about on the clutch disk. When I pulled
the pressure plate it only moved about 1 mm (.040") away from the flywheel
so it is no surprise that the clutch slipped.
The flywheel looks good but the ring gear is shot. I have a couple of
questions.
Were the crank and flywheel balanced separately or as an assembly when the
car was built? A friend has a used flywheel with a decent ring
gear that he may be willing to part with but I don't want to have to pull
the crank and rebalance just so that I can save the money for a new ring
gear. I would not mind saving the money if there was no down side,
however.
The ring gear is worn in a couple of spots only (typical of four cylinder
engines). I know this is crazy, but can anyone think of a down side to
just re-indexing the flywheel to put fresh teeth where the wear has
occurred.
I am thinking about having the flywheel lightened. Anyone have any
recommendations about area and amount to cut? I would have this done if
I choose to have a new ring gear professionally installed.
Has anyone installed a starter ring gear at home? Any pointers that you are
willing to share?
Thanks for any help you can give.
Regards,
Bill Eastman
61 MGA slowly taking over all free space in the garage
|