Did you put a new pan gasket on each time?
The clutch being affected here makes me wonder if its connected with it
grabbing sharply when the thrust washers are shot. Any thoughts?
Peter S
----- Original Message -----
From: Mark J Bradakis <mjb@cs.utah.edu>
To: <spitfires@autox.team.net>
Sent: Thursday, June 10, 1999 3:09 PM
Subject: Re: Thrust washers - yet again!
>
>
> how long, on average, do these puppies last
>
> That depends. If you start the car with your foot on the clutch
> pedal, or sit at stoplights with your foot on the clutch pedal, they
> will wear out a lot faster than if you don't do these things. Assuming
> that the thrust surfaces of the block and crank have not yet been damaged,
> they should last for quite some time, perhaps on the order of 75,000 to
> 100,000 miles. Assuming everything else in the motor lasts that long!
>
> Back at the, uh, '93 VTR convention in Everett, Washington, the '77
Spitfire
> I ran in the autocross had a motor from a $100 parts car in it. Brand
new,
> in spec thrust washers would last approximately three to four autocross
> runs. For a month or two, saturday's task was to drop the pan and pop in
> a new set before Sunday's events. If you attended that particular meet,
you
> might have noticed I didn't drive that maroon Spit very much during the
> convention. Of course, the thrust washers rapid demise is easy to use as
> a scapegoat for once again missing out on FTD at the autocross by *that*
> much. On my third and fastest run, the remains of the washer fell out
about
> halfway through the run, which messes up one's clutch release, and I spent
> about 1 second trying to get the car into first gear for the pin turn a
bit
> before the finish. And that run was only about 0.15 seconds off FTD.
Drat!
>
> The motor in Killer doesn't have this sort of thrust washer problem,
though
> we did have clutch problems at the Hudson VTR meet. Maybe I need an
autocross
> car with an automatic trans!
>
> mjb.
>
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