[bron5on]

Original post:
My girl friend was driving the zuk tonight, happily cruising along, changed up into 5th and upon letting out the clutch she got nothing but a whole lot of revs. Back to 4th and same thing happened. Didn't smell very nice apparently either! Tried it myself and it changes gears fine, just feels like its slipping. Alot! You can feel it trying to move when you let the clutch out in gear but it pretty much just revs. There's a little bit of a rattle which is just audible when you have the clutch in. The clutch is not yet a year old and it's a standard sierra clutch behind a 1.6 16v. Thinking I shouldn't have been a tight arse and put a heavy duty clutch in when I did the conversion. What would cause it to die so suddenly? Has never missed a beat before. Any advise greatly appreciated! Cheers!

So the gearbox came out today after we towed the zuk home and this is what we found!





As you can see the centre has twisted clean out of the clutch. The clutch surface still looks pretty good and all rivets are intact but the metal tabs between the rivets and clutch pad have just fatigued and torn. Wont be going that brand again! There doesn't seem to be any other damage but i'll pluck the flywheel and get it machined. Flywheel and clutch are only 11 months old in which time I've clocked up about 15,000km, all road work. Doubt i'll get any kind of warranty due to it being run behind a bigger engine than it was designed for. Merry christmas eh?

[steak_knife]

Sound's like the clutch plate has let go, either the rivet's have snapped or worn through, or the bonding has come off on it's own accord.( it happens)

Time for a new clutch, if it's less than a year old, talk to supplier to see what sort of warranty thay have. But it would be easier & mare time efficient to just replace it, the manufacturer will want to test it to see what made it fail, & if it is operator error, you would of waited for nothing.

[weaves]

That sounds weird, usually when something breaks on a clutch you can't disengage it.

There are no sounds of any metalic peices floating around in there?

have you gave it a caining lately?

weaves.

[weaves]

Actually i think Steky's on the right, i didn't even think of that.

weaves

[bron5on]

Looks like my days off will be spent under the zuk removing the gearbox! Thanks for the swift replies lads. Now i just gotta hope I can get a clutch just as quickly! Cant say I've been too abusive of late, she's my daily so I have some sympathy for her! Will let yas know what I find when I take it apart.

[v.w.dave]

With having the 1.6 in there you have the choise of having the standard sierra clutch that you will burn throughmore often or you can have a heavy duty one that will brake clutch cables or you put a vitara box in to fit the correct bigger clutch.

[royce]

ceck the cable hasnt moved for some reason and the arm at the gearbox end has a bit of free play before you rip it all out, the cable could be frayed and not allowing it to relase fully

Exedy heavy duty for a sierra seems to be ok, its the vit ones that suck ass

[bron5on]

royce wrote:

ceck the cable hasnt moved for some reason and the arm at the gearbox end has a bit of free play before you rip it all out, the cable could be frayed and not allowing it to relase fully

Exedy heavy duty for a sierra seems to be ok, its the vit ones that suck ass

Cable was fine but I'll order a new one. Might look up the exedy hd clutches tomorrow. Anyone know what they're worth? What are people using clutchwise and are you happy with them?

Cheers.

[steak_knife]

1st question
What the f*#k was she doing to the car to do that?
2nd question
what brand clutch kit?
3rd question
Are you going to let her drive you car again???

[brendan]

bron5on wrote:

royce wrote:

ceck the cable hasnt moved for some reason and the arm at the gearbox end has a bit of free play before you rip it all out, the cable could be frayed and not allowing it to relase fully

Exedy heavy duty for a sierra seems to be ok, its the vit ones that suck ass

Cable was fine but I'll order a new one. Might look up the exedy hd clutches tomorrow. Anyone know what they're worth? What are people using clutchwise and are you happy with them?

Cheers.

im using an excedy hevy duty pink thing. never had a problem with. i think it was around 300 from memory

clutches last longer with reduction gears too. off road my clutch ios either in or its out no ride what so ever

[bron5on]

steknig wrote:

1st question
What the f*#k was she doing to the car to do that?
2nd question
what brand clutch kit?
3rd question
Are you going to let her drive you car again???

Was just unfortunate that it finally gave way when she happened to be driving it. I think the combination of 1.6, standard gearing and 29's coupled with the fact I drive it like i stole it (yes i lied when I said i was sympathic) was all too much for the standard clutch. Hopefully getting 4.16 transfer soon so that might help. This little incident may even force me to slow down a bit. The sooner I realise the zuk isn't built for drifting the better eh?!

Edit: Not sure about the brand stek, will go back to where i bought it from and find out so as I don't make the same mistake twice.

[Fatzook]

As Royce said, go for the Exedy H/D. Under no cercumstances buy a PBR for a sierra. It will not last!

[royce]

to get a clutch to shear and break like that would need massive power and axles, I think the face has been flexing back and forward cause it wasnt lining up properly

[shep]

for fucks sake dont get a RPM H/D clutch either.

i dont think that that is a clutch failure there has to be something that caused
it to snap like that and i would be looking for it as i reckon if ya slap anouther clutch in it will happen again.

[jdk81]

royce wrote:

Exedy heavy duty for a sierra seems to be ok, its the vit ones that suck ass

+2

Everyone scared me about clutch cables etc after I had bought it.
So I installed it, and bought a new clutch cable to leave in the car.

2 months later, still on the original clutch cable.

[steak_knife]

jdk81 wrote:

royce wrote:

Exedy heavy duty for a sierra seems to be ok, its the vit ones that suck ass

+2

Everyone scared me about clutch cables etc after I had bought it.
So I installed it, and bought a new clutch cable to leave in the car.

2 months later, still on the original clutch cable.

Cheer's for the feed back

[bron5on]

Thanks for the input guys. Been trying to find a reason for the failure. Can't see any unusual marking on flywheel or pressure plate. When I put the clutch in i also put a new flywheel in. Still looks near new too. What i'm wondering is if I have an incorrect clutch/flywheel combination. Don't have the originals to compare to but I remember the clutch looking a litlle different to the new one somehow. Have heard that some models had a flat flywheel, my new one is slightly recessed where it interfaces with the clutch. Could I be pushing the clutch too far? When i installed it i had to adjust the old cable a fair whack to get the clutch to engage properly but i put this down to the extra spacing created by the adaptor plate (ben t's) for the 1.6. My zuk is an 89 model but badged sj50. Is wide track with metal flares (from factory) and ran the older 1324cc engine. Wondering if it is a bit of a cross between sj50 and sj70 perhaps? Will take clutch to specialist tomorrow for some input on the damage. Think I'll order the new bits through suzistore over the phone as that is where I got the flywheel from and see if they can help me out. Any other ideas peoples?? Cheers.

[royce]

does your gearbox have the inspection cover with the rubber bung on the bellhousing? I would think the stepped flywheel you describe is correct for your gearbox

any funny marks on the input spline on the box? I dont think there is anyway you could push the clutch to far back to do that but perhaps if the box was out of alignment it would twist it and break it

[bron5on]

royce wrote:

does your gearbox have the inspection cover with the rubber bung on the bellhousing? I would think the stepped flywheel you describe is correct for your gearbox

any funny marks on the input spline on the box? I dont think there is anyway you could push the clutch to far back to do that but perhaps if the box was out of alignment it would twist it and break it

Yeah royce, same gearbox. Input shaft looks fine. The throwout bearing looked a little skewif but I may have upset that when I was wrestling the gearbox out. Although the bearing itself doesn't always move smoothly along the shaft. Seems to be a little side to side play there, like the shaft may be worn?

[TZAR]

bron5on wrote:

Was just unfortunate that it finally gave way when she happened to be driving it.

Has to be worth about 73 headjobs doing that sort of thing......

[bron5on]

Couldn't get an opinion on the clutch today but I can tell you its a pbr. Also, can anyone tell me what the 6 little springs in the clutch plate do? You cant see it in the pics but one is broken. Now this could have happened when the clucth shat itself but part of the break looks to be not so recent?

[royce]

they absorb some shudder when taking up

I reckon the gearbx isnt aligned

[bron5on]

Well I was talking to a mate today and was telling him about my clutch. He reckons we might have done it some serious damage when I was trying to snatch his very stuck ranger out of a bog a couple weeks back. I had forgotten about it but I'm inclined to agree. I was on very hard ground and due to the position and lack of room we had a fairly heavy duty snatch strap doubled in half. There was very little give in the strap and each attempt felt pretty brutal. My first attempt at snatching someone and it looks like I payed the price. So yeah, my fault. Live and learn I guess. You may be right also royce so I'll take a bit more care re-assembling the clutch and gear box this time. Called suzistore today as I'm concerned about which clutch to order. The girl on the phone told me I'm driving an sj70 but my zuk is plated sj50. Build date is jan 89 so maybe it's an 88.5 model? Originally had the 1324cc g13a but is wide track with metal flares. Input shaft is 20 spline, will this determine which clutch I use?

[bron5on]

TZAR wrote:

bron5on wrote:

Was just unfortunate that it finally gave way when she happened to be driving it.

Has to be worth about 73 headjobs doing that sort of thing......

Hmmmm, maybe she doesn't need to know it wasn't her fault...

[royce]

now way force broke that clutch, I cant imagine a 1.6 could generate enough grunt to shear a clutch like that, youd tear out the back half of our chassis first I reckon

[bron5on]

Bugger, thought I might have been onto a winner there. Well I think i'll go exedy hd and new clutch cable anyways. will keep the old cable in the car as a spare! If i break the new clutch then i'll know it's something else I've done wrong. Cheers for all the input guys.

[bron5on]

Ok, new clutch went in today, exedy heavy duty. Went in smoothly, feels good under foot but it's making a noise when clutch is engaged (ie pedal is out). It's a sort of cross between a squeal and a vibration. Could it be throwout bearing? I replaced that as well, felt a better fit on the shaft than the old one did. I adjusted the new cable slightly to see if that had any effect, only made the gears harder to change. The release point is pretty close to the floor. Should I adjust the cable back the other way? If so, should there be any free play in the clutch lever itself? Having a little trouble getting my head around the effects of cable setting, lever position etc. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Cheers peoples!

Bronson

[royce]

more free play on the cable, lower to teh floor it takes up, you need a bit of free play on the cable but not so much the clutch doesnt disengage fully when changing gears

the noise is the throwout, they all seem to do it when new

[bron5on]

royce wrote:

more free play on the cable, lower to teh floor it takes up, you need a bit of free play on the cable but not so much the clutch doesnt disengage fully when changing gears

the noise is the throwout, they all seem to do it when new

Ta muchly for the swift reply royce, now I can take the old girl for a spin, missed her in the last week!