Mine was easily, irrespective of any side debates over relative spec of CFJ et al. Run in the Reeves Mk1 from 98-2000 and my Jetta from 2001-2003, rod change almost throughout, and never an issue with the 9 bolts. Revs to 8k.
I personally have never had any problems with flywheels/ pressure plates etc loosening. I do approx 400-600km a week for daily driving & as of late have been using a full drag clutch which is on the "left" below. Before this clutch, I only reused the factory pressure plate & flywheel bolts, but with this clutch upgrade I did buy new OEM bolts (new pressure plate/crank bolts are micro-encapsulated! Fancy talk for factory loctited!!!) & tightened to factory spec. I've beat the absolute crap out of it both on the street & at the drags with over 50 launches off the 2-step (kind of anti-lag) in both 1st & 2nd gear 70+m powerskids & have yet to have a problem with any loosening bolts etc. This is also an unbalanced engine too! I'd say this is on the ragged edge of pushing the stock clutch/bolt 020 setup! Especially with 17+psi launches. Might sound strange, but are all the mounting surfaces actually straight & not warped? Next engine setup will be upgraded to full ARP bolts for the crank/pressure plate, but will use stock flywheel bolts. Will only be fitting the 020 setup for the dyno tuning.
I've just put a straight edge across the Cover Plate face, where it mounts on the Crank nose, on my Sachs 606 Ally Clutch. It is about as flat as your hat! Motha. How thick are the Cover pressings on your SPEC clutch? Are they 5.5mm as are the Sachs SRE and Sporting? Or, 5.0mm as the standard Sachs? Are the torsional links made from 1, 2 or 3 plates? If you check this thread, you will see where I am coming from! http://www.clubgti.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=237089 Dave.
G'day Dave. Your in luck, as the drag clutch was removed at the last engine rebuild so I can get it all balanced with the 20v. As such, I was able to measure it for you... Pics below. Theres 3 tension straps & are grouped with 2 straps each. On a side note, when I had the HD clutch setup fitted (which is currently fitted now! & is basically a sachs 8v clutch disc with a 16V pressure plate), I still never had any drama's with bolts coming loose or vibration with my initial T3 turbo setup which was my daily driver & also raced a fair bit too. This still ran a 13.7@101mph, but the clutch was the limiting factor, as it wasn't able to clamp hard enough on higher boost levels. But not raced as hard as the current T3/4 turbo, drag clutch setup with a 12.99@106.8mph.
Et Touch Motha! Does your SPEC clutch have one of these 'Beaut' Release Plates? Or one of these 'Bondi Cigar' designs?
Is that poxy digital vernier calibrated Daved? Can't believe a man of your calibre uses such modern equipment.
Not to sure to be honest. Heres some pics of the back side of it. The spec clutch kit didn't actually come with a centre plate from memory & I reused the stock HD Sachs centre plate.
Motha. The top picture is the release plate supplied with the Sachs Sporting Clutch: 001 for 16v, still available, and 701 for 8v, NLA. The botton plate was the one I removed from my PB Gti. The broken lug had caused the plate to move over and jam up. As an experiment, I welded the lug, top left of the picture, and also welded the back of the centre pip as VWMS. I am trying to find a part number for the none lugged plate, but SRE don't supply release plates, as don't SPEC, so don't have a part number for me. They have contacted the main Sachs works for me, but the reply is. "It is not supplied as a separate part"! So. I either take a standard lugged plate and, weld up, or I buy a 150 16v Sachs Sporting clutch just for the release plate! I e-mailed Helix as they do supply a release plate. Hi, please find attached a photograph of a release plate (bearing) for a VW 020 clutch. It has no pressed nibs in the centre! These have broken off my existing release plate! Is your part number 40-4567 identical to this type without nibs? Sincereley, David D.... But they never reply to my e-mails!
Thanks for all the info David. I suppose thats the downside to living so far away from the mainstream, as you ask for one thing & cause alot of companys know you live so far away, they don't really give a s%$t if they send wrong stuff. After all, who are you going to complain too! Anytime I've brought a Sachs HD clutch setup, the release plate has always been the same pressed style! Now I know! Its all short lived for me now though, as I've seen the light & going an proper built auto setup for the 20v build = less to no more driveline breakages.
Bolts were removed....they have done 4 trackdays at Combe since it's return.... 6-7800 is where it is living consistantly! The car is used regularly on a daily basis during the summer months too so it needs to be reliable/useable for road. Bolts looked pretty tired and rusty!!! Aberdeen air again! One solution found: Drill hole in casing and regularly change the bolts in situ. CFJ and Graham's car now sport a small access hole to do this. I have decided to incorporate changing the blighters REGULARLY ! particularly for what they cost compared to a munched Sachs Sports clutch with further checking/changing before each track season. As for CFJ's clutch it's fine....running a proper Sachs Sporting Clutch (Complete) Had a Helix item years ago. Engine was well balanced and runs a lightened and balanced flywheel. Will still be on the search for some stronger items....see what you can find in the RAF Chris or maybe Graham can source something from Mc Claren. The bolts failed in the later part of the day....car still got me home though.....will watch these very carefully in future until something else can be sorted.
CFJ's bolt's didn't need loctite ing when they were rusted in place!My car has only done two trackdays since last year when the pressure plate was replaced and quad dowelled with 9 mm stainless pins balanced and fitted with new bolts and the S**T still came loose. spoke to dick bennet who was no help so I may have to change my driving style or crank up the mig welder and use a b****y plasma cutter to change clutches in future!!!!!!
Good point about driving style. In my experience I think the hardest time the clutches have to deal with is on the down change when it is difficult to match the revs to road speed. For me that would be at the end of the straight and having to down change from 5th, 4th, 3rd to 2nd in a very short space of time. This certainly felt to me like the most aggressive time the clutch would see. These pictures show that there has been movement on the mating surfaces between the PP and flywheel. I have now tripled dowelled the PP to flywheel and looking at dowelling PP to crank too.
I think that has pretty much been done Chris. The 020 setup is not a good design full stop. I would love to go to a conventional flywheel and clutch setup but that means a box change which then brings it's own issues to the mix. I was even mulling over a Ford box today! The FWD MTX box is strong and bits are available for it at a reasonable price.
I had the same thought but was looking at Va****ll boxes. There are plenty of ex rally and race boxes around with SCCR gearsets and LSD's in. Never seen one up close but can't be that different. Anyone ever fitted one??
Indeed, the Vauxhall boxes are well catered for in the competition dept. And the added bonus of being able to do a clutch without taking the gearbox off the engine on earlier ones. In fact come to think of it, just fit the 2.0 XE 16v and get a decent engine too!
Hi Daved, did you ever get the chance to test the M10 x 1.0 P x 28 mm? Did they bottom out? did you use a spacer with these? Cheers.
