Clutches

[Guest imported_brechlrl]

In a related issue..

In addition to oil leaks, I am fighting a chattering clutch.

The engine has a later style V-8 Flywheel and a 10 inch Long style pressure plate

I had assumed the oil and chatter were related but they are not It appears I have a bad pressure plate. My question is what has proved to be a good clutch combo for everyone and what is stock on a Zephyr. The 10 inch plate is also very stiff. Much more so than on would expect from a stock application. I see someone is making a diaphram style pressure plate for Flathead V-8 I am tempted to try one for the easier pedal

RB

[Rolf]

Hi Royce, I am not going to get preachy here, but will present a few opinions about oil leaks and clutches, I have found them to be very related, a clutch disc with oil on it is a chattery slippy mess, and my experience would guess that is the chattering problem you have, any good parts house can rebuild your clutch pressure plate to original specs, the pedal pressure required can be lessened by using the top hole on the clutch throw rod. There is a lot of controversy about machining off that oil slinger and going to the rope seal, or "dog-turd" as we used to call them, it is sort of replacing one poor system with another, the consensus is that a snug engine with no end play has the best results with the slinger, the rope seals had many problems, i.e. the Y block Ford V-8's of the '50's, that they finally solved with a neoprene seal, attempts are being made, so far without success to develop one for the flathead Fords, and our V-12's. The sympthoms you describe seem to indeed indicate a poor seal on the gasket, and is a good place to start, but you sure want to correct the oil problem before putting in a new clutch disc, and that is the only cure for chatter and slipping if it is saturated with oil, a lot of factors here, hope I have shed some light on some of them, Rolf