<VV> early clutch failure?

[Larry Forman]

Hi Jim
WAIT!!  Don't drop that power train until you have checked it out a little 
more.  Since this is an Early, see if one of the axle yokes have stripped 
splines.  This will result in a No-Go condition.  Normally it will result 
in some noise of the sheared splines passing by one another on the axle shaft.

Test by blocking the front wheels REALLY well.  Look under the car and see 
if an axle yoke is turning as the engine idles, but no wheels turn.

With a No-Go condition, it is generally not a clutch, but something broken 
in the power transmission part of the system - something like an Early axle 
yoke with stripped splines, broken spider gears, or stripped pinion 
internal splines in the differential.  Whenever you separate the diff and 
tranny, check the condition of the internal pinion splines in the 
diff.  They are frequently worn about 1/2 or more.  They appear "L" shaped 
when viewed with a good flashlight down that hole looking rearward from the 
removed tranny location end.

If you swapped tranny's you could have the wrong input shaft, but the car 
would not have moved after that installation.

One possibility where this could be the clutch would be if the clutch disk 
center welds are broken and causing a No-Go condition.

Good luck that it is nothing more than a stripped spline on the axle yoke.

--Larry

At 09:58 AM 4/3/2005 -0700, Jim Briggs wrote:
>Hi all,
>Went to a local car show yesterday with a friend and his 4+ Vair 
>family.  He had trashed half the night to get a coulpe of them ready for 
>the show.  One barely made it 8 miles into the front gate of the show 
>befor it gave up its clutch.  Symptoms were lots of smoke, shifter 
>movement at the trans, clutch lever movement at the trans, no 
>engagement.  After the early vert was pushed into place and allowed to 
>rest most of the day we tried to start it with clutch engaged and in gear. 
>there was no movement of the car at all. The engine was a new install with 
>a new clutch disc but the same pressure plate that came out of it and was 
>working prior.  I seem to recall that  there were differences in pressure 
>plate/clutch disc combos that might cause this problem.  The drivetrain 
>will be dropped tomorrow.
>
>Any suggestions as to the cause and remedies to prevent another occurance. 
>This car is supposed to travel the 2 1/2 drive to the Bass Lake Bash next 
>Friday.  Thanks in advance!!!
>
>Jim Briggs
>2-running 65's and 1-66 Corsa V8 in progress