[DMCForum] Clutch woes

[Ryan Wright <ryanpwright@xxxxxxxxx>]

Quick background: I replaced my clutch last fall. Replaced most
everything - seals, bearings, disk, master/slave cylinders, line, etc.
Flywheel was machined at Napa. The clip on the clutch fork was broken,
so we engineered a fix. Everything worked fine until roughly two weeks
ago, the clutch began engaging only at the very top of pedal travel.
Like it was already worn out. Things went from working great to barely
working immediately; there was no "slow degredation" - one day
everything was perfect, the next it wasn't. I bled the clutch but
nothing changed. I drove it two more weeks trying to delay the
inevitable, but last Thursday the clutch began slipping so I parked
the car. It's a daily driver, so there are ~5,000 miles on the new
clutch. Also, this is the Centerforce complete system kit from Grady.

The transmission is now out. I took some pictures because I don't
fully understand what the problem is.

Full flywheel pic: http://www.ryanwright.com/tmp/dclutch/flywheel.jpg
Close-up: http://www.ryanwright.com/tmp/dclutch/flywheel_close.jpg

Looks like the area where the clutch disk goes is worn down quite a
bit. How is this possible? I do not abuse the clutch - at all. Was it
simply machined down too far? Or maybe it had been turned in the past,
before I owned the car, and was on its last legs already? The disk
area is *slightly* higher than the outside ring, but not by much. Do I
need a new flywheel?

There is another potential issue: The little clip on the back of the
clutch fork broke off. It was already damaged when I replaced the
clutch last fall. We rigged up a fix (which held), but the "Y" part of
the clip at the end gave up and went who-knows-where. Could this cause
the clutch travel to change and the clutch disk to slip? Do I need a
new clutch fork? Can I just buy that little clip?

Picture of fork: http://www.ryanwright.com/tmp/dclutch/fork.jpg

The pressure plate and clutch disk have some interesting patterns on
them. Not sure if that's normal:

Pressure plate: http://www.ryanwright.com/tmp/dclutch/plate.jpg
Closeup: http://www.ryanwright.com/tmp/dclutch/plateclose.jpg

Clutch disk: http://www.ryanwright.com/tmp/dclutch/disk.jpg
Closeup: http://www.ryanwright.com/tmp/dclutch/diskclose.jpg

At this point I am unsure how to proceed, and could really use your advice. :)

Thank you,

-Ryan

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