SECOND B15 disc with broken spring! WTF???
So I'm heading out to take a cruise up into the canyons yesterday, especially since the car has been running so well. As I got off on the offramp and shifted into neutral, the car ONCE AGAIN did not go back into gear. Fortunately, I was able to let the car roll downhill and find somewhere to pull over safely.
But anyway, it was the SAME EXACT problem I had late last year. The car would not go into gear and the clutch felt really spongey and stiff, already knowing that a broken spring on the disc was the culprit. Tore into today and sure enough, I was correct...
It was actually broken pretty bad, much worse than the last time.
Here a few pictures of the rest of the set up, which doesn't look too bad...
Seeing the plug with this much metal on it did concern me... (sorry for crappy phone photo)
The thing that concerns me is that this is the second B15 disc that does this same exact thing. The first time it did it, it was with a P10 LSD tranny that I ended up replacing due to fifth gear pop-out. I replaced that with a B13 LSD and the same thing has happen again. No kind of warning signs whatsoever. Clutch pedal and overall shifting felt great (especially with my recently installed TWM shifter), and not one sign of slippage. The only "signs" of anything fishy going on with the tranny was that I had a slight bit of chatter while at idle, but would go away when I would depress the clutch. That, and reverse felt a bit "odd," where rather than it reversing smoothly, it would kind of jerk a bit depending on how much I had the clutch depressed. Otherwise, it was just fine. The tranny is from a B13 that I got from NXspaniard over on the other forum, who is definitely trustworthy and had gone through the tranny before selling it to me.
But anyway, I'm a bit conflicted as far as what route to go with fixing my problem. I can simply buy the replacement parts (new clutch disc, TOB and clips), but am concerned about this happening for a THIRD time. I don't know whether to blame the clutch disc or the tranny. I also have a spare B13 tranny with fresh fifth gears, but don't know if I should go that route or not. FYI, I was running all OEM stuff (Greg's stage 2 kit) along with a Fidanza flywheel and fresh clutch cable. The clutch being over-adjusted is also not a culprit to the issues, as the cable had a nice tension to it. The set up couldn't have had more than 10k on it, and granted that I do drive the car hard, it's only driven hard on the street (no kind of racing, just spirited).
One thing I definitely need to mention is that as I was removing the tranny, I noticed that a few of the bolts towards the front of the car, where a bit loose. More loose than they should have been. After talking about it with Robert, he had suggested the possibility about the tranny shifting enough to the point that the movement may have caused the spring to break. Which definitely makes sense to me, although I can't help thinking about having the same exact issue already before (with no loose bolts.)
So I guess I'm wondering if anyone has had issues with these discs and suggest I may upgrade to something a bit "stronger." Although I don't think that I drive the car hard enough to cause this kind of damage. I'd appreciate everyone's thoughts and opinions on how to remedy this, especially since I wanna order everything I need from Greg by tomorrow so I can get it all back together this weekend.
BTW, the greatest irony of this all is that EXACTLY one year ago, I posted up THIS thread. At least I can laugh about it now. Um, yeah. Laugh... :-\
But anyway, it was the SAME EXACT problem I had late last year. The car would not go into gear and the clutch felt really spongey and stiff, already knowing that a broken spring on the disc was the culprit. Tore into today and sure enough, I was correct...
It was actually broken pretty bad, much worse than the last time.
Here a few pictures of the rest of the set up, which doesn't look too bad...
Seeing the plug with this much metal on it did concern me... (sorry for crappy phone photo)
The thing that concerns me is that this is the second B15 disc that does this same exact thing. The first time it did it, it was with a P10 LSD tranny that I ended up replacing due to fifth gear pop-out. I replaced that with a B13 LSD and the same thing has happen again. No kind of warning signs whatsoever. Clutch pedal and overall shifting felt great (especially with my recently installed TWM shifter), and not one sign of slippage. The only "signs" of anything fishy going on with the tranny was that I had a slight bit of chatter while at idle, but would go away when I would depress the clutch. That, and reverse felt a bit "odd," where rather than it reversing smoothly, it would kind of jerk a bit depending on how much I had the clutch depressed. Otherwise, it was just fine. The tranny is from a B13 that I got from NXspaniard over on the other forum, who is definitely trustworthy and had gone through the tranny before selling it to me.
But anyway, I'm a bit conflicted as far as what route to go with fixing my problem. I can simply buy the replacement parts (new clutch disc, TOB and clips), but am concerned about this happening for a THIRD time. I don't know whether to blame the clutch disc or the tranny. I also have a spare B13 tranny with fresh fifth gears, but don't know if I should go that route or not. FYI, I was running all OEM stuff (Greg's stage 2 kit) along with a Fidanza flywheel and fresh clutch cable. The clutch being over-adjusted is also not a culprit to the issues, as the cable had a nice tension to it. The set up couldn't have had more than 10k on it, and granted that I do drive the car hard, it's only driven hard on the street (no kind of racing, just spirited).
One thing I definitely need to mention is that as I was removing the tranny, I noticed that a few of the bolts towards the front of the car, where a bit loose. More loose than they should have been. After talking about it with Robert, he had suggested the possibility about the tranny shifting enough to the point that the movement may have caused the spring to break. Which definitely makes sense to me, although I can't help thinking about having the same exact issue already before (with no loose bolts.)
So I guess I'm wondering if anyone has had issues with these discs and suggest I may upgrade to something a bit "stronger." Although I don't think that I drive the car hard enough to cause this kind of damage. I'd appreciate everyone's thoughts and opinions on how to remedy this, especially since I wanna order everything I need from Greg by tomorrow so I can get it all back together this weekend.
BTW, the greatest irony of this all is that EXACTLY one year ago, I posted up THIS thread. At least I can laugh about it now. Um, yeah. Laugh... :-\
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Originally Posted by Ulysses 
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