Re: Transmission noise and clutch slippage: spider 1986

[Jim Sokoloff <jim@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Since it is my first clutch problem ever, how long can I drive
> the car like that? I mean, can I safely put 1000 miles on it
> during the summer. Do I expect that the slippage will increase
> progressively, or should I expect that the clutch will become
> inoperative suddenly?

No promises, but I drove my spider with a bad clutch for close
to 10K miles ("ghetto fabulous")

Granted by the time I took to Paul's shop, Mike couldn't believe
that I got it there (but he also didn't have 10K miles of
experience with that particular slipping clutch. :) )

In MY case (I'm not generalizing), the slippage was part from
wear and part from oil contamination. I found that keeping the
revs over 3000 helped make the clutch stick. (Perhaps there's
centrifugal weighting on the pressure plate?) Minimizing the
time spent under 3000 really seemed to help, because as soon
as you got too much heat in the clutch (from slipping), it got
way worse really fast.

Don't overheat it, and PAY attention. With the top down and 75+
mph, it's easy to let the clutch slip by 500-1000 RPM and barely
notice. Do that a few times and you'll be on the side of the
road waiting for parts to cool.

Mine wouldn't hold more than 1/3 throttle at 2000 RPM, but
once you got it to 3000-3500, it would hold full throttle
without apparent slippage.

Naturally, there's no guarantee that your clutch will behave
the same as mine, but do get a feel for "how" to drive yours
and you can very likely get several thousand miles out of it
before taking it out of service. Realize also that you might
be able to get away with just a disc and pressure plate if
you stop now, but may need a flywheel grinding (or replacement)
if you let it go. your call...

---Jim
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