Boy am I stupid!! clutch disc hitting flywheel bolts...

[63-4drpost]

i got the bright idea to change my 1960 T-Bird to a 3-speed stick, like we used to in the good old days. SSo i got a 3-speed transmission and bell housing, flywheel from a 1963 ford galaxie. i also found a real-deal on a used aluminum flywheel. Look out super-stock!
when I finally got a clutch pedal, hydraulic master and slave cylinder installed, i started the engine and floored the clutch pedal.It would not release! If I started it in gear, it made a grinding chatter noise until I engaged the clutch . i took it all apart again, and found the aluminum flywheel is so thin, the springs on the hub of the clutch disc strike the flywheel bolts! Only thing I can imagine is that the aluminum flywheel is to be used with a solid hub disc, like for racing, that does not have a sprung hub. So now I have to use the stock iron flywheel and put it all together again. Practice makes perfect,or " no fool like an old fool!

[simplyconnected]

Henry, you don't have a corner on, 'stupid' and there's no pill for it.

In my youth, I installed a brand new Weber aluminum flywheel in my '67 GTO's Borg 4-sp. My girlfriend and I went to visit dad in his 2nd story appt.

After not too long, SHE had to make a fast trip to the store. I gave her the keys. Oh boy, what a mistake that was... She came back ten minutes later but hadn't gone anywhere. She said she backed the car up but then it died.

Sure enough, I went down to the parking lot and there was my pride and joy, twenty feet back from where I parked it. The smell of clutch disk would bring tears to your eyes and smoke was billowing out of the hood openings.

Turns out, she didn't know about an Emergency Brake, or how to release it. Instead, she tried driving through it. Every time she tried first gear, the engine would stall so she tried giving it more and more gas, dozens of times.

I was livid. When I put that car up on stands, she got under there with me and together we replaced all the parts. The flywheel insert was warped beyond repair (and another fifty bucks), the clutch disk was glazed and cooked badly, and the pressure plate was BLUE with no spring pressure.

Here's the REAL STUPID part... I married her.

[DKheld]

I recently installed the motor and transmission in an MGA. Got it all together and ready to fire it up then realized I had the hammer laying beside the car that I had INTENDED to use to bend the flywheel bolt locking tabs.

It hit me like a ton of bricks - I knew I hadn't done it. Luckily the MGA body was not on the frame and the transmission is so light I was able to unbolt it, support the motor and pull the transmission out through the inside of the frame.

Funny thing is - the memory lapse must have something to do with Aluminum flywheels - the one I installed on the MGA was a Fadanza Aluminum one!!!! HA!

At least it's fixable.

Good luck,
Eric

ps
Dave - I hope Robyn doesn't read this......you'll be in trouble.

[simplyconnected]

...Dave - I hope Robyn doesn't read this......you'll be in trouble.

Eric, thanks for watching my back. I was on the phone with Ray last night and he said the same thing. Maybe I should explain:

I was married to my first wife 29-1/2 years, then we divorced when our youngest was away in college.

Robin & I are very happily married for ten years, now... she's much better in every respect. I finally did something right and I learned that life isn't always unkind, Thank God. - Dave

[NYsquarebird58]

Henry, you don't have a corner on, 'stupid' and there's no pill for it.

In my youth, I installed a brand new Weber aluminum flywheel in my '67 GTO's Borg 4-sp. My girlfriend and I went to visit dad in his 2nd story appt.

After not too long, SHE had to make a fast trip to the store. I gave her the keys. Oh boy, what a mistake that was... She came back ten minutes later but hadn't gone anywhere. She said she backed the car up but then it died.

Sure enough, I went down to the parking lot and there was my pride and joy, twenty feet back from where I parked it. The smell of clutch disk would bring tears to your eyes and smoke was billowing out of the hood openings.

Turns out, she didn't know about an Emergency Brake, or how to release it. Instead, she tried driving through it. Every time she tried first gear, the engine would stall so she tried giving it more and more gas, dozens of times.

I was livid. When I put that car up on stands, she got under there with me and together we replaced all the parts. The flywheel insert was warped beyond repair (and another fifty bucks), the clutch disk was glazed and cooked badly, and the pressure plate was BLUE with no spring pressure.

Here's the REAL STUPID part... I married her.

You kill me sometimes, Dave!!! Too funny!!!