I recently acquired an '88 Formula (Getrag 5-spd) that among other things, needed a clutch. The car sat outside (not driveable) in the rain for two years prior to me acquiring it. We discovered when we dropped the cradle that the clutch disc had literally exploded and was in a lot of pieces. We installed a new LUK clutch kit (as reported Here) and the car is on the road.

However...

Shortly after I started driving it, I noticed the clutch would do something odd. As I slowly released the clutch to start from a stop, the car would suddenly lurch forward. It seemed as if the clutch was binding somewhere a little bit and then suddenly releasing. It only happens now and then, usually after driving the car for awhile (sometimes sooner), but it's not a good thing to be happening at all.

On the very rare occasion, I'll actually feel a bit of resistance as I push the clutch pedal down, but that's only happened a few times. The binding usually occurs (when it happens) as the clutch is being released in first gear.

A couple days ago though, it got to the point where I could hear a definite "clack" behind me as I released the clutch in every gear while driving.

After reading through the archives, I suspect it's the clutch fork that is binding. And that probably means dropping the cradle... again. Damn.

But I certainly don't know for sure that it's the clutch fork that's binding.

Keep in mind I had no opportunity to drive this car prior to dropping the cradle. I have no idea if this "binding" was something it had been doing prior to the clutch disc blowing up, or if maybe this was the result of the car sitting for a couple years (out in the weather here on the coast) after the clutch had blown up.

Regarding the hydraulics, I'm using a Dickman slave with an OEM master. I made an adjustable banjo, and I currently have it adjusted to engage/disengage just off the floor so as to eliminate any possiblity that the clutch was being pushed in too far... a rarity with Fieros for sure.

Does anyone have advice, questions, suggestions, feedback on this?

I'd love to find a way of correcting this problem (whatever it is) without having to drop the cradle.

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 09-18-2013).]

When you had the clutch installed did you examine the input bearing sleeve? It is used by the throwout bearing to stay centered....

Remove the slave and jiggle the arm. If it moves freely it is not binding. If it is tight there is one thing you can try first.

------------------
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quote Originally posted by Gall757: When you had the clutch installed did you examine the input bearing sleeve? It is used by the throwout bearing to stay centered....

The friend of mine who helped me greatly with the clutch replacement is fortunately quite familiar with the issues the Getrag input bearing sleeve has. He's dealt with this previously on his son's Formula. We were both relieved to find when we pulled the tranny that the sleeve was perfectly fine.

It's possible we were so focused on the input bearing sleeve that we might've missed other issues. I admit that I myself didn't even look at the clutch fork. Not to say that the clutch fork is the only possible explanation for this binding problem, but now in retrospect I feel bad that I didn't even consider that it might've been an issue while it was apart.

quote Originally posted by Patrick: I'll certainly give that a try and report back.

I unbolted the slave.

I grabbed the arm of the clutch fork.

It moves very easily.

Of course this doesn't tell me what the clutch fork movement is like when it's pushed another inch or so while against the clutch pressure plate fingers.

I put it back together and drove the car a short distance tonight. I didn't feel it binding, but I did hear it "clack" behind me a couple times as I released the clutch. Something is slightly hanging up somewhere.

So, where does does this leave me now? Any ideas?

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 09-19-2013).]

Here is a shot of the inside. (before the new clutch)



the shaft had al light coating of grease applied to it and the bearing moved nicely (smooth) on the shaft

could it be that the clutch surface needs to break in a bit? this goes against what I know but if something is random, it leaves one grasping at almost any theory. a small remote camera may assist in "seeing" how it is working.

here is the clutch that was removed:



Gary

Gary (Karnak) is the friend who helped me (or I helped him?) with this clutch installation. He's done this a couple times with his son's Formula, so this was old hat to him.

We're both a little puzzled with this issue.

Okay, I tried something different today...

I can usually feel the binding starting to occur. It seems to be quite minimal at first, and then it gets to the point where the car will lurch a bit when starting off in first gear. Today I drove the car for about an hour before I started to feel something with my left foot through the clutch pedal. So what I did was to continue to change gears until I was in 4th.... and then I took the car out of gear and worked the clutch pedal up and down several times while the car was coasting. Interestingly enough, I could feel the binding get less and less while I did this until it felt "normal" again after doing it perhaps a half-dozen times. And then the clutch/pedal feel was fine again!

I did this several times today, and each time the binding went away before it became more of an issue.

So I still don't know exactly where the binding is occurring, but it seems to free itself up if I stroke the clutch pedal a few times while its under no pressure.

Does this help narrow things down?

One of the fellas in my local Fiero club suggested that the clutch fork might've got a little bent when the previous clutch disc blew up, and perhaps it's putting uneven pressure on the throw-out bearing which might cause it to bind on the shaft that it rides on. Seems possible...

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 08-17-2015).]

quote Originally posted by Patrick: Okay, I tried something different today... I took the car out of gear and worked the clutch pedal up and down several times while the car was coasting. Interestingly enough, I could feel the binding get less and less while I did this until it felt "normal" again after doing it perhaps a half-dozen times. And then the clutch/pedal feel was fine again! I did this several times today, and each time the binding went away before it became more of an issue.

I've continued to do this the last week or so and I've been able to prevent the binding (when it rarely occurs) from getting worse and becoming a problem. My hope is that whatever is binding will eventually completely disappear. We'll see!

It's been quite a while since I last posted in this thread, but I'm delighted to report that eventually the binding completely disappeared and the clutch is fine. The car is my daily driver and autocross machine, and it's been great.

quote Originally posted by Patrick: It's been quite a while since I last posted in this thread, but I'm delighted to report that eventually the binding completely disappeared and the clutch is fine. The car is my daily driver and autocross machine, and it's been great.

Good news hommie.