Clutches ... again ......
Turbo Mini Forums

Right, I have searched and searched and now have even less of a solid view than I did when I was asleep.

I am looking for the best combination of reliability (ie not slipping) Vs. lightest pedal (car is for a lady remember!!!) that is likely to hold with around a 120ish BHP engine ..... I know torque is the clutches limitiation but I am not sure what a 120 bhp ish lump will be giving peak torque wise as I haven't built it yet. If it was a motor for me I'd stick a Grey in and be done with it (with TD's backplate mod).

I guess the questions are;

1) will an orange do?
2) will machining the backplate (assume it will be adifferent amount) to put the spring level / parrallel also offer the best solution for clamping Vs. release load (should do I think ....)

Anybody got any experiences with the orange????

P.S. Sure I have mentioned this but she is coming from a modern charriot to a Mini and the car will be heavy ... lots of soundproofing, lecy window, central locking, ICE, back seats that will be used (even our dog is near 9 stone) and the car will get driven through town traffic as she works in a central branch of a bank. I fear for the clutch .... and the engine mounts, steady bars, subframe mounts .......... why did I let her talk me ino building this thing for her???????

LOL

Every day is a school day ...........

How fast and how expensive ...... the same question...

Sounds to me like you should consider the top of the range Verto clutch.

They are known to hold 100 lbft on top spec 1430 N/A engines according to Morspeed.

I'm using the minispares lightened verto flywheel with the AP clutch and plate for a similar output on my 998 turbo.

Not tested yet though.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

Axel .. thanks for the information. I was wondering about the best of the verto units.

The only concern I have with the verto set up is ifshe does decide to turn up the bost later on it will mean a complete new set-up. Also the way a turbo delivers it's power is very different to a NA unit. I am slightly concerned that the sudden torque increase as it comes on boost might unsettle the clutch if it's living on the edge.

With that in mind and the fact that I have a standard pre-verto set up sitting on the donor cars 850 engine I was going to use that with an uprated diaphram and plate purely due to the fact that it provides a route for easy upgrade.

Will be very interested in your results with this clutch though ...

Every day is a school day ...........

How fast and how expensive ...... the same question...

If you already have the pre-verto setup, then it would be best to just uprate the cover.

The cost of conversion either way is a lot of cash, if you go the lightened route.

Mines going to be a daily drive with limited use on boost so I'm hoping the verto will be OK. I can always change it later!

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

But the verto gives so much more engine bay space .... for the IC maybe (ducted air from the front of course).

I hate making decissions ....... LOL

Every day is a school day ...........

How fast and how expensive ...... the same question...

roger, IMHO forget the uprated vertro with a tuned turbo motor

i whent down this way myself
and it just wont cut the mustard over 10psi of boost for a figure!

stick to the pre vertro & go for an orange cover
if this does not hold out go for a gray all the way!

if your using a cam of say... a duration of or over 260 deg
lighten the flywheel and backplate & have all the rotating assembley ballanced, it makes for smooth quick picked up motor

Cheers for the feedback..

10 psi is about where it will run, 12 psi at a push........

Cam is likely to be a NA MG Metro cam as I am only looking for a little extra sparkle .... no bannana trees here

Orange still looking fav' although it is unlikely to get reved hard and smooth gentle response is more important than a snappy throttle so I am planning on leaving all the standard flywheel and backplate components in situ .... just a quick freshen up of the friction surfaces.

Every day is a school day ...........

How fast and how expensive ...... the same question...