Strange issue for sure eh Marty? Helping others is pretty rewarding, God knows I've had my share of others coming to my rescue. Least I can do is a little pay back when I can.
I just measured a 11" Ford clutch assembly [NAPA replacement] that was in use in one of my cars. The disc compressed is .320 and the PP is around .150 from surface to housing in free state. The springs look really compressed but they would only have to compress about .200 to be in full release and was fine in use. I changed discs once from a Hays to a Schiefer and had to take the lever anchors out and adjust their length to get the release fingers in the right place because the discs were different in thickness..
Yeah especially since he [or she] don't know the difference between the front and back of the flywheel!
If that is a late model pressure plate and you're trying to use the 40 Ford through out arm, you won't have enough leverage to overcome the spring pressure. Pressure plate arms have about a 3 to 1 ratio. If you have a 2000 lb. pressure plate, you would need about 666 lbs of pressure on the clutch fork to depress it.
Aaa ya, agree. Some things are better left unsaid. So two things. Once I get my new disc and things put together I'll measure coil gap for you on a fresh set up. Don't know if that will help but can't hurt. Second and I just got into this a month ago. You said you have 1/2" of free travel before your T.O.B. makes contact with the fingers. That's to much on an Early Ford set up. Helping a friend with a Banger and T-5 kit He had excessive free travel like yours. On full depress his T.O.B. carrier actually slid past the end of the front bearing retainer on the T-5. It made his bearing hang up on return due to the way the inside of the bearing carrier is made. That was a real head scratcher. Now, I notice you have the same kind of Clutch cover as I do, No adjuster bolts on the end of the 3 fingers. The old factory cover as well as most replacements have them. This style will remove that 1/2" free play you have and help with travel leverage at contact. Might be something you want to look into. I've learned the best leverage advantage is found coming to center of pivot and over, not all past center or fulcrum point of lever.
OJ...I have found the ignore feature to work best on persons down at that level. Now, Let's see if we can figure out that clutch issue.
Out of curiosity I grabbed my Stock 40 PP. I found the 3 contact pints of the release fingers stand .100 proud of the cover itself. I then found the replacement cover fingers to be .225 below the top of the cover. I can see that being a small issue. Then I measured gap between coils on several springs and in 2 places on each. That averaged .055 over all with a plus or minus of around .003 or .006 total. Going to be good to know what that is with a new disc installed. Also, a heavy duty Clutch has noting to do with disc thickness, it's all about spring tension or clamp pressure load.
The Jalopy Journal
