General chit chat to pool and share some knowledge and thoughts.
No wrong answers.
my ND1 is coming upto 50k miles. i dont have any clutch slippage yet. no obvious sign its on its way out. but, ive just fitted the CleaR clutch pedal stopper (position 2) and found that i am missing/crunching gears now quite often. i’ll change its position (or remove if need be). but it got me thinking - ‘‘how long do i have left on this clutch, and what should i do with it?’’
On 4 previous modded cars iv had, i have gone to lightweight flywheels. love em. for the ND i already know which i want. which i need
but the big question for me and this thread, isnt actually the clutch or flywheel… its the gearbox.
if my clutch is due a renewal - (which, i think its 2-day job by looks of the online vids) should i actually just put in a later revision ND2/3 gearbox? OR, go for the NC conversion?
this isnt a mod i would do for fun. not exactly top of anyones list. but ive got 2 schools of thought:
‘‘oh go on, while its off…’’
vs
‘‘aint broke don break it’’
I had this a lot on this 25AE when I bought it. But my eventual solution is probably not relevant to your much more used car.
I bled the 10 year old black clutch fluid, and adjusted the pedal bite point to spec. Some improvement, but not enough.
Bell housing spotless and no hint of oil seepage, so clutch probably not contaminated, and only 11k miles too.
Annual service and MOT came around and they changed ALL the fluids (except screen wash) and specifically including the clutch, and lost its nip cover (I always have some spares).
Being sneaky, I carefully left some faint hints of Dinitrol overspray in strategic positions as tell-tales, all were gone after the service when they wiped the relevant bleed/drain points clean, boxes ticked. However gear changes were still threatening to crunch, any gear, unless I was very careful with rev matching. Fiddly when its 6 speed and I was used to 5 speed.
However recently I’ve been stuck several times for 5-10 minutes in traffic jams heavily populated by queue jumpers and we’re all climbing the slip road to home.
Having discussed the problem with a mechanically minded neighbour, I took these as opportunities to clean off possible rust (!) from a clutch barely used since before Covid. Amazingly it is now so much smoother, no grab, almost no crunch even on a cold second, release is positive at the same point and progressive.
SWMBO often says “Use it or lose it.” That was proven true here.
Maybe you need a bit more time to adjust your gearchange/clutch release timing now that it happens quicker than before thanks to the clutch stop plate?
You could be letting the clutch up before the gear is fully engaged?
I know that I sometimes do this and then cringe!
I think you are reading too much into it tbh, there is no reason your clutch needs to be changed at 50k. I too have the clutch pedal stopper (position 2) fitted and also found I was occasionally missing /crunching going into 3rd when accelerating quickly and was debating going back to position 1, i have however not had the issue for a long while so I think i’ve got used to it now.
My standard v1 gearbox was slipping VERY occasionally under heavy acceleration, if you’ve never experienced it there is no issue with your clutch. (I since have gone on to have the gearbox replaced with a v5, an Exedy Stage 1 clutch fitted, but the car is turbocharged)
My first thought too - the OP’s muscle memory has him lifting his foot too early when it hasn’t so far to travel. Ironically, he might need to slow down his gear changes…
i wasnt so much asking about the cause of the issue. i was looking for a opinions on relacement gearboxs
i am getting the difficulty getting into gear even when stationary, and ramming foot to the clutch floor. its new, only started since fitting the stoper. not a big issue. i can adjust it // fix it.
but, it got me thinking about gearboxes, hence the chat
Generally, when a clutch wears, the operating point of the pedal rises slightly. Eventually the self-adjust at the slave runs out of head-room, and the clutch begins to slip.
Conversely, if the hydraulics are beginning to fail, various causes, the pedal point goes lower.
Myself, I’d check both cylinders, and delete the stopper. But it’s your car, the choice is yours.
If you want to take prophylactic action, hoik your gearbox out and get Roddisons to rebuild it with their stronger gears etc.
Swapping it for another standard one from an ND2/3 could simply have you out of the frying pan (which you aren’t even in yet) into the fire, Anecdotally (i.e. no useful numbers) a number of people have had gearbox problems with ND3s so why go there, especially as you seem to have a ‘good’ one.
