Jump to content
SAU Community

Is this pressure plate warped? And do I need a new one?

joshuaho96
 Share

Recommended Posts

joshuaho96 Veteran

joshuaho96

Posted
Posted

IMG_7793.thumb.jpeg.c44e98c04e6995fa240dfb90b815f59b.jpegIMG_7792.thumb.jpeg.c5d5af3bf15bdbd776e78a8896c411b8.jpeg

Pretty simple question. I was about to put the transmission back in and thought I pretty much had it lined up when I noticed it seems like the pressure plate isn't flat. I was pretty careful when undoing the bolts both during initial disassembly for cleaning and when torquing them up for installation so this is pretty discouraging. I'm not sure if I accidentally bumped the pressure plate with the input shaft and bent it somehow or if it just showed up this way. Is it possible that there's just something obvious I'm not doing correctly? I'm pretty sure I was extremely careful to make sure the friction discs were seated correctly in the hub, everything lined up, flywheel torqued according to sequence, the little springs all sitting correctly in their seats, etc. 

What's the play here? Do I jump straight to a new pressure plate?

joshuaho96 Veteran

joshuaho96

Posted
  • Author
Posted
8 hours ago, GTSBoy said:

I was going to say, "What am I looking at?"....then I saw it.

Um.... dismantle and have a look? I've not seen that before. Looks broken.

The instructions mention making sure the pressure plate is even/flat but doesn't really mention the possible causes of the pressure plate being warped like this.

joshuaho96 Veteran

joshuaho96

Posted
  • Author
Posted
24 minutes ago, MBS206 said:

Normally fingers bent or broken will cause the above.

Has this pressure plate been used before? Was the gearbox left hanging from the clutch while removing the gearbox?

This is brand new. It's possible the input shaft hung up on the pressure plate while trying to wrestle the transmission into position, I wasn't up at the front of the bellhousing to monitor exactly what happened. 

joshuaho96 Veteran

joshuaho96

Posted
  • Author
Posted
2 hours ago, r32-25t said:

Looks stuffed and I’d say it’s an installation error, better grab that wallet out 

Took it apart and somehow when everything is in pieces everything looks fine. Everything looks flat and true. Pressure plate is no longer warped. 

joshuaho96 Veteran

joshuaho96

Posted
  • Author
Posted
1 hour ago, r32-25t said:

What about after you put it back together again?

Miraculously warps again despite every possible method of trying to ensure even torque on the bolts. I'm very tempted to blame the pressure plate at this point. Everything else as far as I can tell does not have any runout issues. I double-checked to make sure the friction discs are oriented correctly and the hub is properly seated on the friction discs.

MBS206 Grand Master

MBS206

Posted
Posted

Without better pictures, it won't be possible for anyone to work it out further than we have.

 

Start measuring, EVERYTHING.

Thickness of flywheel, and all around it. You want to know is if everything parallel.

If from the face of the pressure plate (that bolts to the flywheel) if it is parallel to the pressure plate face, then something is NOT parallel or equal elsewhere. Or you've bent the shit out of the fingers in the pressure plate.

joshuaho96 Veteran

joshuaho96

Posted
  • Author
Posted
12 hours ago, MBS206 said:

Without better pictures, it won't be possible for anyone to work it out further than we have.

 

Start measuring, EVERYTHING.

Thickness of flywheel, and all around it. You want to know is if everything parallel.

If from the face of the pressure plate (that bolts to the flywheel) if it is parallel to the pressure plate face, then something is NOT parallel or equal elsewhere. Or you've bent the shit out of the fingers in the pressure plate.

It was simpler than that. Few things going on. One is that I hate plastic clutch alignment tools. Anybody who reads this in the future and is considering one, don't. Even for 3 USD it's not worth it. Mine left plastic shreds all over the inside of the clutch hub. Now I need a proper steel one and to re-grease the hub splines very carefully without leaving any excess that could go into the friction disk or anywhere else unintended.

The second is that I'm bad at reading directions. There is a step in the instruction manual that tells you to put in the 3 M6 bolts BEFORE you attempt to put the clutch onto the flywheel which has been bolted to the crank. You should tighten them slowly and evenly in half turn increments so the springs all compress evenly. Once hand tight back it off until the friction disk can move around between the midplate and the pressure plate. Otherwise the hub won't be able to move properly to line up everything.

The last point which is possibly the most important and is not mentioned in the manual or anywhere at all is that the friction disks are actually not symmetrical. There is a very, very subtle asymmetry to the fingers where they mesh with the hub. These fingers need to be pointing towards the midplate. This helps to make sure the friction disks stay engaged with the hub. Otherwise there is a distinct risk they pop up and out of the hub while you assemble, leading to the warped pressure plate I posted initially.

  • Thanks 1
  • 2 weeks later...
luke gtr Grand Master

luke gtr

Posted
Posted

Plastic dummy shafts are a fantastic alignment tool. 

WHEN USED CORRECTLY. 

This sounds more like installer error.

I've never had issue with a plastic dummy shaft. Never had any plastic come off one. 

But, glad you redid everything and found your issue.

joshuaho96 Veteran

joshuaho96

Posted
  • Author
Posted
On 10/18/2024 at 3:39 PM, luke gtr said:

Plastic dummy shafts are a fantastic alignment tool. 

WHEN USED CORRECTLY. 

This sounds more like installer error.

I've never had issue with a plastic dummy shaft. Never had any plastic come off one. 

But, glad you redid everything and found your issue.

I'm pretty sure it's just this specific Dorman one. I checked it with the hub by itself and even then it was already shedding plastic. It's only once I ran into all these issues with assembling the clutch that I decided to be skeptical of the plastic alignment tool as well and found it to have a notable amount of slop as the clutch is heavy enough to allow the plastic to bend. 

joshuaho96 Veteran

joshuaho96

Posted
  • Author
Posted
16 minutes ago, luke gtr said:

Coud be the brand.

Have never had problems with the shafts I've used in Australia. 

Even the cheap ones.

Probably yes. I think I could make it work but I'd rather not chance it. I've been having to ask friends for help because the transmission is just that heavy and for the price of ~30 USD I can get the OS Giken one in soon which should guarantee that clutch alignment won't prevent the transmission from seating properly.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • sunsetR33
      Replacing turbo water line - any recommendations or advice?

      By sunsetR33 · Posted

      One thing I can tell you is, do it properly the first time. If you encounter unexpected problems just let the car sit for a week or two if you have to get some other parts or figure stuff out.  I'd have said go and use as many OEM parts as possible but since you want to change the turbo later on a custom kit is probably the better choice. Since I have no experience with RB25 just compare parts diagrams and images before buying a line kit and it should be easy to see if it has everything you need. Amayama has very good parts diagrams and part number lists, that is what I used a bunch to figure out what I might need. And don't forget to plan ahead and possibly renew other stuff that's easy to get to while you're in there doing the turbo lines. Happy wrenching
    • sunsetR33
      Unpeeling the Orange

      By sunsetR33 · Posted

      Update 4:   Hi all, good news. Engine is running and all the gaskets and seals seem to be working as intended. No leaks so far, even the JB Weld seems to hold. I flushed out the old coolant a few times and put in fresh coolant, not Nissan stuff, I decided to try the Ravenol Protect FL22, they claim it works for a wide variety of JDM cars and the opinions on it by some people were pretty good. And it has the nice poison green color! And man am I glad I bought a coolant system tester earlier this year, vacuum filling works wonders on this engine. I can definitely recommend this to anyone still doing it the old school way. All you need is compressed air supply. Will have to do a small test drive as soon as I can, I removed the gauge cluster again as the tacho needle was still bouncing around a bit but it was much better than before already.  I also found some cracks on all 4 tires inner and outer sidewalls. Apparently these tires should 't be parked on for extended periods or be kept under 0 degrees during storage, which I did not know. Clearly the previous owner didn't look into those details either, he probably bought them just cause they are cool semi-slicks. I'm just wondering how tf I am supposed to reach 30-80 degree tire temperatures on the public road consistenly, these tires were never going to work for my use case. I'll probably order Continental SportContact7 ones as these are the best allround summer tire available right now and I don't think I'll need anything crazier for now. Do let me know if you have experience with various tires and which ones you recommend.
    • sunsetR33
      Unpeeling the Orange

      By sunsetR33 · Posted

      You have no idea how many goddamn boxes I received these past three months haha Most have been put to use by now though, luckily
    • sunsetR33
      Unpeeling the Orange

      By sunsetR33 · Posted

      Not going to pretend I didn't do a bit of junky work this time around, but mostly due to the fact that some things I am not willing to spend days fixing right now, like wiring. I try to do most things properly the first time around.
    • sunsetR33
      Unpeeling the Orange

      By sunsetR33 · Posted

      Regardless of neglect or incompetence, fixing either is tedious and annoying. Most of the neglect on my car is definitely rust. I hope I can at least pass inspections later on and they won't fail the car due to slightly corroded hardlines. I was generous with rust converter and wax and it looks ok, most lines in the rear are hard to see properly anyways.  Definitely will test them though to make sure they don't rupture under pressure, in that case the car isn't going anywhere this year.
×
×
  • Create New...