Brent, The Isoflex NBU grease is a high speed bearing grease - We have some machines that are 8-10 years old with sealed headstocks that have run day in day out still on the same spindle bearings which are lubricated by the Isoflex grease and are still holding 3 microns tolerance! (The Syntheso GLK is not the same as the ISOFLEX grease.) Paul
Kluber is the ferrari grease. I have openned this FW at least a dozen times in my car and others. I have used the OEM grease and heavy duty cheap marine wheel bearing grease. Others have used Marine winch grese. All greases work fine if they can take the heat and not turn to water. I personally have many miles on the OEM Kluber and Marine wheel bearing grease. It makes no difference. If you never want a problem with the grease again lets all get together and come up with a redesign of the three shaft seals (output shaft and hollow clutch shaft). This is the problem. Oil from the gearbox contaminates the oil as the seals wear and you get water in the FW and it rattles. The seals are a very strange material. They seal very poorly. We need some knid of EPDM or something that can hold its shape and survive two counter rotating shafts. If you guys come up with soemthing that can be perhaps turned in a lathe I would be glad to turn it and send to Shan so he can try it out since his car is apart now. What do you guys think? Also, the Kluber can is 500grams. I think Ferrari upped the grease in the FW from 185 to 250 so that they would not have a bunch of cans of half used grease around. They don't take the time to measure they just cut out half a can and slop it in there.
I agree with Billybob, the triple seal arrangement is definitely a weak spot. Okay my package arrived today - behold, the amazing mythical Kluber grease:
FW bolts replaced and tightened in a criss-cross pattern - extra grease releases from the center screw holes on the back of assembly:
I waited five minutes until excess grease stopped coming out, put two center screws back in and cleaned up the excess grease. Then reassembled clutch pack with generic alignment tool and verified set-up height:
I still have some clean-up to do on the bell housing and re-attach the clutch assembly to the bell housing. Now just waiting for the 3 shaft seals to arrive from Rutlands and I think I'm pretty much done.
Seems like a lot of grease. You should have enough for 2 FW's in that can. I have never had the grease squish out like that. If you used 1/2 can and that is the result you need to use that spatula and force the grease into the spring areas so the plastic parts are held well by the grease so they don't make noise rattling. If you lay the grease down and cover, it will squish out the top and you will not have the right amount of grease. FNA 1st specified 185grams then later about 225grams. The can is 500 grams so I just use 1/2 can. I actually experimented with making a solid FW and took about 2-3lbs out of the FW...that was another story if you are interested some time.
Billybob: I put some grease on the backing plate near those holes, then around the springs and plastic parts, then smeared the grease everywhere else and closed the cover. I used closer to 260g and had expected that some (2-3cc) would express itself - which was what happened. I'll let you know what happens when I pop the assembly back in and drive. As the flywheel is closed, probably nothing. When done I had just slightly less than 1/2 a can left so I think it should be okay. Thanks for bringing that up though. So, please elaborate on your solid flywheel experiment.
As far as the installation of the triple seals goes, I have done it a number of times without using the Ferrari special tool. The seals are made of some type of plastic and are fairly hard. I warm them up with a heat gun and use a pick to carefully stretch them over the splines of the shaft and then into the groove. They will now be a little too large to fit inside the outer shaft. If you heat them once again with a heat gun and compress them with your fingers, you will eventually be able to get them to slide inside the outer tube. This take a little time and patience, but if you are careful, you can do it without any damage to the seals. Good luck! Brian Brown
Yes Brian this works. I just use my fingernails and push 'em over the shaft. The problem is that this is just a bad design which we are stuck with. We need a better seal or a solid flywheel or at least to have the FW sealed so the oil can't get at the grease. Shan, On my FW experiment I just took an old scrape FW and drilled holes in the spider looking thing. I then took all the plastic and springs out. It was about 2-3lbs I forget now. Then I bolted the whole thing togther. It was now kind of solid. The car drove fine. I did not notice the 2 lbs less in the FW but I did not rev the motor over 5k because I was not sure what would happen since I was getting this weird metalic knock at idle right from the clutch shaft area/FW. Under power I did not hear the knock but I run a loud exhaust. So I pulled it back out and put my stock FW back in springs and all and that is the way it is today. Perhaps there was still some play in the parts I bolted together. They seemed tight by hand but at 1000 rpm there is lots of force there. So any slop could have been a problem rattle. That is what I think made the nasty noise. Joe San Paolo at Concours Auto in LaHabra Ca. is well versed in racing 30x-355's. He has done a solid lightened 348 FW/clutch with no problems from driveline vibrations etc. which the dual mass wheel is supposed to prevent. If anyone wants one you should see the man who has done it. When I have time I'll experiment again with a totaly fixed FW.
Hey Billybob I still have my old flywheel. I was thinking about what you did with yours. Could it be possible to weld the parts in place that way there is NO way they are gonna move, unless the welds bust. Anyway I'm up for experimanting with my old fly wheel. There is a solution to this stupid problem and we really need to find it. Cause if my flywheel goes out again there is NO WAY I'm gonna pony up $3,000 for a second time. Also the flywheels are as heavy as stinking olympic weights. LOL. Shedding weight from them will give us faster revs and a bit more power, and I'm game for that. So lets come up with a good game plan, and then lets do it.
I just had an idea. What about balancing the flywheel after we weld it together? This should get rid of vibrations. The only problem is were are we gonna get it balanced?
By the way, do you guys know a source for the flywheel cover bolts? I'm talking about the 10.8 rated black torx bolts that hold the flywheel together at the edge. I need to replace one of them as it looks to have been chewed on before. Thanks.
I don't know about the factory ones, but try contacting APR. They make all kinds of nuts and bolts. They can also make a custom one if they don't have what you need in stock. The main offices are in Ventura, CA. The phone number is: 805-339-2200. Give them a call. Or you can go to the website: http://arp-bolts.com
Kluber tell me that the GLK1301 is only available in 1KG & 25KG The manual specifies 230g, TSB states increase to 280g. The GLK0 & GLK1 are polyglycol based and the GLK1301 is silicone based and therefore they do not recomend using the GLK0 / GLK1 in place of the GLK1301. Paul
Wow - Thanks Paul. That info is yet another example of why I really like this list. About the replacement flywheel bolt - I found a 12 rated 8x40 replacement (hex socket head rather than torx) bolt at the local aviation supply this morning. Grand total - $0.25
Ernie, What the hell did I do with your phone number..call me. Lets work on this project. There is one other guy who may want to do it and we can split the cost. You can come on over and you can see what I did. And yes my noise problem could be 1) parts bolted slapping and 2) imbalance. Another reason for not over reving
