manual 400GT clutch replacement

Hello manual 365/400/412 owners.
I was hoping to begin a discussion about the clutches on our cars since I believe mine is due for replacement. I have already purchased the necessary parts from Eurospares and will hope to have this done in the next few months (when it gets a little cooler in florida).

My odo only has 60k km (38k miles) and the clutch engagement point is VERY high up; like my knee is almost in my chest! And of course I did the slip test... and it definitely slips in the higher gears.

I read some of the older posts regarding how 'hard' they are, and mine is no different. I would expect that once I replace the clutch...this will not improve... That's OK.

Does anyone have any advice, recommendations, or anecdotal opinions, pearls, or pitfalls?

thanks in advance..
Jay

 

I know there are several ways to do it and I’m sure that some people have better ways than others. And I’m sure there are precise technical ways to check the clutch.

Obviously, if you’re engagement point is getting higher and higher that certainly indicates problems. Or if you smell burning clutch that also seems pretty obvious.

The two ways that I check slippage is simply to try and start the car in third or fourth gear and see if you can actually get it driving (gear engaged and car accelerating) without stalling. A similar technique is to be moving maybe 30 miles an hour and then put the car in the highest gear and ‘floor it’ and see if the gear engages and you accelerate, or if it just ‘slips’ with the RPMs going up but the car not accelerating.

To your point, why not check slippage in the lower gears? Because if you’re slipping in first gear, it’s already too late! You can’t get home!

 

Admittedly, I have not… But that is definitely something I will look at as I begin to dive in to all the clutch related parts, both in the cabin and under the car.

 

very helpful. thank you. I will check this out next time I'm in/near/under the car!
cheers