Hello Guys, I have put my very low mileage TR on the road and have noticed that the clutch seems to be slipping lately. It also seems to be getting worse. I guess that you will all tell me a TR clutch can be toast with no more than 4000 miles from new, as hard as that is for a novice like me to handle. Are there any checks, inspections or adjustments I can do to learn more, or it all too obvious that I need a new clutch? I drive all my cars very sympathetically, but lately I have noticed that when cold, an increased throttle position increases the revs, but there is little acceleration on the initial part of my drive. Things improve with some heat in the car to the extent that everything seems relatively normal by the time I am back home. Today, attempting to move off from damp thick grass in first gear, there was no movement of the car at all and so I decided to forgo my drive out. Eventually I found that I could maneuver around my driveway, but it looks like she is going to the back of the garage. There is no problem changing gears, or with the clutch pedal, and no burning smell from the engine bay that I can discern. Forgive the very basic questions but I am more accustomed to my old Bentleys and Astons and I have not seen this sort of problem before. Thanks, Dominic.
We had a lot of trouble with TR clutches when the cars were new. They lack feel and many people wore them out very quickly. Sometimes with far fewer miles than you. They even had some burned up by the transport truck drivers delivering new cars to the dealers. If you had stopped driving it right away it could very possibly have been reshimmed to get you quite a bit more wear but I fear from your description of its slipping, how and when it may already be too late. It is pretty easy to get to the clutch and evaluate it. If it does require replacement Hill Engineering sells a conversion kit to install a TR512/550 etc clutch. It is a conventional single plate and much more robust. Best part is it has a more noticeable and conventional feel to it. One question. You said "Again". Did you have a prior episode of clutch trouble?
Hello Rifledriver, No, the reference to ‘again’ was simply my impression that Ferrari forums are full of clutch issues, whereas my old cars never seem to have any problems in this area. In fact, I grew up in Australia where Holdens and Fords could take a brutal hammering for years. Please forgive my inability to get my head around this type of problem. I was an Airline Captain and I always felt that when the old jet I had to fly finally broke, it would not be me that did it! Mechanical sympathy was the word. I operate everything in this way. I know that you are very able and knowledgeable so if you can offer any specific advice in helping me understand this problem and how I might fix it, I would be very appreciative. It is beginning to sound like a vast amount of money/work is unavoidable. Perhaps I should stick to old Aston V8s? Oh well, never mind. Another Captain contract in Japan?! Anyway, thanks in advance. I always enjoy your technical insights. Cheers, Dominic.
Rifledriver, That is a very short, but good explanation. Thanks very much for your advice. I appreciate the help i get here. regards, Dominic.
If you are not an originality-king (like me) then consider this option - https://osgiken.uk/products/r3c-r-triple-plate-clutch-for-ferrari-testarossa-clutch-kit. Mine came with it from Japan 10 years ago and I replaced the clutch plates and pressure plate in 2016. With every thousand miles the clutch gets smoother. It likes revs and not for gently driving your grandma around.
Thats great if what you are looking for is a clutch to cope with much higher power as is detailed in the advertisement. Otherwise it has the same downsides as the OE multi plate clutch. For longevity and driveability the single plate 512 TR clutch has them all beat.
hello Rifledriver, Is there a simple engineering explanation as to why the original clutch is so weak? My car has 4300 miles and i got it with 3900, so i only have about 400 miles on it I have way too many cars, so none of them gets worked that hard…and yes, sometimes i drive Grandma to the golf club. A producer who is famous for racing cars should not really have this type of problem. What do you think is wrong with those early TR designs? I appreciate your opinions. Dominic.
There is nothing wrong with the design and there is nothing weak about the clutch. It lacks feel. And it is bolted to an engine that has considerable torque and revs rather quickly. That created a situation many were unable to adapt to and very excessively slipped the clutch having no idea they were doing so. That led to very advanced wear. It is as simple as that. That led to many complaints so in the follow on model Ferrari had a contractor design a new simple, more forgiving clutch that required less attention to properly operate. A friend who bough a TR new had over 250,000 miles on it when he passed away and had recently started in on its 3rd clutch.
I had the 550 installed in September during my Major. Well worth the cost, and like Brian said it's tougher.
