Early clutch issues...noisy throwout and pressure plate wear
 

Brand new Happy meal stage 2 installed 5k miles ago. Noticed excessive throw out bearing noise within last 1k miles. Engine had to come out for non clutch related issue and discovered this. Clutch, pressure plate, flywheel, slave, pilot, and throw out all have less than 5k miles.

Cause and effect here? Pressure plate and flywheel both hotspotted on same side. Same side where throw out bearing wore into clutch fingers.
Clutch seemed to never skip a beat, although I'm sure it would have soon.

How do I not replicate this? Was the fork not applying enough pressure to keep throwout bearing pressed against pressure plate?

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d7755e206d.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...591492d4c6.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f18a97c472.jpg

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c2eaf7b66c.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ed2f9d6195.jpg

thumpett007 had the same issue. contact fm, I know for a fact they've seen this before and I think they replace them

Seems like a metallurgy defect for just 3-4 of the diaphragm springs to be grooved like then when the whole assembly is spinning, as if those few were softer steel than the rest.

Does the throw out bearing still spin smoothly? I’ve read that the oem ones need to be greased before being installed but it often gets overlooked. No personal experience to comment on validity of that though.

Ive reached out to FM and will see if i can find any threads from @thumpetto007

Throw out bearing spins but its very noisy. As you can see it has serious heat marks on it. Grease was put onto the input shaft and sleeve per FM instruction but not on the throwout.

Seems weird for a parts to have that spotting only on one side of the circle...lends credence to the metallurgy theory, above.

Also, the PP fingers show some offset grooving—not the big fat grooves at the top in the pic, but the smaller ones closer to the ends of the fingers. If you follow them around the circle, it looks like they're further from the tip of the finger at the bottom of the pic, and gradually get closer on the fingers at the top of the pic to be basically right at the tip.

hey joe, agreed. BTW will be using your tools unexpectedly again haha.

But yes, the throwout bearing marks do appear to be offset. What could even cause this?

Sure looks like the problem I had, wrong throughout bearing. Double check that you have the upgraded bearing forthe stage II clutch.

How is the upgraded throwout bearing different? And would this explain the offset issue and uneven wear into the fingers?

Mine did the exact same thing. FM pretty much shrugged their shoulders. Fixed it at a machine shop using sketchy methods. never worked correctly IMO. Never held what I think it should have.

Good Luck

the throwout bearing (upgraded) has a thicker ring/surface where it contacts the clutch fingers. You can simply line up the bearing to the fingers and see for yourself.

this is what the final result will be:
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c1b694099f.jpg

Mudflap, can you help with a part #, or link to the correct, upgraded TOB? Thanks!

LOL, good thing my own projects have been procrastinated to hell!

Ordinarily, I'd say the offset was due to the input shaft and PP not being centered on the same axis—if the nose of the input shaft is firmly ensconced in the pilot bearing, and the PP isn't quite perpendicular to the shaft, there'd be a small angle intorduced. Is there any possibility the mating surfaces on the back of the engine and the trans bell were not butted up solidly?

I assume it was the TOB that caused the wear on the PP—do you have pics of the TOB surfaces/edges that would have caused it?

Nah they were mounted together off the car as one unit. Mating surfaces were perfect and trans/engine mated just fine.

I cant believe this throw out bearing could cause this much damage/time/money. ughhh

Well, lets mark this down as resolved.

Talked to Mike at FM. Indeed, you need to use the upgraded throw out bearing from FM. It is beefier and also larger in diameter.

Through no fault of FM, i bought the happy meal second hand without the bearing and bought a standard ACT bearing.

The non upgraded bearing falls down into the teeth and causes the wear issues on the other side and ends up destroying the bearing. This happened to me in well less than 6k miles.

LESSON LEARNED! :facepalm:

Question on this topic: I too have just bought a clutch set, second hand, without TOB. It's the ACT heavy duty set, with MZ-.012 pressure plate. I believe this was part of the FM happy meal a few years back, so would anyone know if I should get the uprated TOB from FM, so I can avoid the above issue. I'm assuming I can use the uprated TOB, even if it's not specifically called for with this clutch. Info appreciated!

Hmm good question, not sure on the older happy meal. I would just give FM a call and ask. I wouldnt chance it, but also not sure if the upgraded TOB would be bad if not needed.

Yup, probably the best idea, thanks!

I used the regular and upgraded tob FM offered, they were nice about replacements and refunds. Every TOB they sent was defective.

I switched to the sprung pucked 949 racing clutch, abused the F%*! out of it, pressure plate, clutch, and flywheel surfaces looked immaculate after 10k miles, no tob noise, a little rattly, and aggressive engagement, but thats to be expected.

IMO stick with the high quality stuff that is regularly beat on and raced. (949 supermiata, whatever they are called now lol)

Thanks for the positive feedback amigo!