Club 80-90 Forums

silverbullet wrote: Intrigued to hear what you have built in the past...

nothing vw, started with 4 pot fords->v6 fords->4 pot rootes->v8 fords.....nitrous, water injection, blown, bi-turbo....never played with screw chargers as we preferred pro-chargers if we needed space and as soon as eatons became really cheap we had all gone turbo
still got a 512ci '59 zephyr, had it over 20 years and street legal but its a bit lost between race classes now


wish we had access to your talents years ago

My background isnt VW either! I have built more Jag XK twincams and earlier pushrod iron pre-war sixes than anything else, but dont really get asked these days (so few parts for the pushrod stuff, an incomplete engine is a nightmare)
I do enjoy the technical challenge more than anything.

First bit of welding done and now spot/re-faced etc

On to the next bit...

Having an little muse about clutches... whats the highest torque capacity 228mm one out there that is readily available in Europe and how many Nm will it stand?
I don't really want to go twin plate but I will do if the 228 option is looking marginal.

Suppose that I could have a word with BG Developments and see what they could do for me, but I will need to take a stab at the engine's peak torque output

G60, TDi, VR6 clutches all pretty similar in 228mm, input shaft for the UN1 may be limiting factor on friction plate choice

I understand that the connecting spline on the UN1 input shaft is the same as the 094, so they are interchangeable.

What kind of peak torque to some of the highly boosted/big injector/intercooled TDI engines put through a 228 clutch in a T3?

I think I need to design for an output of 350-400Nm so the clutch needs to be rated for at least 500Nm...

I can always servo the clutch and put proper bearings on the release shaft if the clamping force gets a bit much

The VR6 friction plate fits nicely but the pressure plate PCD is about 5mm out so you would need to drill and tap to suit ( or it was on mine). Darkside developments are worth looking at.

Thanks Duncan. Same PCD but different angles, or radial difference? Not a big deal if the heights are the same. Not got a JX flywheel to compare to wbx so no idea re: the step height or release bearing distance etc
The wbx flywheel recess is ~24.5mm deep

Sorry I should have qualified that a bit better. My flywheel is modified to fit the 1.8T and the standard 2.1 WBX clutch assemblyis a perfect fit and is what I have fitted at the moment to see if it's up to the job. I started with the VR6 as the complete assembly was less than £40.00 from Darkside Developments delivered and was recomended to handle the torque output. It does fit well and will work but the radial PCD of the pressure plate is slightly different and there are two small pressing lugs that need removing or bending a tad to clear the mounting castings in the petrol bell housing.

Ok so the mounting pcd on the VR6 cover is slightly larger than the wbx cover. Think I will have to aquire one and have a look.
Are all VR6 clutches the same?

Just having a quick think, I could rig up a test with a wbx case, crank, flywheel and clutch mounted in the engine bay with a bellhousing and slave cylinder to test the pedal weight and action etc

KEP make 228 pressure plates... last one I ordered turned up within a couple of weeks

You good people may be pleased to know that late today I was bandsawing 60mm alloy plate, from which to make the new chargecooler plena

More later.

We need more photos, I'm missing my fix of engineering porn.