Clutch And Grab

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After 12 years and 76,000 kilometers, I decided it was time to have a look at my clutch which has never seen the light of day since it left the Honda factory.

The clutch seemed to be working OK, it engaged and disengaged fine, didn't make any funny noises, and did not slip, near as I could tell.

However, I found a set of Ferodo clutch friction plates, and a set of EBC clutch springs on Ebay for cheap, so I looked at it as a preventative sort of thing.

The '98-'99 clutches are slightly different than the '00-'01s, so refer to the FSM for any changes.


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spring Is In The Air


The manual says to drain the engine oil, but my oil is fresh, and I wanted to save a step, so I left the bike on the sidestand, and put a jack under the headers and raised the bike up about an inch to get more lean to the left. Worked great, only lost a couple teaspoons of oil.


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Once I unearthed the clutch cover from the bodywork, it was a simple matter to clean all around the cover so that no FOD would migrate into the engine, then spin off all the retaining bolts:



After that, carefully pry the cover off, paying attention to the crankshaft pulse generator wires routing through the cases. I found a handy tab on the top of the cover, and a 3/8" ratchet fits right behind it, so that levering the ratchet upwards against the upper cylinder block easily dislodges the cover:

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You will either need to disconnect the pulse generator from the wiring harness, or like I did, unbolt it from the inside of cover and leave it attached to the bike.


That leaves you staring at the clutch in all it's naked glory:

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The starter drive intermediate gear decided to stay with the cover, so I had to remove the gear and it's shaft and replace them between the starter primary gear and the starter clutch.

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Before replacing the errant gear, I spun the starter clutch fore and aft by hand and it's quiet and solid with no play, so it seems healthy.

Undo the 5 clutch spring bolts and lay out the parts in the order they were removed for easy reference.


I swathed the important bits in paper towels and gently scraped the gasket remains off the block. Thankfully it came off real easy.

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Here you see the old and new clutch plates compared. I had soaked the new clutch plates in motor oil for an hour prior to installation.

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I gently cleaned up all my metal plates using a nylon wheel brush chucked up in a drill. Worked great for freshening up the surface, and is not aggressive on the plates like an abrasive wheel would be.

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I found that my clutch basket had some characteristic notching due to normal wear.

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I used a small fine file and wrapped the clutch basket in paper towels so as to not get any contaminants in the oil pan, and carefully filed the basket tangs until most of the notching was gone. Didn't want to remove too much material:

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Much better. Very tedious and time consuming. If one had the proper tools to remove the basket from the bike, it would be far easier to do on the bench.

A trigger spray bottle with some varsol and more paper towels made cleaning up the clutch basket afterwards a breeze.


After removing all the friction and drive plates, there are two washers at the back of the clutch pack. One is a thrust washer and the other is a spring washer. Take note of their positions and replace as found after removal, cleaning and inspection.


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All the metal plates for the clutch are stampings, so they have a rounded side and a sharp side, which is readily identifiable by feel and sight. Note the way the plates were oriented and replace them in the same manner.

First to go in is the "odd man out". There is one plate, seen below, that has a larger ID to make room for the thrust washer and the spring washer.


!C!yrnH!Bmk~$(KGrHqR,!ioE0GqDSD8rBNEjKF6jO!~~0 12

This one loads in first, followed by a steel plate:


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Continue to load frictions and steels into the clutch basket, keeping the steels all facing the same way.


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And this is where I stopped for the night. Will finish tomorrow and update with more pics.


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Today, as promised, we continue installing the new clutch.


Once you are done installing all the plates, you should always clean and paint your pressure plate before installation, just to protect it against possible corrosion, and well, it just looks prettier doesn't it?

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Then, install the springs, torque the bolts to 9 ft/lbs and reinstall the cover and gasket:


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Now start it to be sure there are no leaks (click on pic):

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Replace the fairings and enjoy your new clutch.

If there are any steps I've forgotten, feel free to ask!   :fing02:

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I'd be interested in the details of that coating on the new Ferodo plates, can't say I've seen that before. Nicely done how-to!




I have this sneaking suspicion that there's more to this story...

[image: View Post]SEBSPEED, on 13 August 2011 - 03:17 PM, said:

I'd be interested in the details of that coating on the new Ferodo plates, can't say I've seen that before. Nicely done how-to!


They are apparently Ferodo's "racing" compound, and contain no cork or rubber. P/N FCD 0133/1  for a 1998/1999 VFR800

Quote

****Ferodo FCD Friction Plate Sets -
The perfect replacement for Original Equipment clutch plates. Due to the "paper friction" material used, these plate sets have unique characteristics and outstanding performance, even under difficult conditions. The material contains no cork or rubber, which means that these plates do not suffer from slickness or slip, and have predictable performance. Kits with racing friction material have a /1 suffix at the end of the manufacturer's part number, while the standard material plate kits have no suffix.

Just got back from an hour ride, new clutch is like buttah, only bettah!   :cheerleader:

Great job Rob! I bet that pressure plate looks even tastier in the sunshine.   :cheerleader:

Absolutely it does. And thank you again.   :fing02:

Thanks for the great how to...... :fing02:

Subtle....... nice stuff boys!

Seb - I shoulda looked closer at your VFR at TMAC - have you also done this to your bike?

Love how Rob tried to slide that clear clutch cover dealio through. Kinda like killing a mosquito with an anvil...... :)

Ha, that clutch cover (SEBSPEED?) looks great. I hope the paint on the pressure plate will last, nice touch. :fing02:

Seb - I shoulda looked closer at your VFR at TMAC - have you also done this to your bike?

Haven't put one on my VTEC yet.

Ha, that clutch cover (SEBSPEED?) looks great. I hope the paint on the pressure plate will last, nice touch. :fing02:

Yes, I made that. Looked like this before Rob painted it:

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Love how Rob tried to slide that clear clutch cover dealio through. Kinda like killing a mosquito with an anvil...... :)

:biggrin:


That was the "grab" part of "clutch and grab".

Because it grabbed your attention, didn't it? :491:

Because it grabbed your attention, didn't it? :491:

It would surely grab more attention if it had it's own thread, doncha think? :wink:

Do you get dizzy watching that thing spin??

Nice work, both of you!!

Wondering if you could slide the ebay seller's details over for the springs and plates?? Hope he has the VTEC equivalents.

Is VARSOL like Kerosene??

Thanks!

Wondering if you could slide the ebay seller's details over for the springs and plates?? Hope he has the VTEC equivalents.

I want to say they're the same?

Thanks!

Wondering if you could slide the ebay seller's details over for the springs and plates?? Hope he has the VTEC equivalents.

I want to say they're the same?

Tricky one that... ron Ayers microfiche don't seem to coincide exactly... the inner disc is supposed to be different to the rest... in the fiche at Ron Ayers site the outer one is also a different reference number and although they mention the same ref for both bikes, they're not for the same position in the order of installation... so I'm stumped.

:fing02: :fing02: :fing02:
While I am not likely to ever replace my own clutch or make a clutch cover with a window, the writeup and pictures are absolutely great.
Well done!

What's the consensus on average clutch life? Im in excess of 74,000 miles and never removed the cover...
(I was wondering this back at about 50,000 but never got around to doing anything)

My stock clutch was working fine with 70,000km on it, the basket was notched a bit, but I didn't notice anything funky about the way the clutch engaged.

I replaced it as a PM thing, as I plan on riding far and fast in the future, plus the cover thing of course, and I only wanted to break 'er open 1x to do the whole works.

Hi there an excellent thread,my clutch was changed at 36000 miles .the plates were gummed together. :tour:

Great info.

my cover is in the mail.

woot.

Nice write up!
I dont know if I will do this, but I have made my mind up and my 5th gen will go thro a rebuild during the coming 15-16 months.

Great job Veefer! Really, really nice idea and crafting.

Luigi.

Bump for Kperham, and anyone else who might be doing their clutch......

What kind of paint did you use?  Is it still holding up?

Dupli-colour Metalcast paint. Gives the appearance of anodizing. Available in several colours.

And yes, it is holding up perfectly. Not a single flake, drip, run or other imperfection.

15,000 kilometers on the bike since this mod.

I have used the metal cast.  Thanks for the heads up.

great write up. love the clear case... any chance of making one for a 4th gen?  :491:

My 95 viffer with 20k just started giving me clutch issues. the clutch only engages when I pull it all the way back. I use to just pull with two fingers but now I have to grab with all 4 and pull it all the way back to shift. It's also bit hard to go from neutral to 1st even with it pulled all the way back. just doesn't engage. I had the fluid flushed but still the same, albeit it did make it a ssslightly better. 

I was going to order a EBC SRK rebuild kit and give it a go, but would LOVE to get some opinions before I make the investment.

thanks guys!

i don't make the covers, you'l have to talk to SebSpeed about that. And yes, they have been made for the 4th gens.

I actually designed the covers for the 4th gen in the first place. They will fit all (big)VF's, VFR's, RC30/45, and more. :fing02:

What's the consensus on average clutch life? Im in excess of 74,000 miles and never removed the cover...
(I was wondering this back at about 50,000 but never got around to doing anything)

The '01 that ate the deer had 105xxx mi when totaled; the clutch was working fine and had never seen the light of day.

Just swapped the wife's clutch @ 75k; the friction plates were crumbling a bit to the touch, so I would imagine it needed doing at 65k or so. Maybe it was ridden hard, but it's 110% better after the swap. This guide really helped ease me through the job (thanks!)