The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

i will hopefully be building up an uprated engine for my sprint with a lot of parts i have , now one of the engines i will strip down to do this i had put together 15 years ago , for one reason or another the engine failed after 3000 miles and hasn't run since , when fitting the engine i also fitted an uprated clutch,
would it still be possible to use the clutch still and if not what do you trackday/race boys use .

rich

I went to the Exeter kit car show in 1997 and met a guy who used to work for Leyland and had owned hot sprints in their day.
I bought a clutch plate of him (the only one he had) he claimed I would never wear it out and it was what the works cars used.
It had a woven pattern in it and was a light colour, I fitted it and towed with it, I drove to work on it and trackdayed with it, and guess what? Its still in there, cos I cannot wear it out (It burnt once while towing too).

They dont make them like they use too. When clutch paltes had asbestos linings they lasted for years and were great to use. When asbestos was banned the linings wore out quickly and started tp slip, so I switched to sping centre paddle (puck) clutch plates. However......... (there is always a however), in the last 18 months I have had, one wear the lining out, one break an internal finger and its replacement rip the centre out after two meetings!
I think the next one is going to be a solid centre paddle unit, not nice to drive on and off the trailer but it might last better. Mark has plans afoot to move to a twin plate set up, expensive but probably the best option.
Philip

Just a suggestion, but can you get a bigger clutch in there?

Early Austin Healey 100 (BN1) have a 9" clutch with the correct 1"x10 splines centre. I looked into it yonks ago and the idea was overtaken by more pressing stuff. I think one Healey specialist offers a 9 1/2" heavy duty version if you look around.

Or you could use a Stag gearbox input shaft and use the 9 1/2 clutch from that. (Bigger splines on Stag and TR6..)

thanks for the idea's ,
anyone any thoughts on the uprated clutch currently fitted to the engine , only done 3000 miles but it has been in the car since 1994 and not moved in 8 years, would it still be usable

rich

rich wrote:thanks for the idea's ,
anyone any thoughts on the uprated clutch currently fitted to the engine , only done 3000 miles but it has been in the car since 1994 and not moved in 8 years, would it still be usable

rich

Should be, the friction lining shouldn't decay and the springs should be fine so long as they didn't get something icky on them like water or oil or hydraulic fluid. It'll most likely need unsticking though.

wiggybum wrote:Just a suggestion, but can you get a bigger clutch in there?

Early Austin Healey 100 (BN1) have a 9" clutch with the correct 1"x10 splines centre. I looked into it yonks ago and the idea was overtaken by more pressing stuff. I think one Healey specialist offers a 9 1/2" heavy duty version if you look around.

Or you could use a Stag gearbox input shaft and use the 9 1/2 clutch from that. (Bigger splines on Stag and TR6..)

That is not possible. The Sprint has an longer inputshaft because of the adapterplate between the gearbox and the engine. You can only use sprint inputshaft.

Helix has some good clutches for Triumph.

Now the big story....
A friend of mine did an engine swap of his Mazda mx3 v6. I did look at the flywheel and asked him i could have a try on a dolomite crankshaft. In some way it looked familiar to me. The flywheel was a different shape and much lighter but the mountingholes looked the same. Took it home to try and it does fit!!!!!!!! Not only the mountingholes are the same but also the recessed piece in the flywheel where the back of the crankshaft goes in. You can fit without machining. I did not experiment with it yet but it is a thing for the future. The Mazda clutch cover is also much lighter in weight. The plate dia of the Mazda is the same so you can use a std size sprint plate.

Jeroen Rothman

I may be wrong but I thought Sprint, TR, Stag and big saloons all had the same sized splines on the input shaft (even though yes, its a longer shaft on the Sprint...)

xvivalve wrote:I may be wrong but I thought Sprint, TR, Stag and big saloons all had the same sized splines on the input shaft (even though yes, its a longer shaft on the Sprint...)

No, i once ordered a Helix clutch kit for a dolomite to fit on my friends 2000 because i assumed it was the same but it did not fit his car and did fit a Sprint.

The stag has a lot bigger input shaft than the sprint.