New clutch at last

After returning home from the 10CR in a hire car, one of the first things I did was order a new (uprated) clutch kit (well actually two, one for the new heart for ‘t kreng). Because at that time I was still in the opinion that it was the clutch that had failed. I know better now (well 99% sure), On the other hand there’s no point in putting a reconditioned gearbox underneath the car with a 17 year old clutch assembly, is there?

Clearly AP Racing (or should I say Borg & Beck?) took their time with the delivery (through Demon Tweeks), but this week a small but heavy box was delivered to my home. First inspection looks positive, as it looks exactly like the clutch which I have in ‘t Kreng since 8 years and 60.000 kilometres.

And the up-rated clutch plate that came with it ...

Together they are capable of withstanding 276 Nm of torque. So more than strong enough for both the DHC’s tuned 8-valve engine and the state of tune I am aiming for with the new Sprint engine for ‘t Kreng.

Interesting to compare the clutch cover with an “original” Borg & Beck 2540 cover I obtained somewhere in the previous century, but never fitted due to the problems I encountered with a similar item in the early years of driving ‘t Kreng ...

Problem with this cover was that the release travel with the original hydraulics was not enough to release the clutch plate fully. With predictable problems to the gearbox.

It seems that nowadays similar looking clutch covers are sold, which have the correct release travel. But I decided to stick to a known quality with the AP cover.

And to finish a cover  from Quinton & Hazell for a modern Rover that was donated to me by a friend a few years ago. This last one does work with a TR7, but I forgot that I had this one when I ordered the new AP clutch kit ...