Spun my clutch

[midnightblue97lx]

To make a long story short, I got into an argument with my boss at work and a few obscenities were exchanged, I got sent home early because of it, he followed me to my car to yell at me some more and in my anger I redlined it and dropped the clutch, well, first gear was fine but when I put it in to second, my tires spun for about half a second, well probably less, and then my engine was screaming, but I think my speedometer read about 10kmh or so. Then I smelled a fucked up smell kinda like fish, which if I'm not mistaken is kinda what clutches smell like when they;'re burning. I let off the gas, and took it easy. On the way home, I checked it to see if it was slipping and its not, but should I be worried about glazing it or is that just with a new one that I need to be careful.

[old_mosely]

I hope a sharp stone split his lip.....who does he think he is to keep yelling at you all the way to your car.... http://msg.toprotege.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/bs.gif suck my protege dust......

P.S. I hope your clutch is OK.... no slippin', no problem!!

[cruisinblackp5]

Coolant can smell like fish as well.

[midnightblue97lx]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (cruisinblackp5 @ July 13 2002,11:45)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Coolant can smell like fish as well.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Yeah, so can something else, but I definitely know it wasn't coolant.

[7plymaple]

Once I wanted to do a burnout with a pair of tires I hated so my buddy and I went to an industreal area and tried it. Im not sure what I did wrong but I let off the cluch completely wile the revs were way up and they stayed up without the wheels spinning at all.

Afterwards my buddy was like &quot;oooh! smell that burnt rubber!&quot; And I was like &quot;The wheels never spun man! Thats burnt cluch!&quot;

Then to test if I fried the cluch I tried it again and it worked! The car was fine! I dont know what happened that one time but Ive been beating the crap out of my cluch for a year since then and its strong as ever. So I wouldnt worry man. http://msg.toprotege.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[pawood]

What you might have done was something I used to see in a by-gone era. Not knowing what makes up the clutchplate, you might have super-heated the surface a glazed the clutch-plate facing. This is a &quot;Martha Stewart 'bad thing'&quot;. You might not pay for this in the short run (next 6,000 kms), BUT you will score the flywheel clutch facing... and that is BIG BUCKS to re-grind.

It is worth your while to have the clutch plate and facing checked ASAP, because if it is the expensive kind of &quot;being pissed off and dropping the clutch&quot; the sooner the problem is rectified, the cheaper it will be in the long run.

If... and ONLY if, you have to have the flywheel face re-ground... why not get the flywheel lightened and get yourself some amazing low-end giddie-up while paying for your sins. http://msg.toprotege.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/blush.gif

[midnightblue97lx]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (pawood @ July 15 2002,12:08)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">What you might have done was something I used to see in a by-gone era. Not knowing what makes up the clutchplate, you might have super-heated the surface a glazed the clutch-plate facing. This is a &quot;Martha Stewart 'bad thing'&quot;. You might not pay for this in the short run (next 6,000 kms), BUT you will score the flywheel clutch facing... and that is BIG BUCKS to re-grind.

It is worth your while to have the clutch plate and facing checked ASAP, because if it is the expensive kind of &quot;being pissed off and dropping the clutch&quot; the sooner the problem is rectified, the cheaper it will be in the long run.

If... and ONLY if, you have to have the flywheel face re-ground... why not get the flywheel lightened and get yourself some amazing low-end giddie-up while paying for your sins. http://msg.toprotege.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/blush.gif[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Goddam. Thanks for the advice, if my financial situation were different, I would, but I honestly can't afford at this time. If it does come down to that, where can I get a lightened flywheel??
Are there any symptoms I can listen to, smell, or otherwise that would indicate this problem?? And if this problem did happen, how can I remedy it before it goes from bad to worse?? If it should come down to it, I will spend the cash wether I've got it or not. I try to go by &quot;if it ain't broke don't fix it&quot; if I can, but on the otherhand I've never had to get anything fixed on my car as of yet, besides the front and rear brake pads, but I just replaced them myself. I know some things about cars and would likely take it to a DIY garage and save the labour cost, and I do know a guy that owns a reputable machine shop in my area, so the financial burden might not be that bad, but even if it was only a couple hundred buck thats still more than I have.
All I want is for the car to last me to the end of school next year, once I graduate and get a job, my worries are over.
Actually once I graduate, I plan on getting the engine and trans rebuilt, and maybe some performance work to the head.
Goddam I wish I was done school.

[pawood]

Most flywheel housings have a plate that allows a tech to get a peek at the two surfaces, that might cost you an hour's labour. Sometimes the back of the clutchplate can show signs of unusual discolouration or warping (a tell-tale sign of glazing). Glazing not only polishes the surface of the flywheel, it softens it up, and causes the clutchplate to work more like Crappy Tire brakepads on scored rotors than a clutch.

Another thing might be to find out if the flywheel is interchangeable with any other Mazda model and compare weights (perhaps the one out of the 1.6 is the same diameter but is lighter as it does not have to smooth out the idle as much due to overall weight and power), or get a spare cheap and look to get the one outside the car lightened.

As to who does this... a lightened and balanced flywheel are the domain of the quarter-mile boys and they do these things in their sleep. I used to get a guy (no longer with us) to do it for $40.

What you can do on your own is:

1. Find out the weight of the flywheel for your year and model and any comparable model, you'd be absolutely dumbfounded at the variation in weights! I built one for my Healey Sprite using an Austin A10 flywheel and before I started cutting I had saved 5 lbs. towards a total of 9 lbs. I wanted to lose!!
2. Figure on a conservative weight savings of no more than 25%, that way the car still idles, and you have less chance of busting a flywheel at high revs.
3. If you're in school (University, etc.) find an engineering student who might help you figure out weight saving without strength weakening... or if you can get one from a wreck let me know and I'll give you a place to start once I've seen the beast in the flesh. The lightening isn't what might cost you... it will be the balancing... you'll want it balanced for 9,000 rpm minimum... hehehe... because with only a few more tricks that motor will spin at that without batting an eyelash! &gt;http://msg.toprotege.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[hondakilla]

I light up the tires to warm them up before any race or 1/4 mile run. If I had to guess I have probably done it a couple hundred times and my P5 still shifts clean.