For no good reason, other than the fact that the Square Four cork clutch is excellent, I decided to replace the part-worn Ferodo lined clutch plates. The W/NG clutch had always felt more severe by comparison and while the Ferodo clutch is correct for the W/NG, sometimes I do stuff because I feel like it!
The plates and corks come from AOMCC Gearbox Spares, and very good they are too.
The first step is to warm the corks in boiling water to make them soft and pliable. They were in the soup for about 15 minutes.
I fished the corks out in small batches with a draining spoon.
These are the plates - they look like they have been laser cut. The edges are very crisp and clean - the holes are perfectly shaped and there are no burrs. Oh - and they are perfectly flat!
You push the corks in from the wide end of the slot, trying to keep an equal amount of cork protruding from the plate on each side.
Push the cork down, and manoeuvre the wide end in until it is sitting evenly all around the slot.
Repeat the process until you have done all the corks in all the plates!
As it turned out, after drying overnight the stack of plates was too thick for the basket.
What you do now is to work each side of each plate against a large flat board covered with sandpaper. This is 120 grit - I rubbed each plate over a couple of times to make sure the corks were level and to take a fraction off each one. Very soon, the stack fitted in the basket.
At the same time, I renewed the clutch springs - also from AOMCC Gearbox Spares. On the left is the old spring; on the right, the new spring. Whilst the old spring is clearly collapsed, the odd thing is that it is the same wire diameter as the new one - springs for a Ferodo clutch should be heavier.
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