clutch problem

[Christ]

Look at your lower control arm... see the flat spots on either side? Get a big fuckin' hammer. now hit it 3 or 4 times. That's what those flat spots are there for. They're "impact" gussets, designed to displace a hit in such a way that it will temporarily deform the cone shape inside the mating surface of the lower control arm, which will allow you to pull the arm down, away from the ball joint.

Temporarily, in this case, is a split second... all that is necessary to break the tension bond between the ball joint and the LCA. You can do the same w/ the upper ball joint and the tie rod too, just that they don't have the specific impact surface.

[pbrizzle86]

49 miles to the gallon? yeah right i just can not belive that expically if it was not "taking it easy".i couldnt get that kind of milage out of my corrola and that was the lightest car ever. 1700 something lbs with a full tank of gas and the most i ever got was like 45 and no matter how you drove it it was like it was in baby mode constantly. you must drive downhill everywhere you go with a tail wind. well anyways about the clutch. when you installed it did you tourque everything to spec. if you dont tighten the pressure plate evenly you can warp it. you never know maybe you got a defective pressure plate. when you press in the clutch pedal with the engine running can you hear any noises out of the ordaniary?

[Christ]

weight isn't everything, for starters... Fact is, some of the cars that got excellent gas mileage in OEM config (like escorts, f.i.) were heavy as hell... and had decent power numbers. My Escort GT had 108 HP at the flywheel, 5 speed, weighed around 2400 LBS wet and in full trim, and still got 32-40 MPG every tank. 32 was speeding, shifting at 5k, etc. (6500 redline, no clue where/if it had the fuel cut set... I'd just rev it till it didn't sound like it was going any higher... then grab the next gear.)

My father had an escort that got 44 MPG all the time, then one day, it got over 50 when he filled it up... about a week later, just as he was pulling into a gas station to fill it up again, the engine shut off... and wouldn't start again. We ended up pulling it apart... the rings were embarrassing to look at... bearings were so overly worn after 200+k miles that they were all copper, all the valves had this nasty coating on them, but all in all, the castings and the pistons were fine... it was amazing this engine still started at all though.... just goes to show, they run the best before they give you the finger!

number 2, I've never tightened the bolts on a pressure plate "evenly", other than to tighten them to "hand tight" then go back around and go one full turn each on them to seat them... never in sequence either, I just go right around the circle. I've never had a problem this way. I'm not recommending anyone else do it, but I've never had an issue. (I also don't torque too many bolts to "spec"... I use torque-angle methods to achieve proper torque patterns.)

[Christ]

by the way... 49 mpg wasn't an "all the time" figure... it was that tank... if you read each time I post something about gas mileage, it's different. That would be because my car almost never gets the same mileage on a weekly basis.... lately, I've been averaging about 37 MPG, about 50% highway, with "vigorous" driving... today, I made my car chirp second gear 3 times taking off into traffic from the side of the highway... (damn cell phone)