[Healeys] Fw: Why Don't depress the clutch ?

[Peter Schauss]

My first car, a 1965 VW also had a graphite throwout bearing.  When I took
delivery on the car the salesman warned that the bearing would wear out very
quickly if I sat at stoplights with my foot on the clutch.  

The habit putting the car in neutral when starting and whenever it was
stopped carried over to every manual transmission car that I have owned
since.  I also taught that habit to my children.  When my son took his 1997
VW GTI in for a new clutch at around 100k miles the dealer was amazed that
the car had the original clutch.

Peter Schauss
1963 BJ7
1980 MGB

> -----Original Message-----
> From: healeys-bounces+schauss=worldnet.att.net at autox.team.net
> [mailto:healeys-bounces+schauss=worldnet.att.net at autox.team.net] On Behalf
> Of M Lempert
> Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2008 2:40 PM
> To: Healey List
> Subject: [Healeys] Fw: Why Don't depress the clutch ?
> 
> I agree with Peter and have heard the same about the throwout bearings.  I
>  too was taught to depress the clutch before cranking, but this was before
>  owning a British car. In fact, my old Supra required the clutch to be
>  depressed before it would engage the starter.  It was my mechanic some
> years
>  back that told me to always start these cars in neutral - clutch out. My
>  first Healey was notorious for slow cranking and I found a dramatic
>  difference when I stopped depressing the clutch - it would start much
>  quicker with a stronger crank.  Even more of a problem was my E-Type,
> which
>  at one time would hardly crank at all unless in neutral, clutch out.
>  Mechanic also advised to go to neutral with clutch out when sitting for
> any
>  period at traffic lights, etc.  He said the throwout bearings were too
> soft
>  and would wear quickly otherwise.  I was at a Moss show up in NJ years
> back
>  when a guy in a Healey next to me was having trouble due to a slow crank.
> I
>  asked him if he had the clutch in and he responded "yes". I told him to
> let
>  it out in neutral and try. It started right up. I could tell he was
> puzzled
>  why.
> 
> > Mike L.
> 
> >>From: "Peter Schauss" <schauss at worldnet.att.net>
> >>-  Depressing the clutch pushes forward against the crankshaft, putting
> an
> >>extra load on the thrust washers at a time when there is no oil pressure
> >>to
> >>lubricate them.
> >>-  The graphite throwout bearing adds friction to the whole system and
> >>puts
> >>slightly more load on the starter.
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