My Dad is going to destroy my clutch. Please help!

[steeloyangster]

Originally Posted by Ddreder

I know I am a little late here OP but here is my experience with letting my dad drive my cars.. Mostly my 78 z28 camaro that I let him drive since he helps me out a lot with it. Now since I dont drive it a whole lot he feels the need to mess with the carb tuning and the timing to try and get it "perfect" and when he gets done messing around with it his signature test is taking it out on the road and doing a flaming burnout in the same spot and comparing his new tracks to his previous tracks..

Needless to say when the throwout bearing explodes again I am making him buy the new one! lol moral of the story is fathers can be hard on shit. But then again so can we

Haha, thanks for the input. Too bad my father isn't really a "Car Guy". He knows how to drive them, put gas in it and change the oil. I'd like to break him into being an enthusiast but he has his own hobbies such as carpentry and a little bit of metal working. Maybe I should get him to build me an arm-rest in the FRS?

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Ddreder

I know I am a little late here OP but here is my experience with letting my dad drive my cars.. Mostly my 78 z28 camaro that I let him drive since he helps me out a lot with it. Now since I dont drive it a whole lot he feels the need to mess with the carb tuning and the timing to try and get it "perfect" and when he gets done messing around with it his signature test is taking it out on the road and doing a flaming burnout in the same spot and comparing his new tracks to his previous tracks..

Needless to say when the throwout bearing explodes again I am making him buy the new one! lol moral of the story is fathers can be hard on shit. But then again so can we

Counterpoint:
Grown children can be even harder on shit but in their youth they always believe they are right and the old guys don't know crap.
You will learn, believe me, you will learn.

[soulreapersteve]

Originally Posted by steeloyangster

That's probably what I gotta do. Get him a baby to play with. That'll soften him up. The other Grandkids are too far away for him to spend regular time with.

Get him a puppy. It's almost the same but close enough. They both poop, need to be fed, and washed.

[Ddreder]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Counterpoint:
Grown children can be even harder on shit but in their youth they always believe they are right and the old guys don't know crap.
You will learn, believe me, you will learn.

Oh how wise you are Tcoat! I was the one that blew up the last throwout bearing.. I blame genetics for my love of burnouts

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Ddreder

Oh how wise you are Tcoat! I was the one that blew up the last throwout bearing.. I blame genetics for my love of burnouts

I would love to get my hands on that old carbed 8! I don't know shit about ECU tunes but give me some flat head and philips screwdrivers and a couple of open ended wrenches and I will tune that puppy by ear to the point it will make you squeal.

[Ddreder]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

I would love to get my hands on that old carbed 8! I don't know shit about ECU tunes but give me some flat head and philips screwdrivers and a couple of open ended wrenches and I will tune that puppy by ear to the point it will make you squeal.

Yup that is the definition of my dad. Computers confuse him.. Lol. But he is retired so he has tons of time to dink around with the engine. I will admit. The car can run pretty damn sweet after he gets done messing with it.

Here is an engine bay pic for funsies. Also it was his idea for that bright ass yellow engine paint.. lol

[paulca]

How do you actually blow a throwout bearing? I have known cars with over 100 thousand miles on the original throwout bearing.

Must be dodgy American engineering.

[Koa]

Originally Posted by steeloyangster

Damn, you guys are harsh! Do keep in mind that people have different living circumstances and try not to jump to conclusions about those. I own my own house and my mother passed away a few years ago. My father was living on his own with my little brother but then recently had a stroke so my wife and I invited him to come live with us. We finished paying for our mortgage last year and we currently don't have any children so far and it's nice to have a two income household.

My father's really old school and we never really got along. But in his old age he is growing more patient but still very set in his ways. I was planning on the "Guys night out" while passively showing him how to drive my cars but was just curious if anyone else had a similar issue and if there were a better way to handle it.

talk about plot twist.. foot in mouth. Apologies for being harsh. big ups your perspective

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by paulca

How do you actually blow a throwout bearing? I have known cars with over 100 thousand miles on the original throwout bearing.

Must be dodgy American engineering.

Has been an issue with a few 86s as well. Usually caused by abuse though (not always but usually)

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&...98476267,d.aWw

[3nl]

Originally Posted by paulca

How do you actually blow a throwout bearing? I have known cars with over 100 thousand miles on the original throwout bearing.

Must be dodgy American engineering.

The same way you break any bearings - slamming the rollers into races very hard repeatedly while the races are moving at two hugely different speeds. Dumping the clutch puts a huge strain on it. You are basically slamming the races against the rollers as hard as you possibly can and accelerating them from 0-7000rpm instantaneously. Do that over and over and they are bound to break.

[Ddreder]

Originally Posted by paulca

How do you actually blow a throwout bearing? I have known cars with over 100 thousand miles on the original throwout bearing.

Must be dodgy American engineering.

To answer your question it was actually a cheap dodgy chinese engineering thing as the clutch kit we put in originally was cheap. It could not handle us.. lol But then again I cant think of to many cars that could. an 86 would keel over and die if I drove it around like that lol

Originally Posted by 3nl

The same way you break any bearings - slamming the rollers into races very hard repeatedly while the races are moving at two hugely different speeds. Dumping the clutch puts a huge strain on it. You are basically slamming the races against the rollers as hard as you possibly can and accelerating them from 0-7000rpm instantaneously. Do that over and over and they are bound to break.

And you are so correct it hurts! This is exactly why mine exploded lol. We sidestepped that clutch so many times I lost count..

The funniest part is that we had no clue that there was an issue. A few summers ago we decided to pull the crappy engine and put in a better running 350 and when we pulled the motor, what was left of the throwout bearing literally fell off the shaft and the fork. It had broken almost in half! Inside the bell housing and all over the clutch plate you could see deep gouges where the piece bounced around in the bell housing for awhile.. lol

Needless to say we went a bought an american made OE part to replace it and so far it has been holding up well. I think we'll blow up a gear in the 4speed before that bearing goes out