Bloody Clutch!!! - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

chevaps · 12-24-2004, 16:32

I think Russ put this is an earlier post, but the SR (CL) clutch is really poo!!! Especially if u put a di*khe*d like me behind the wheel.
Lets just recap a night which saw the car reek of clutch ALL night and it probably still does this morning.
Tryin to be a smartass, do a lil standstill. Rev the car, get the momentum and the adrenaline rushing. Dump the clutch, the engine bouncing on red line and limiter, the car aint moving, but no smoke and tyre screeching.
So you put 2 and 2 together. Its in gear, hitting redline, but no tyre smoke, CLUTCH!!! but it was too late, the acrid smell of the clutch filled the car within seconds and the streets too and it did so for many hours. I reckon with that stupid move i would have burnt off half the bloody lining.

I tried telling my mates what happened, but they just starred at me, and one came with the comment, my astra hasnt done that, and i dont think it would too. Bloody focuses. Grrrr. I just told him i burnt another mate's dad's astra off the lights the lights the other day. Go Foci!

I just hope i havent ruined anything in the car lol. Once again im probably gettin paranoid but it just doesnt seem to be driving like it used to. Never again am i gona do that till i get a new bloody clutch. After an incident like that, is there something i should be worrying about???

Matt, in the time you have worked at ford, can u tell me is it possible to put a zetec/st170 clutch in an SR, cost is no option, i just want:
a) a firmer feel
b) the clutch to actually do its job.... GRIP and NOT slip

Tom

chevaps · 12-25-2004, 00:59

by the way, i forgot to mention

MeRrY ChRiStMaS everyone!

rob_o · 12-25-2004, 23:31

Im assuming you have just worn the clutch down a bit which will need replacing sooner than usual.

Zetec · 12-26-2004, 02:34

Mate if you don't do stupid things like attempt burnouts then you won't need a new clutch. You've got a perfectly good car there and unless you're going all the way and actually need a stiffer clutch then just enjoy it. Avoid burnouts and you won't need to worry about how soft it is, no offence. I tried it once in my car and had the same problem, although it wasn't anywhere near redline. I just don't pull stuff like that anymore, it'll only hurt my car.

Yes you can put a Zetec or ST170 clutch in although they are both mated to different gearboxes so I imagine the linkages would be different. The Zetec has an MTX75 and the ST has a Getrag so they're both not a natural fit anyway I assume, although I dare say the Zetec box (MTX75) has to be pretty similar. I only work in Marketing so have little to do with the mechanical side of the cars more than just opening my engine bay so I'm not necessarily the best person to ask, just my experience from hanging around all of these knowledgeable peoples like Lincoln aka "Bibendum", Tim aka "Mod man" and others... that and an educated guess!

Just enjoy your car, don't do burnouts and have fun through the corners instead of on the straights, if my car was to be a quarter mile warrior or a burnout machine I'd have bought a powerful rear wheel drive... then I'd have to build my own racetrack so I could get away with it!!!

chevaps · 12-26-2004, 03:07

nah, i hate doing full blown burnout, never have not even in my falcon and prolly never will... its the whole respect thing, my parents bought me the car and if i go off doing stupid things, id feel REALLY guilty about it. This whole post ive made was from being worried i ruined the car.
But i wasnt tryin to deliberately hurt it, more so to get a quicker take off, but the end result was as i described.
Ive done this a few times before (about 3 times at some lights) and got the wheels chirpping a tad from a good quick start, but this time it went all wrong. I never intended to pretend i was in the summernats fully goin thru a set of tyres in one night, a darn right way to throw away your money in leaveing all that relatively "expensive" burnt rubber on the road.

BUT with the whole clutch issue, of all the cars ive driven, i have a MUCH MUCH more direct feel with the stiffer clutches and it may sound stupid, but i do actually drive better with a firmer left pedal. Especially when the pedal actually pushes out on your foot, rather than the pedal going however high your foot decides to move.
My girlfriends dad lets me drive his Maloo R8, clutch almost as firm as pushing on a brick wall, but i love it!! You know that every ounce of power coming out from the engine is being transferred into the gearbox, even at high revs, and afterwards, it doesnt smell like its being tharshed. Unlike my focus, which after a bit of a tharsh (to my 5000rpm limit, never taken it above that apart from the other nite which i didnt realise would happen), you open up the engine bay, and even though its a quick in and out of the clutch, you can still smell traces of clutch indicating it does give way a tad at higher revs.

But enough said, i just wanted to add that in my defence coz im not a tyre smoking yuppie and dont want you guys to get the idea im trying to be a try hard here or anything. As you say, have fun around corners which i do readily, and its great coz some of my mates shit themselves and ive even been told im not a rally driver lol which once again, im not trying to act like one.
Am getting my car lowered after i come back from melbourne in a weeks time so it should get in and out of corners slighty faster than now

Zetec · 12-26-2004, 04:07

The Focus does respond extremely well to lowering, being a well sorted car it still survives even a big drop quite well, has composed suspension.

I was just trying to help out with the whole clutch thing, I mean it is a little softer than the rest of the Focus range, mine lives between 3,000pm and 6,500 and it's liquid gold up there, smooth as, I just love it, but that's just my zorst which gave it a second breath of life above 5,500rpm compared to stock

I generally run by the rule that if it's not easy, it's generally not good for the car, if the car resists, such as burnouts, flat shifting and handbrakeys... the Focus just grips too well to need to have fun doing anything else other than carving up the corners

fordel · 12-26-2004, 06:44

You cant compare a stock CL clutch to a maloo extremely different

the CL clutch is very soft thats all there is to it, the ST's feels like a brick compared to it

Chris

Timmeh · 12-27-2004, 03:19

whippet_zetec went thru a clutch in his Zetec Focus, and he doesn't drive it like a loonie. I am guessing there must be some quality control issue on some, as it is not a CL/SR specific problem.

My CL clutch is fine, I am not stupid with it but I don't treat it like glass. Resty also went thru a clutch in his Zetec actually, remembering.

Tim

fordel · 12-27-2004, 04:34

waiting to kill mine, i did on my last manual :D

there are some weird noises coming from it at times, that noone else can find *shrug* wait till it dies then tell them they have to fix it

chris

12-29-2004, 01:21

Hi All
I too have had a clutch issue. Sometimes, when i bought it new, it would pop put of gear in 1st. it also felt a bit spongy. i put this down to not having driven a manual for 6 yrs. It went for service and they adjusted the clutch and the problems went away.Hopefully for good. I give it some revs and do a british touring cars style start off the mark and find that it likes it.Havent done any burnouts tho and i probably wont even try. Being higher geared than some 4cyl's it has been handy off the line giving it a few more seconds start off.
Hope everyone had a good christmas and hope to see more focus owners here in WA.

Cheers

Ant