Fairly new FF owner looking for armchair advice from you experts out there. Acquired a RF84 Van Diemen to be used in SCCA Autocross. Notes from the prior owner say that engine and clutch only have about 1 season worth of run time since their last refresh. I did not disassemble and inspect so can not say what their conditions looked like before I started to use the vehicle. For the first ~50 or so runs car felt great!
In my 5th event on the car the differential blew up first run of the day mid course mid corner. Transmission fluid was always checked morning of each event. Car is using a Hewland MK9
My precious wallet continues to empty the more I have dug into the broken bits. Looking for any advice as to help prevent future catastrophic demise of expensive metal bits.
To start diff blew up. I think the case survived, small chip noticeable on the inside but doesn't look like it should impact anything.
Input shaft shows excessive wear on the splines.
The splines of the clutch are extremely worn down and rounded out.
Cracks all over the clutch disc - if the diff didn't bite the dust fairly certain the clutch disc would have exploded next.
The last odd thing was the uneven wear on the clutch disc itself that touches the flywheel. There is not enough friction surface contact area on the flywheel so its only using about 3/4 of the clutch disc material. You can see the groove it wore in the previous picture.
On the topic of clutches, during the rebuild I plan to change away from this 5 inch and back to a 7. Is there a well known go to option for pressure plate spring pressure? Any advice, tips, tricks, or condolences are welcome.
Thanks
-R