JPE vx hydraulic clutch

[k.russell]

could any of the vx owners offer detailed advise on the the hydraulic clutch on a VX JPE 250ish hp. seals had gone after the car had stood for a while, repaired by approved dealer but now leaking again. my car has a cable operated clutch so i am not familiar with the parts involved. but understand the inner part of the slave is pitted and has been worked on, this has compounded the problem. apparently this part is no longer available, i find this hard to believe this so if anyone could offer advice on parts to make a reliable fix it would be welcome, the car is newly owned by a new member to our community and he has yet to drive the car, but it will be used mainly on the road.hopefully in the near future.

i believe options to be -

replace slave cylinder parts if they are available with new seals

replace with an exterior slave from another caterham model, VVC?

replace with cable and new bell housing and exterior tank

 

[captain chaos]

Hi

I suffered with the seals leaking on the std CC integrated dry sump system...I swopped to a std bellhousing and then used a hydraulic slave cylinder (from Superclutch) for which you can buy some spacers from burton power to bring the CRB upto the face of the cluch cover. I've had this for 6 years...it leaked once which required the usual engine out Obviously I had to revert to a pace dry sump tank at the time.

 

I have not seen the external hydraulic actuation system but if it works, that must be the ideal solution in my eyes. However, I have no problem with recommending the system I have too and both require a change of bellhousing.

 

Interms of making your current system more reliable; I'm not sure thats been achieved by anyone on here. certainly when I looked at making the change I thoroughly researched the issue and ended up going the way I did.

[Richard Price]

Kev,

I worked on a JPE just over a year ago with similar problems. The piston was quite badly pitted, so the seal life would have been very poor. I only fitted the parts, but I think the owner of the car obtained a replacement piston and seals direct from Titan.

On that car, the pressure plate and the flywheel were also very worn, we had to have the flywheel refaced.

If its a JPE beware, it may well not have standard flywheel to crank bolts. I recall they were ARP and only available from Swindon.

 

I'm not realy sure why the VVC uses a hydraulic clutch (it may be because of an issue with clearance between the clutch cable and the plenum), but it uses the standard bellhousing, arm and CRB. There is no room inside a VX belltank bellhousing for an arm.

[ECR]

This is worth a read.

here

[k.russell]

thanks for the input guys, a new cylinder is comiong to start with if this fails then we will look at the alternatives suggested.

[Paul McKenzie]

This is some advice I gave to a Club member who had the same prob:

 

"Visually check the bore the slave runs in for pitting (from the acidic

clutch gases). If it's ok, as mine was, carefully replace the seals and

re-install the slave (lube the bore with clutch fluid) and then simply seal

the clutch end of the bore using GM sump sealant which is flexible and

non-acidic...don't use silicone which contains loads of acetic acid.

 

It it is pitted or scored (as my mate Simon's was) then consider having the

bore sleeved with stainless which is what we got done by Dave Brookes

Engines in Crewe. Then seal as before to keep out gases and grit.

 

Both methods have been fine now for around 3 years. Both of us are careful

to give theclutch a weekly or so workout during the winter layup months to

try and minimise the risk of the seals adhering to the bore."

 

Hope this helps

 

Paul