Clutch Woes

A couple of months ago I bought a Ferodo clutch kit on eBay for a good price.
The idea was for me to replace the clutch in the Super S myself. Although the car was running well and clutch wasn't giving me any problems, there was over 140,000 miles on the clock and nothing in the receipts that came with the car would indicate that the clutch had ever been changed.

After reading the Haynes manual and some of the threads that have been posted on this site (very useful), I decided that clutch replacement might just be a job too far for me to take on myself.

Meanwhile, my wife's LX had definate clutch problems: a very high pedal, hard to push and slipping excessively. I arranged for it to be done at the garage I use and that day we dropped it and went into the city for some shopping and lunch (Wagamamas).

Later, in the middle of lunch, I got a call from the garage. It seems as though there was a fault with the clutch kit as there was the squeal of metal to metal in there and I was going to have to pay for having the transmission taken out again and a new thrust bearing put in. If they had supplied the clutch then of course they would have to sort it out at no extra cost to me. I almost choked on my udon noodles as the cost for doing it one time was £180 and to do it again would double that. So, £360, then, for having a clutch replaced! I changed my drink order from a diet Pepsi to a large bottle of Tiger beer and told them to just get on with it as I really had not other choice. And, there was no question of impropriety on the garage, I trust these people, they have done MOTs on both Micras and were very fair and thorough.

An hour or so later I called to find out what was what and was told that everything was okay, that a bit of metal (?) had been causing the problem and the clutch I'd supplied was okay.

To make a long story shorter, I picked up the car and was charged only the original £180. They could have hammered me on the charge if they'd a mind to but they didn't. A stand-up garage.

(The mechanic was thoroughly fed up with have to take the transmission out twice, and it was a very hot day yesterday. I asked if I could buy him a few pints and gave him a tenner, which cheered him up a bit.)

Seems I have verbal diarrhoea this morning.

S

Incidentally, I took photos of the old clutch, worn to the rivets, and would like to post them but can't seem to upload them. Can someone help?
 
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