Sandwich plate

[jpayne]

To use one or not?
that is the question.
The cosworth and pinto ones are different. Anyone have a cosworth Sandwich plate, the flat metal shim betwen engine and gearbox.
Cheers

JP

[wayovermyhead]

I'm pretty sure they are just there to stop debris and dirt entering the bellhousing. Never heard of any reason to run one other than that. Could be a good thing if you had a sudden big fluid/oil leak at speed aswell, might just be the difference between wiping up the mess and having to dissasemble the clutch. I just made one for mine for the lower half to keep the crap out, that way I can remove it if need be to inspect without removing gearbox. Took about an hour to make a neat one with some thin sheet and some shears.

Llewellyn

[gen mk 1rs2000]

heard storys about the 2 cast iron faces chafing & wearing the block & bellhousing badly

[jpayne]

So Steve is that a vote for or against using one.
Wont take much to cut one out of 1.2mm as a spacer/sandwich or just the muck shield alone. I will be running the shield. but looking at pros and cons as I need to make a decision about it before I can measure up the block to gearbox dimension to set the hydraulic bearing height up.
Cheers

Justin

[Neville Bertwistle]

As Llewellyn said its only there to cover the gap on the drivers side and stop crap getting into the bellhousing. If you run an alloy sump and bellhousing then you don't run one, as the sump has a bit on the drivers side that fills in the gap. There's nothing technical about having the plate there and the distance to the clutch etc. You could quite easily not run it and just make up a small section to cover the gap and then have the benefit of removing it at will.

[jpayne]

Thanks guys,
Cosworth alloy sump and T5 alloy bellhousing and alloy starter motor mount. Looks like I don't need to run one. I Will make up a shield to keep the mess out.
Thanks,

Justin