monkeyboy

I'm redoing the clutch in an old chevy truck that I got. When I opened the new clutch kit... it looks different than the old one. The old one had 3 fingers on the pressure plate. And the new one has like twelve fingers. The old onehas round coil springs and the fingers work like levers on it. The new one the fingers act as the springs.
My question is... Which is a heavier duty unit? The only style clutches I have ever worked with were like the new one. I wanted to know this for future reference to when I go buy a new clutch for my '85GT. ( Or are they all like the 12-finger clutch?)

silver91gt

not sure about chevy clutches, but if its for the same year/make/model truck it will work

67mustang302

The newer style is a diaphragm spring rather than 3 finger levers, it provides good clamping force but with a lot less pedal effort than the old 3 finger style. That's why some clutches in older cars used to be pretty heavy to operate.

aode08

yeah that sucked,

monkeyboy

That's cool. I figured the new one would work. But I haven't seen any like the old clutch before. That's why I asked. I guess that's why when I drove the truck home it was like driving an old dump truck. So I take it all the clutches in our mustangs are of the newer type? I'm kinda new to the whole clutch thing. I've owned plenty of stick shifts.... just not long enough to have to change a clutch. (LOL).

67mustang302

Pretty much everything these days is a diaphragm clutch. You can get 3 finger clutches, but they don't come in manual cars any more from the factory.

Jfsram

The old 3 finger style is plague with a basic spring problem.

The more you compress a coil spring, the harder it is to compress.
Clutches need the opposite of that. They need the most clamping force when the spring is extended. Those 12 coil springs in your 3 finger clutch are hardest to compress when your foot is to the floor and it's disengaged, not when you most need it.

HACKGT350

that old one is a heave duty truck you usually find them in 1 tons and desiels