Crower Clutch Set-Up

Maybe someone on here can help me out with this or at least let me know I'm headed in the right direction.

Motor: 498 C.I. hemi with nitro veney heads, nitro pistons (6.5:1) compression, nitro cam, and a 14.71 spinning 40% over all running on methanol. Making approx. 1200 or so h.p.

Last season we used a crower "fuel" slider clutch with 8 grams of weight on each finger and 45 thou. clearance between the discs, and the stall springs all the way out, and then 1/4 turn in.

B&J 3 spd. (can't remember ratio and I'm not home to look, but fairly standard) and 4.30's with a 34.5" tire.

At idle with the clutch pedal out and off the brake the car wouldn't move. A small amount of throttle would get the car going. I would launch at idle, or just off idle. (Got some odd looks from all the other TA/FC guys).

We ran low 7's with big M.P.H. (195ish) which is what we expected putting the car together. Horrible 60' times as well, but the car will carry the front wheels just off the ground. It's very sensitive to the 1-2 shift and will rattle the tires if I drive it too far out.

The Problem: I can't get a good reaction time out of the car to save my life. Don't get me wrong, it very well could be me, but all of my reaction times were in the .21 range and very consistently there. Either I consistently suck or the clutch is taking way too long to lock up. I honestly don't think I can cut a better light without guessing.

The discs are in the same condition they were in when we put them in the car, 20-30 passes ago.

My theory is I just need to put a pedal clutch in the thing and stop messing around. Any thoughts on how to set this clutch up better or do you agree with my theory and think I need to just trade it out for a decent pedal clutch?

My dad used this exact same set-up years ago when he ran a CIFCA car and got it to work pretty well for him, but he can't remember how he did it.

Thanks for the space and the help.

 

clutch

we run a crower glide in our car. blown 23 t bucket with a Donovan on alky. 8-71 blower, lenco 3 speed. .980 60' times and could get down some tricky tracks when the foot clutch guys just buzzed the hides. I had a few rt's in the 460-480 range, pro tree .400. depending on the track, I'd run the clutch with .30-.35 gap, .40-.45 good track. your weights are about right, and the static is right there. contact me and I can give you my dad's #, he is the Crower ace...mike

 

Crower Glide Clutch

Chris it looks like the .045 air gape is about right, but the stall looks light I would add one turn to the stall springs. The other thing that makes a Crower glide quicker on the starting line and more consistent is the engine idle speed. Crower glides are very sensitive to idle speed. At idle with the pedal out you should have to hold the brake to keep the car from moving. With the clutch out, set the idle speed around 2,200 or 2,300 rpm to start, then go up or down depending on weather you car hold the car on the starting line or not. Remember to keep from overheating the clutch pre-stage the car using the pedal, and then take you foot of the pedal and use the brake to bump in to stage. The reason it’s rattling the tire on the 1-2 shift is too much weight on the fingers, try putting about 20 to 25 grams total, you do not want the clutch to hook up until around 6 to 7 thousand rpm. Hope this helps, let us know how it works.

 

Crowerglide Clutch Nostalgia A/Fuel

Good thread:
I would like to see if anybody is willing to post some information about Crowerglide tune-ups for Nostalgia A/Fuel.
NHRA Heritage series rules are 500ci max and I see most cars running Crowerglide style clutches and Lenco two speeds.
I am curious how much gear % change on the two speed.
Nitro needs load I'm wondering how much rear gear also.
Thanks: Matt

 

Your motor and Engine/DS will guide you in counterweight setup. If your discs haven't changed condtion in 20-30 passes you've either got 5135's or the clutch isn't slipping enough early. When you launch, is the RPM jumping and then dipping, slowly coming up or jumping up and staying fairly flat until top of the gear?

 

No-tug glide problem

You need to set the clutch up to get a 200 rpm "tug" on the motor when the engine is at idle, the clutch pedal is released and you're holding the brake. The car should always move when you relase the clutch lever and the brake, otherwise you have to use the throttle to make the car roll, and that is not how to set the clutch up. Get that 200 rpm tug and you will see the car move a whole lot quicker. You are losing all the time it takes to get the clutch engaged at the hit that you would already have if the tug were set right. Your 60-ft times and your reaction numbers will be were they should be and then it's just you that is the variable, not a mis-asdjusted clutch.

Jim @ Southern Floppers dot com

 

When was the last time the stall springs were changed? What color spring are you using?