ford escort clutch springs?

[corax]

the other day i was talking to a friend who said he used to drag early 80's gs bikes (he had 2, i think he said 1100 & 750). he said one of the tricks they used was putting ford escort valve springs in his GS for the clutch springs. has anyone else heard of this? do you know what year & engine escort to get springs from? if not, i just might have to spend some quality time at the local pick-n-pull junkyard with a micrometer & take some measurements.

 

[SqDancerLynn1]

USE the stock springs if it is a street bike

 

[scotty]

and if you rerally need heavier springs buy them made specificsally for your machine.
In the 60s, nothing was available so guys had to improvise. if we wanted to stroke a sportster someone had to steal a 750 flathead and use the crank and rods form it. today exact parts can be purchased for just about any application.

 

[bwringer]

Seems like a lot more work than exercising the ol' Visa card. Besides, how many junkyards are left that will let you go get your own goodies?

Actually, heavy-duty clutch springs are fairly cheap compared to all the other expenses of bike ownership.

Mechanically, there's no reason I can think of that some sort of valve spring might be a workable clutch spring substitute. I don't know if I would particularly want some worn-out Ford/Mazda part, but valve springs are pretty durable items. They have to go through a lot more use cycles than clutch springs...

 

[johnrregan]

clutch

clutch

barnet springs, with barnet kevlar plates. got em in my kat 11, best clutch i ever had in a bike, it wont ever let go.

 

[wayne cooper]

Kevlar plates

Kevlar plates

Curious, how well suited are kevlar plates when it comes to street use?

 

[scotty]

I had Barnett racing clutch fibers((probably not kevlar but i dont know)) in my suzuki--I took them out after about 50 miles because they were dragging too much. Im still not sure why it happened. folks say it is typical of barnett. This all happened before i was aware of the effect that oil visvosity haf on clutch dragging before warmup. I went to the OEM stuff wit HD springs and never needed more even with 166 10.5/1 comp pipes, reworked carbs and lower gear ratio.

Just sticking my 2 cents in

 

[Road_Clam]

I had Barnett racing clutch fibers((probably not kevlar but i dont know)) in my suzuki--I took them out after about 50 miles because they were dragging too much. Im still not sure why it happened. folks say it is typical of barnett. This all happened before i was aware of the effect that oil visvosity haf on clutch dragging before warmup. I went to the OEM stuff wit HD springs and never needed more even with 166 10.5/1 comp pipes, reworked carbs and lower gear ratio.

Just sticking my 2 cents in

I had a Barnett setup in my 1990 ZX10, and NEVER again! The clutch would constantly shudder under normal, dead stop driving conditions. If I beat the clutch, it performed awesome (after a fair amount of fade). I have talked with other guys with Barnett experience, and the clutch pull is brutal with Barnett springs. I had a hydraulic clutch, so I didn't nitice a huge difference. (strictly my opinions)