360 Brakes & Clutch

[foggyjames]

Hi all,

I've long moaned about the 360 brakes being pants (fine if you're going up hill, or you have time to change down a gear or two, but no bite 'in gear', or downhill - hopeless if both! I need to tow with this car!), but now I have a new moan.

Just while I'm here - how easy are the brake swaps? I'm going for a 440 turbo set-up (vented) on the front, as I figure this will be the closest match, but is it a direct swap? Trouble is *power* as much as cooling - hence I'm not sure the 440 upgrade will help.

How easy are the other swaps - I believe Kev S has BMW 3-series brakes, and Mark H had Cosworth and now has VW Corrado brakes. How easy were these swaps, if youre listening guys, and how much were the bits?

Anyway....back to the point...CLUTCH! Its cerrrrap!
Ours has always juddered once 'warm' (continual stop-start climb - eg: motorway congestion on a hill), but recently its been really bad. Felt like it was gonna break the gearbox in London last week.

Basically, under a heavy load (in the London case, myself and three adult passengers + luggage), after about 10 minutes of heavy usage, it seems to get hot, and start juddering at the point of maximum stress on the clutch - ie just after its started moving, and as you start to accellerate. It doesnt shake at first - only in the middle of the pedal travel. Adding revs helps the smoothness, but makes the heating worse long-term. Garage man says the pressure plate is slightly worn (was my diagnosis too).

So whats the news here? Is the clutch just two small (I noticed the clutch in the new cobra (dont ask....just so happened to notice) is about twice the size - and therefore many times the surface area! OK we're talking about 350+ BHP and a heavier car....but only heavier by about 300kg, and I wanna put a turbo motor in this thing ~200bhp!

Do I just need a new clutch? Can I fit a 740 clutch, or is it too big for the 360 bell housing? Can you mate the 740 bellhousing to the torque tube on the 360?

I'm a bit concerned that this clutch is eating itself, and to be fair, I'm really not asking that much - its not a performance car, and I'm well off the weight loading limit for it! Bearing in mind that I may wish to address both those points (turbo motor, and using it for towing), I don't have much confidence!

Any ideas / thoughts / advice very much appriciated!

Oh...and got wasted off the line by a new 2.0 mondeo the other day. Not happy! To be fair, I wasn't trying that hard (launched at 1200rpm, not 3000, as you need to in order to storm away), and I had 3 more people on board, and probably 30-odd less BHP! I have the flatter torque and power curves though, I bet!

cheers

James