"Peter Dohm" wrote in message
. ..

The damper, which is indeed a relatively expensive part, is on the other
end of the engine and is intended to eliminate resonance within the
engine. A breif treatise, which probably started as an an internal
document at one of the big three auto makers, has been included on this
forum a number of times and is probably in an issue of Contact! Magazine
as well; but I can't find a copy on my current computer.

I could easily be incorrect about the purpose of the springs, but another
article from Contact! regarding the development of the BD-5 drive train
(which I also can not find) does provide some food for thought.


I have seen the BD-5 article, and agree totally with it, and the article
referenced above. My only doubt is Detroit's intent when originally
implementing these spring mechanisms.

Years ago during my auto racing days, a custom clutch builder related to me,
that the springs served only to reduce or eliminate chatter during
engagement, and assist the smooth engagement of the clutch. Although I
didn't understand exactly how, especially at that time, I now suspect his
has a lot to do with resonance.

If the mechanisms were implemented to dampen shock loads during aggressive
driving, why would so many high performance clutch assemblies omit them?
They all seem to prefer solid clutch disks because these mechanisms are
prone to failure, especially in activities like drag racing.

Has anyone published actual tested results on the amount of torque required
to flex these mechanisms? Whatever it is, I would guess they would offer
little resistance to a V-8 crankshaft and steel flywheel assembly spinning
5000 to 8000 RPM, when someone dumps a clutch. I always assumed that's why
most of them have springs with a flat profile wire. It looks to me like the
springs are designed to be bottomed out regularly.