clutch drying out due to oils startvation, any ideas?

[KIYOSHI]

Right, this is driving me f8cking nuts!!!

The clutch on my #1 race bike is suffering from snatching due to oil starvation.

I always keep the oil level to just above the site glass, the oil feed gallery on the primary drive plate washers have extra oil grooves machined into them, the inner basket has extra oil feed holes drilled into it and i try my best to not hold it in gear with the clutch engaged on the line (this throws oil off the plates), although sometimes its just unavoidable.

Any bright ideas or shall i just keep removing and roughing up the plates inbetween meetings and fitting very expensive genuine yam plates a little more often than i should

I always remove the plates after a meeting and soak them in oil but it just does not seem to be enough. Never had this problem until this year.

[Evilchicken0]

Can't really help but .... you said Snatch !!!

Ok what you done new for this year ???
mabye the amount of oil holes doesn't allow the oil to stay in the clutch, it all passes through to quickly ???

Is there an uprated oil pump you can fit ???

[KIYOSHI]

Been thinking about this all day,,,,,,,,,,,,,,the holes in the inner basket are tiny, 2mm if i think on. original baskets have 6, mine has 18. This should allow more oil onto the clutch as this is how the plates are fed, from inside - out.

The oil gets to these feeds via 2 grooves in the primary drive washer, mine has 4,,,,,,,,,,,,still not enough.

The clutch as far as i am aware is not fed directly from the pump, more by the fact it should get piss wet through!

The only difference is the fact i have more power,,,,big power! but this should not really starve the clutch of oil.

Im going to fit a BDK clutch thrust bearing before the next outing, cant really see it making much difference apart from maybe reducing heat inside the clutch a little and preventing the mushroom welding itself to the drive plate.

think, think, think, think, think,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[Evilchicken0]

Have you tried asking BDK what they think ???

[laminator]

Random suggestion - is there a filter on the oil pump or in the sump. If there is, could it be blocked thus reducing the flow of oil around the whole engine, including the drains into the clutch plates.

[Hogdigerdy Dog]

just a thought what's the basket look like if it's getting grooved by the plates this will cause the clutch to be snatchy as it's a race bike have you welded a ring round the front of the basket as they can open out if not
and if not have they opened out a bit
apologies if this blindingly obvious, and already covered,
i was just having a think think think think think

[KIYOSHI]

Engine was new this year, no issues with oil flow, it would have gone with a huge BANG

I think BDK only do exactly what i have done to mine, the clutch is banded and is a little grooved but it never did this before and its not excessive wear (used much worse with non of this trouble)

I have a brandnew SP basket, centre and yamaha clutch, think im going to get this banded and swap them around. Still not going to cure the oil starvation but if every thing is brand new it might just help a little.

Has anyone experimented with slightly overfilling the oil? Always run mine to just above the top of the sight glass, i might try adding an extra 100mm to help submerge the clutch a little more.

Its not much fun being on the front row with a bike that either bogs down or has me crawling over the front trying to keep the wheel down with 20 other bikes almost running into your arse!

[KIYOSHI]

http://www.factorypro.com/tech/clutch_y.html

Found this, something i might have to try on the old basket.

I think new plan is to clean up the grooves and any wear, soak plates for a couple of weeks and give it one last shot, im a litle reluctant to do this on £600 worth of new parts!

Ill keep you all posted.