Slipping Clutch in Neutral

[2005vzute]

hello all,
i was reading a thread about some guy trying to do burnouts in a VT, someone posted up a video where a car think he's doing a burnout and sittin on the spot smokin it up(it was his clutch and not his wheels)..anyways, i was just wondering for some crazy reason if your in neutral and let your clutch half out and was revving it, would the clutch still slip?would there be enough power to allow the clutch to grip and spin up the transmission in neutral or does the clutch only slip due to the stress put on it by turning the wheels and weight of the car?

i dunno if that makes any sense to you guys, and no im not plannin on slipping my clutch to find out, even though i might be waiting in the car sometimes and the car is in neutral i might play with the clutch a little bit..i can't tell the different between if the clutch is in or out...everything remains the same(engine rpm, gearstick vibration etc)...so would the clutch slip in neutral or just spin up the gearbox?

you may find me sometimes asking crazy pointless questions but i get curious when it comes to mechanics sometimes:P

cheers everyone

[jujibelly]

No, you need to be in gear. You need to transfer engine power to the rear wheels via gearbox. If there is no gear selected you're not making contact with the clutch plate this means no way to possibly fry the clutch.

However simply, if it's in gear and you ride the clutch at high rpms(not disengaging the clutch pedal fully) this will cause the clutch to slip and fry your clutch.

The clutch uses clamping pressure from the friction in the clutch to Select/grab gears, hence heavy duty clutches say with 30% more clamp etc as this prevents slippage to standard.

Easy way to find out if your clutch is slipping say 50-60 kph from 4th gear drop it into 3rd or 2nd and plant your foot it the rpm increases dramatically yet your speed it not increasing this will indicate your clutch is on it's way out oh and the distintive smell.

One other way to test it would be to "dump" the clutch but I will not discuss details cos you will probably blow your gearbox or something.

[2005vzute]

thanks dude..so i can ride the clutchin neutral for ages and it wouldn't do a thing? i don't plan to, i was just curious.

[caaf]

Well you will still be utilising the thrust bearing, so you'll only over heat up and shorten it and the clutch assemblies life.

[illusionalvr]

type in corvette clutch burnout. expensive.

[2005vzute]

hahaha that's actually one of the youtube videos i was looking at...i was thinking, seeing as though the clutch has to clamp onto the flywheel and turn the transmission, driveshaft, diff, wheels, and then entire weight of the car..would the clutch only be getting fried because there isn't enough clamp pressure for the clutch to clamp to the flywheel in order to turn transmission, driveshaft etc because your clutch is only half out..or if the car was in neutral, it would only be turning the transmission right..? so just say your clutch was half out, with the car in gear, the clutch would be getting fried, but if it's in neutral, even though the clutch is half out, would that still be enough clamp pressure to turn the transmission only or will it still slip just as much as if it had to turn the transmission, driveshaft, diff, wheels and weight of the car?

[Darren_L]

you certainly could smoke the clutch in neutral. It would take a while & some revs because there is very little resistance from the gearbox in neutral, but the clutch works exactly the same whether the gearbox is in neutral or in gear. The flywheel still spins and contacts the pressure plate which is connected to the gearbox input shaft which still spins in neutral. If you rode/slipped the clutch and revved it for long enough, the flywheel would slip against the friction plate and eventually smoke.

but why anyone would want to do this is beyond me....

[2005vzute]

yea that's what i was trying to say, the resistance thing haha..yea i was just using my mechanic brain, i don't plan on doing this, but yea, just thought i'd see what would happen...does anyone know with those youtube videos why the clutch slips before the wheels do? is it because the wheels have so much more grip over the clutch or is it like an anti-burnout thing, traction control or something?

thanks peoples=]