Thanks a bunch for the advice Optimista. Been a bit delayed with the new year - but you were right. The flywheel bolt threads were all wet and here's the mess. Interestingly the back of the flywheel itself was dry.
View attachment 1773907
I'll get a shop to resurface the flywheel. Can anyone advise if the step needs to be retained and if so what the heights/spec for it should be?
Thanks again 🙏
As Optimista said, some red scotchbrite to prep the surface would be far better than having a shop grind away material as the step height is incredibly important for clamping pressure.
I moved my original reply to your reply in my thread here while correcting it to give a more comprehensive answer:
I managed to find an almost new unmolested flywheel a while ago now, and while I didn't write down the exact step height, it is definitely less than 1mm, far less than I expected, I believe it was 0.5mm. However, as NorthloopCup advised me, skimming the flywheel is not a great idea and a secondhand replacement would be advisable instead IF you can't simply clean the surface of your current one (not too sure about the fissures, they are most likely only on the surface though). I was lucky enough in South Africa to find one from a Renaultsport mechanic who had one off his 182's original engine (he swapped in a Megane turbo engine) after a lot of searching. I SHOULD NOTE: I only had to replace my flywheel because I had it reskimmed thanks to the worn-down clutch disc's exposed rivets badly scoring it with deep grooves. After the skim the clamping force was ruined and that's why I required a new flywheel, so if your original clutch disc is simply worn but not disintegrated I don't necessarily see a reason to replace your flywheel, scotchbrite should do the trick.
I'd imagine there should be a unicorn like the one I came across for you too, 172/182s are rare over there in AU too from what I've seen but not impossible to find, even Mighty Car Mods had one on the channel 😂
I can definitely recommend Spareto for any other parts you need that you can't source locally, but it's best to buy a lot of parts to share the shipping cost. The rear main seal should definitely be replaced (I got a good Payen one off Spareto), and it's a bit of a tricky job, it mustn't be pushed in all the way, there should be about 3-5mm's sticking out evenly (check the original one if you haven't removed it yet). Some other tips from my nightmare experience is to never grease the spigot shaft or guide tube AT ALL, only a bit of Litho HT grease on the thrust bearings's contact points with the pivot and clutch fork, otherwise the guide tube will gum up and cause a VERY stiff pedal (ask me how I know🥲). The flywheel bolts can be reused according to the Renaultsport mechanic I spoke with but mine were only a few months old when I did redid the clutch job anyway after I bought them new for the the failed recon clutch. They must have plenty of blue locktite though along the entire thread, not just at the end not only to keep them from coming loose but also to keep oil from leaking out of the threads (yes, the threads are exposed to oil by design), I just vacuumed out the old locktite and the residual oil before drying with a paper towel as best as possible to get accurate torque readings.
