I just heard a Beach Boy song and have always had a nagging question about it, figured here's a good place to ask it. The song, I believe called Shut Down, goes as follows (in part),

"...blah blah blah..
But my fuel injected Stingray's really startin' to go,
To get the traction I'm riding the clutch,
My pressure plate's a burning,
And she's too much..........."

My question is, I've had a clutch disc burn, but has anybody (outside of drag racing) had their pressure plate burn up? I guess I'm having trouble grasping a situation in which the clutch disc would be spared, but the pressure plate would blow. Of course, they didn't say that their clutch disc didn't burn too, maybe that's implicit in the statement "my pressure plate's burning" since the clutch disc is in between the pressure plate and the flywheel.....Maybe they just decided to mention the most expense repair item of the two, that being the pressure plate...Or maybe I've just too picky about words in songs...

 

my thought would be that they were more musically inclined then mechanically, and all they knew was that when the clutch went out the mech said they needed a pressure plate also so they figured that was the part that burned up

 

Believe it or not, you can actually get the clutch sooooo hot that you can actually smell metal burn. Not me but a buddy did that once. Needless to say, all had to be replaced. Believe me, it's a different 'smell' than a clutch burning.

 

gotta be cool now. powershift here we go.

 

Well as the song goes he is powershifting and he tells you right in the song " the machines too much!". As stated before a clutch can get so hot it actually seems to burn or really heat up the pressure plate.

 

Is that what would make a clutch explode? Or is that just from banging gears too hard?

 

My stingray's light,
The slicks are startin' to spin
But the 413's really diggin' in

"Shut Down" is a great song! Ya gotta love 409 and Little Duece Coupe, also.

Talking about innaccuracy in song, how about Bruce Springsteen's "Racing in the Streets"

The Boss says...
"I got a '69 Chevy with a 396
Fuelie heads and a Hurst on the floor"

C'mon Bruce, Fuelie heads are a small block thing!

 

Frank S

I guess so. I have always tried to drive my manuals properly, so I haven't burnt out many clutches. I did, however, completely disintegrate one when I was chasing some young punk that had been bothering my girlfriend (way back in highschool, don't ask what year). He flew down a side street and I slammed on the brakes, threw it in reverse and went about 40 mph in reverse, then (mind full of rage and no sense) just lightly tapped on the brakes then hit it into 1st and gunned it and gunned it and gunned it (Why won't it go anywhere? I was thinking). Clutch disc was toast...But my pressure plate was just fine.....

I guess my point was to get to the point of a burning pressure plate, isn't the clutch disc itself in pretty bad condition, and when you get a hot clutch disc the grip isn't as good, but the "driver" in the song still pulls to the lead.....Ever tried to shift and accelerate with a hot clutch? It's like your moving through molasses....

 

I have been reveiwing these songs and "Little Duece Coupe" kinda irks me. I mean it goes " Little Duece Coupe, you don't know what I got" then he goes on to say it's stroked and bored and ported and relieved" Friggin idoit we know what you got, you just friggin told us.