First Line has underlined the clutch expertise of its Borg & Beck brand with a further investment which will enhance quality control and test equipment in its bespoke technical centre.

Located in Banbury, Oxfordshire, the technical centre features several testing stations and contains a range of specifically designed equipment. In order to stay at the forefront of product development, Borg & Beck engineers have designed some precision measuring equipment for the clutch quality control process to ensure they can continue to accurately check clutches and provide a premium product for each and every customer.

The state of the art precision machinery is designed to ensure consistency of quality and specification across the clutch range through unique software developed to meet the company’s stringent requirements when testing for characteristics such as, torque capacities and cushioning elements of driven plates, and the new automated test rigs to check the full functioning characteristics of clutch cover assemblies. The equipment is also used to provide solutions for manufacturers or companies where the original clutch is no longer available or a solution is required for a unique vehicle problem, emphasising Borg & Beck’s technical excellence.

As a result of the company’s investment in its facilities and engineers, Borg & Beck says it has the knowledge and ability to take its clutch specialism to a new level as it has, for example, adapted the driven plate equipment to be able to test dual-mass flywheels (DMF) up to 260mm. This enables Borg & Beck to guarantee that its single-mass flywheels (SMF) can match the DMF specification as closely as possible.

Besides approvals and batch testing, the equipment allows the team to fully inspect and examine warranty returns to ensure the clutch is performing to specification, across a range of test criteria.

In many modern vehicles, manufacturers have replaced certain components, such as the release fork, pivot ball and bearing retainer, with a hydraulic concentric slave cylinder (CSC) release system. To reflect this development the Borg & Beck tech centre has a bespoke heat testing chamber for CSC’s. The chamber simulates the operating temperatures and puts the CSC through a lifecycle test to ensure the seals all perform to specification. With the capability to complete pressurised seal testing at 140 degrees, each unit is put through more than 100,000 cycles, the standard measure for original equipment (OE) manufacturers.

Having such a comprehensive test facility on site, allows Borg & Beck to underpin its reputation as a leading clutch specialist.