mk1 1.6 clutch judder in 1st and reverse

[j4ck100]

Hi Everyone,

Had my first proper drive out yesterday in the recently acquired mk1 - what a day it was!

However, I've noticed that there's an incredibly bad judder when pulling off from a standstill in first gear (non existant when pulling off in second, also present in reverse).

Sometimes it happens worse than other times, and broadly speaking the sooner you let the clutch engage the better. On some occasions it was so bad it was causing the entire body of the car to shake. What confuses me is that once engaged, the clutch is as good as gold, and there's no slippage what so ever. It also bites just about where you'd expect it to.

This leads me to believe that this could be deposits on the clutch plate and/or deposits on the flywheel? Would you agree with this?

Would this explain why it doesn't happen at all when pulling off in 2nd gear?

Is my best bet to resolve this, to have the clutch & slave cylinder replaced, and flywheel skimmed?

Anyone know if flywheel skmming is something the average garage can do or if it's more of a specialist job?

Thanks!