Within the old VEX clutch, there is a spring. Could a team take apart a clutch and use the spring for something?
Yes, in the past is has always been clarified as legal, and you can do some cool things with them.
I thought this was illegal I would check with Karthik before doing anything with them.
This clarification is from 2 years ago. Nothing has changed in the manual wrt clutch springs since then but if you want to be completely sure ask in the Q&A a when it opens.
https://vexforum.com/t/answered-removing-springs-from-clutches-r15-r5/24736/1