I think Frank may have something here. When I first swapped my 948 for a
1275 I retained the smooth case tranny and had to make a longer rod to get
the clutch to disengage. When I went back to the 948 the only thing that
changed was the brand of clutch, pressure plate, and release bearing. The
original rod would no longer work. Had to use the longer rod with that
combination also. The 948, the smooth case, the MC, and the slave cylinder
were born together at the factory. Of course, the MC and slave cylinder had
been rebuilt a few times, but the clutch/pressure plate/release bearing were
the only real variables.
LM
-----Original Message-----
From: Frank Clarici <spritenut@Exit109.com>
To: Steve Byers <byers@cconnect.net>
Cc: Paul Bacon <usbacons@ihug.co.nz>; spridget list
<spridgets@Autox.Team.Net>
Date: Saturday, July 04, 1998 9:00 AM
Subject: Re: spridget clutches
>Steve Byers wrote:
>>
>> I believe the design of the clutch is self-adjusting to some extent
because
>> it is intended that wear in the clutch disc friction material and wear in
>> the carbon bearing should cancel each other out. The bit about
lengthening
>> the push rod is interesting. I replaced the clutch in my '73 Midget,
>> rebuilt the clutch hydraulics, and included a new pushrod from Moss due
to
>> wear in the clevis pin hole. After getting it all together with the new
>> (correct, according to Moss) push rod, the clutch would not disengage. I
>> pulled out the new rod and compared it with the old one, and that's when
I
>> noticed the old one seemed to have an extension welded to it, rather
>> crudely. Put the old one back in, and the clutch worked normally.
>>
>> We have had this discussion about the pushrod modification on the list
>> before, and others have said they had a modified rod also, but no one has
>> come up with a good explanation for it. If it compensates for wear, I
>> don't understand why a new pushrod won't work with an all new clutch and
>> release bearing. There was a suggestion that the clutch fork might be
>> bent, but no explanation of how it gets bent. Since the rod extension
>> seems to be more than a rare occurrence, I don't think I believe the bent
>> fork theory.
>
>Steve and others,
>
>I have no proof positive on my theory but the various clutch pushrod
>lengths seem to be directly related to who's brand of clutch you use.
>I have had to use 2 different rods on the same car/engine/trans but the
>only difference was Borg & Beck clutch vs Sachs clutch. I think the
>pressure plates are slightly different thus the need for different rods.
>
>There is a certain Jap car which uses an adjustable rod very similar to
>that of the Spridget, I found one in the junk yard but the car was
>upsidedown and besides, all them jap cars look the same to me.
>
>And fashioning a home made rod is not very difficult even if one does
>use an acorn nut on it to extend it!
>--
>Frank Clarici Toms River, NJ
>Too many LBCs
>3 Sprites, an Austin A40, and an Austin Mini all on the road.
>1 Jaguar XJ6 family car, 1 Racer Midget project , & 2 Parts Spridgets
>Check out my home page at http://www.exit109.com/~spritenut
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