Hi all,
My moderately grinding gears have finally gotten bad enough that I quit
driving the car. I have pretty much replaced all the hydrolics. Replaced
the master (new) and the slave (rebuilt), even used a different fluid pipe.
Hydrolics seem to be in pretty good condition, symptoms improved slightly
but not fixed. After seeing some recent advise on the list about loose
spings and sheared pivot pins, I decided to remove the single rail tranny
to check it out. What could it hurt, I cant drive it anyway. Here is what
I found.
(Figure numbers below are from Haynes pg 134 fig 5.1. This is actually the
wrong clutch but the lever mechanisms are all the same)
The release bearing seems to be in good condition. The hub (15) that the
release bearing (14) is pressed onto however was rubbing on the operating
lever (22). This tells me that indeed the hydrolics are working fine if it
can move it that far. I compared this to my spare 3 rail tranny on the
bench and it would not even move far enough to rub on the operating lever.
Should it even be ABLE to move that far? I noticed that the retaining
plugs (16) pivot as the operating lever is moved back and forth. My 3 rail
does not do that, the plugs remain stationary. Then, I decided to remove
the whole operating lever assembly and found that the hinge pin (17) was
not pressed in, it is actually a bolt rather than a pressed in pin, it does
however fit nice and snug. And lastly, the push rod (25) appears to have
been modified. The end that contacts the slave cylinder has been threaded
and an extention was screwed onto it to make its length adjustable, this
extra length may account for the rubbing.
I could not find any obvious damage other than the stated modifications and
mild rubbing. Nothing that would seem to cause the problems I have had.
At least now I know where the rubbing sound is comming from when I push the
clutch pedal all the way down.
So having said all that, here is my plan. Order a new 3 piece clutch kit,
it is in fair condition but since I have it out I might as well renew it.
Replace the modified push rod with a standard one. Get a real hinge pin to
replace the bolt. Replace the retaining plugs and the pin that hold it in.
I realize that this is sort of a shotgun approach to this, but I really
dont want to have to remove the tranny again if I can help it. Can anyone
offer anything else to look for while I have it all apart? I would REALLY
hate to replace all this stuff and find that I still have a problem.
The car is a '73 Spitfire 1500, but the engine and tranny are out of a '78.
Sorry for being so long winded.
David Gates
With a herd of Spitfires and all of them stuck in the barn.
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