> The clutch pedal in my 1973 Midget is very soft and has a quite long
> travel.
> I guess the first thing to try is to bleed the hydraulics.
>
> Although I am familiar with the basics of blleding clutch or brake
> hydraulics I would like to ask is there is anything "Spridget-specific"
> I should know before doing this job.
> The slave cylinder appears to be quite well hidden - I noticed that the
> hydralic pipework disappears under the starter. Is there an access
> panel to get to the slave cylinder form inside the car or do I need to
> jack the car up ?
Sure didn't take you long to figure that out, Ketil! <G>
Several answers for you:
1. Yes, you should probably bleed the clutch.
2. It is not at all uncommon to have to rebuild the slave cylinder (yes,
they did hide it well) after a period of inactivity, or even after replacing
the clutch disk due to the travel in the cylinder moving to a previously
unused portion. You can frequently clean out the cylinder with a piece of
Scotch-brite plastic pot scrubber on a stick in a drill, put in new rubber
pieces and be back in business.
3. Yes, there is a rubber plug on the right side of the transmission tunnel
to access the bleed screw.
4. If you remove the cylinder, it can be quitre difficult to bleed it again
when you put it back in. There are several techniques for doing it, ranging
from "reverse bleeding" where you connect a line from the front caliper
bleeder to the clutch bleeder and pump the brakes until you have filled the
clutch line, to the "Mity-Vac" which is a hand-held pump that can be used to
suck the fluid through, to attaching a bicycle innertube with a hose-clamp
to the top of the master-cylinder and filling it with fluid then pumping it
up with air pressure.
You can tell by the number of solutions out there that this is one of the
more arduous tasks on a Midget. Don't give up when you can't get any pedal
at all and wish that you had never started, just make the car think that you
are frustrated and about to sell it and it will promptly bleed properly.
David Lieb
RWA Midgets
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