I was suffering from the notorious TR6 clutch release bearing squeal - that
machining-like squeal that occurs when you first touch the clutch pedal.
Everyone on the web seems to focus on the release bearing itself as the cause
of the squeal and there has been much written about the different styles of
bearings available (OEM equivalent and the larger Koyo bearing) - with the
conclusion by some that all of them are crap and will eventually squeal.
When I pulled my tranny, I found that my standard-sized release bearing and
the fingers on the B&B pressure plate were just fine, there was no evidence of
wear at all (both were replaced two years ago and have less than 4,000 miles
on them). Further exploration revealed a worn pilot bush in the flywheel -
with quite a step in the ID.
I then did a lot more research on web and found an article by Brent Kiser and
Tom Fremont. Brent swore that the after market clutch covers are all inferior
to the original Laycock. Tom had a more interesting idea: he said that the
mounting holes in the aluminum bell housing elongate after multiple tranny
removals and this causes the center of the transmission input shaft to drop
and no-longer spin at the same center as the flywheel bush.
I then had a good look then at my bell housing and almost all the mounting
holes are severely elongated. All this now makes sense. My local
transmission shop swears that a worn pilot bush will also result in this kind
of squeal.
Has anyone else encountered and fixed this (assuming that the mismatch in
rotating centers is the cause of the squeal)? Has anyone on the list repaired
and remachined the mounting holes in their tranny bell housing to get things
re-centered again? Or does anyone know where I can get a replacement bell
housing with good mounting holes - or gawd forbid - they must be expensive, a
new bell housing?
Brian Lanoway
1973 TR6
Winnipeg, Canada (where it's still minus 27C today!)
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