[Spridgets] 5 Speed Clutch Problem

[rrengineer at dslextreme.com]

Trevor,
     I have a brand new flexible line with woven stainless steel on the
outside made up by Paul.  I doubt there is a soft spot in it.  The
bugeye slave cylinder IS smaller than the 1275 slave cylinder
already.  I think the key thing is the long travel of the pushrod
into the master cylinder with no movement at the slave.  It does not
look like there is any pressure building up in the system until the
clutch pedal is almost all the way to the floor.  I rebuilt the
master last night and am waiting on a couple of gaskets for the
master front cover and lid to put it back in.  We'll see what happens
from there.
Mike MacLean
60 Sprite
56 BN2


trevorwj at insightbb.com
> What type of line do you have between the master and slave?  Maybe it has
> a soft spot?
> If you switch to a smaller diameter slave, then you will get more slave
> pushrod travel, but it will require more pedal effort.
> Trevor
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: rrengineer at dslextreme.com
> Date: Tuesday, June 5, 2007 2:02
> Subject: [Spridgets] 5 Speed Clutch Problem
> To: spridgets at autox.team.net
>
>> A while ago I put Paul's conversion in my Bugeye with a rather
>> expensive1275 build.  I was hoping for a really fun car to
>> drive, but no.  There
>> has been this clutch problem I am just getting around to trying
>> to fix.  I
>> actually took 3 days off work to do it.  The problem is the
>> mastercylinder  pushrod goes in almost all the way with no
>> back pressure until
>> the pedal is almost to the floor, then it gets real hard for the last
>> couple of inches.  You can only change gears when you push
>> it right down
>> to the floor, just barely.  I kept the 948 slave cylinder
>> and attached it
>> to the Datsun 5 speed trans.  There is only a very slight
>> movement at the
>> slave cylinder (how much movement should there be?)  Gerard
>> and I worked
>> on this problem for a while and he even put an extension on the
>> bleeder.
>> I can bleed it from up top.  we were sure that we got the
>> air out of it.
>> I pulled the master cylinder today and have it on the bench to
>> inspect for
>> problems.  It was brass sleeved by White Post in 2000 and
>> the bores still
>> look very smooth.  The rubber looks O.K. too.  I'm
>> going to replace it
>> anyway as it is already apart.  The kit says "Made in
>> England" "NS"  "UDB"
>> on the cups that go on the pushrod and "Made in England" "OCJ"
>> on the cup
>> that gets pushed down the bore.  Not Lockheed.  Any
>> one have any ideas
>> what could be wrong.  I'm hoping the slave is not the
>> problem.  Very
>> difficult to get out without pulling the engine and trans.
>> This master
>> and slave combo worked fine with the original 948 and smoothcase
>> trans I
>> pulled out.
>> Mike MacLean