Some of you may recall the clutch disengagement problems I have been having for
what seems like an eternity. Well after lots of questions, research in the list
archives, suggestions from list members, and help from Ralph my VW mechanic
(who years ago wedged a 327 into his TR3B - now non running and sitting at his
garage), I have smooth clutch operation - knock on wood dash ;).
I took out the pedal box and completely disassembled it. The clevis pin bore in
the clutch pedal had ovalled out quite a bit. The hole was still small enough
though, so welding was not necessary, just drilled it so that the new bushing
w/8 mm ID could be inserted snugly, and ground it down flush with the side edge
of the pedal (the bushing, whose ID was just a hair bigger than the OD of the
clevis pin, was made out of some sort of lubricative metal, which Ralph uses
when rebuilding VW carbs!).
So I repainted the pedals and the box gloss black, and reassembled the box
w/new crossshaft bushings, plenty of moly grease and new hardware. The box had
peeled paint and surface rust from prior fluid leakages so it looks great now.
I put it back in the car and started it up, but still could not get into gear
while the engine was running. Damn. So I had a new clutch MC that I bought,
w/the larger 0.75"-bore from the TR250 and '69 TR6, and installed it. That
seemed to do the trick, it shifts great in all gears now. For good measure I'm
going to replace the slave cyl/pushrod/clevis, too.
An interesting thing I noticed about my old MC was that the pushrod had been
lengthened by one of the PO's, as yet another way to increase the throw.
Thanks again to DT and everyone who helped out with suggestions!
-Ryan Van Luchene
6/71 TR6
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