John....
I had the same "intermittent" problem with my clutch at one time, it turned
out to be worn out throughout bearing. The carbon had worn in the middle, but
left a ridge around the circumfrence, so at times when the ridge would hit the
clutch plate it would disengage, but other times when hit in the center it
would not. This is likely to happen if you have slop in the bolt that the
fork pivits around, so you might want to check that.... The fact that your
engagement point is right off the floor also points to the through out
bearing...
Check the list wisdom on replacing it with one of those ball bearing types, I
think I heard that they tend to fail rather suddenly. My experience is that
the carbon ones don't last as long as the clutch disk. I added a return spring
on the clutch fork to reduce wear, seems to have helped alot.... Good Luck..
cheers
-dave-
John Trindle wrote:
> Please forgive me if this has been a recently answered question. I've
> been off the list for a couple of years, while my B has been mouldering at
> a friend's house due to lack of funds. A rod bearing was spun, and the
> rod itself (as well as the crank) damaged.
>
> Well, now the engine is back in the car, and runs great. However, we
> canNOT get into gear without grinding. Sort of.
>
> The symptoms are now that you can get into first or reverse once without
> grinding. Subsequent attempts in the same motor run fail, with grinding.
>
> Turn the motor off, grumble a while, and try again. Same thing.
>
> If you start with the car in reverse (or forward, I think, but I haven't
> tried it) after a rest, the car starts without moving. As you raise the
> pedal the friction point is *right* off the floor, but the clutch engages
> smoothly. Any further attempt to shift fails. If you shut off the
> engine, and put the car into gear (just like before) and start, the car
> moves immediately.
>
> It's like it "recovers" after a time. Even at its best, it's unusable
> because the friction point is so close to the floor.
>
> The pedal feel is very good. It's been bled a couple times with an
> EZ-bleed with no further improvement.
>
> The master cylinder is new. The slave has been rebuilt in the last week
> with a kit (new seal, boot). There is no mechanical slop on the pedal end.
> The clevis bolt from slave to clutch fork is new, because the one which
> was on the car when it was parked was badly worn. The hole in the clutch
> fork is round, the one in the slave fork somewhat ovalled. (HOWEVER,
> remember the clutch worked OK just before the engine blew up, and it
> would have had that same ovalling then, plus the worn clevis).
>
> We've pulled back the clutch fork with a come-along, with the slave
> disconnected, and the clutch does disengage and we can go into all gears.
> Unfortunately, we didn't measure how far back that was.
>
> The slave fork/bolt/clutch fork end moves 5/16 or 3/8". There is no
> visible movement when you hold the clutch pedal down. There is no fluid
> leaking from the master or slave.
>
> *sigh*. Any ideas? Thank you very much.
>
> --
> John M. Trindle | johnt@tsquare.com | Tidewater Sports Car Club
> '73 MGB DSP | '69 Spitfire H Stock | '88 RX-7 C Stock
|