Dan and everyone else on the list:
[If you have other things to do right now, you might want to save this
message for later]
Here is a story of my Spitfire that kept repeating itself over the summer:
When I returned home from University in May of last summer, I went over to
my grandparents house to get my Spitfire out of their garage. As it had
been stored there over the previous winter, I made sure to have it run from
time to time and, when it was not being periodotically run, the clutch was
depressed to prevent it from freezing. Anyways, I went and retrieved my
car and, as if by magic, after reattaching the battery and checking all of
the vital fluids and pressures, a few seconds of cranking the car and she
was up and running. I changed the oil and did all of the other out of
storage preventive maintainence within a day or two, and went about
enjoying my car. Well, needless to say, things were too good, and the
clutch on the car went out after about three weeks. I had not put a new
clutch in the car in the time I'd owned it (maybe a couple thousand miles).
Anyways, once I figured out (after a few weeks of frustration) the clutch
was the problem, my father and I promptly removed the transmission and set
about removing the old, worn out clutch. I had another clutch from an
engine I'd purchased a year earlier, and, overall it looked to be in good
condition (I know what you're thinking). Anyways, we got the 'new' clutch
put in and everything reattached. It took a bit of tinkering, but we got
the job done. The car ran great with the 'new' clutch
for about one week. As I was going around a corner, and just lost all
ability to go forward in the car. The engine revved fine, but that
translated into no forward movement. So, I pulled the car out of traffic
(it was just on a road in town) and found a phone to call home from. The
car was towed home and the process started anew. This time, we used a
brand new whole clutch assembly from VB, and did the job right. We got the
car up and running again just in time for the gymkhana I was set to run the
next day with the IBCC. Again, the car ran beautifully. This time for
about two weeks. On a Saturday afternoon, on my way out to an auction, I
was cruising along at about 80mph on the interstate. As I took my foot off
of the gas briefly, I noticed the tach stayed up. Now, I thought this was
odd, because as I recalled, if I gave it less gas, the engine should have
slowed down. Yes, much to my pleasure , the throttle was stuck fully open.
I cruised along, slowly riding the brakes, to prevent liftoff or whatever
happens to my car at 90mph. Fortunately, there was a rest area nearby, so I
got off of the interstate still at quite high speed, shifted into neutral
while the engine shot past the red line, and killed the car as I coasted
into a parkingspot. After I did some high temperature adjustments, I got
the car back on the road running well. However, the clutch felt a little
funny after this. It felt slightly rough, I guess you could say. Anyways,
after I got home that night, I hoped everything was okay. Surely enough, a
friend and I were out in the car the next night and the clutch made a
repeat of it's early summer performance.
Things I don't do:
1. I don't ride the clutch at stoplights
2. I don't grind gears
Things I do:
1. I double de-clutch with the car
2. I always do the 2nd gear to 1st gear trick for non-synchro 1st boxes
Each time, the hydraulic system was properly bled, and flywheel looked to
be in good condition. No obvious scoring or pitting that would 'eat'
clutches. However, it was not resurfaced with any of the replacements.
I plan to simply pull my current engine out of the car (an early sixties,
1147cc model) and, after a rebuild, plunk a more proper 1296cc engine I
have into my car. Since I'll be pulling the tranny for the clutch again,
I've decided to just go the other route and pull the engine instead. It
leaks (I know, normal), burns quite a bit of oil in two of the four
cylinders, and, well, I just want the additional power.
I'm wondering if anyone has any idea why my car has taken such a liking to
clutches. Is there some arcane druid ritual I'm forgetting after
installing the clutch? Also, does anyone have the proper manifold to fit
SU's to the 1296cc engine? I don't believe the one I currently have would
work (though I'd be happy to know I'm wrong).
Thanks for enduring my letter,
Zach Zaletel
70 Spit Mk III
McGill University
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