Clutch rod’s connected to the …what the
Betting has closed.
3rd Anyone missing fingers? Some thought it was a clutch finger. I always thought the metal was too thin for this but you never know what goes on where no-one can see (especially if you are an Austrian with a young girl hidden in the cellar).
2nd The good money, if I may say so, was on the thrust bearing giving up the ghost with a piece of the cage getting caught between the flywheel and starter gear and another jamming behind the flywheel and block. Pretty close but not the major cause.
1st Well this was interesting and shocking at the same time.
Rolled the car into the backyard and jacked her up on stands. Took out the passenger seat –wait for it- so I could get under the carpet to undo the four bolts securing the gear level boot in place. Then undid the two bolts holding the shifter to the gearbox. I had already changed the bushes on the shifter and they still looked fine. While I was standing, I undid the top starter bolt, leaving the cable and lower bolt for ‘ground time’.
I assumed the position (under the car) and undid the speedo drive, clutch rod (ah, the good times we had that day), the gearbox mount and drained the oil from the box. I had only changed this oil not that long ago and it looked like new.
With the box drained, I undid the four bolts securing the rear uni joint to the diff. I then carefully slid the drive shaft and yoke out of the box. Don’t forget to mark the uni joint before you remove it and to tape the ends of the uni joint so the roller bearings don’t go everywhere.
I then undid the four bolts securing the box to the clutch and bell housing. With the jack under the box, I took a bit of weight off sufficient to slide (yes, slide they did- must have been watching what happened to the front spring bolts) and the mount dropped out. Then with a bit of careful manoeuvring I slid her back and eventually she was free. Input shaft looked fine but the thrust bearing had as much play in it as our 10 month old Golden Retriever.
Bell housing was next and after a bit of tapping to loosen her up she came off. Hold-on, where did that bolt come from. Then it was revealed.
A bolt had come loose and jammed between the floor of the bell housing and flywheel. A bolt? Don’t ever recall a floating bolt system in use in these things.
A closer look at the clutch itself showed this:
After I undid the clutch bolts- and they were not that tight- the actual problem showed itself.
One of the bolts holding the clutch to the fly wheel had come loose and been flung around the housing. The piece of metal I found in the starter I dare say is from the bottom of the bell housing. I am not sure if anyone has seen this before but it would have to be pretty rare I suspect.
While I am here, has anyone any idea what the shimmering on the mating face of the clutch is? The same mottled pattern is on a portion of the flywheel. During the week I will unbolt the flywheel and take it to get machined.
A couple of questions:
Any recommendations on clutches to put back in?
Where in Canberra can I get the flywheel machined- reliably?