Hello again all , I now have the Ruby running beautifully , problem now is the clutch seams not to be doing anything at all !! The pedal goes down so far it gets stuck on the crankcase , where the starter fits in ! I can see the oiler moving through the round hole at the top , but no action ?? Any ideas please ? Thanks in advance , Joe

Joe
The pedal has probably turned on the shaft!
Slacken the bolt that clamps the pedal to the shaft and rotate the pedal back wards , tighten up and you should have a clutch!

This happened to me during the Colander build. It was quite easy for me to get access on a special, not sure about a Ruby though?

Steve

May I detail some of Steve's good advice. What he suggests is certainly the first port of call. On a Ruby without a mutilated floor the pedal slot will not allow it to be brought back enough to carry out what he suggests in this case.. what I do in this case is. Loosen the pedal and pull it back as far as it will go.then using a thin rod push the clutch relase bearing through the inspection hole until it touches the release levers. Hold it this position. then tighten the clamp bolt ,and try it. mac

Thanks both , we are setting off for the MOT today ! Thanks , Joe

Dave Mann wrote (on the BA7C Longleat Rally thread):
One box of dirty bits produced some 3 speed clutch toggle arms at £1.00 each. Cleaning them of half a century's crud revealed no wear marks and comparing them with ones I already had (I've made a gauge to compare the arms) revealed that that the contact point for the release bearing was 3/8" nearer the release bearing than used and repro 3 speed ones and 4 speed ones. I know Austins say to bend them, but has anybody successfully bent original arms? Don't try and bend the new ones they break, I learnt the hard way! Is this why so many 3 speed cars have the clutch pedal almost on the floor? Any comments?

Ian Moorcraft wrote:
I have original 'new old stock' arms on my Chummy, the clutch has at least 1" travel, it catches quite a few A7 drivers out when they drive it. As for bending the old ones, Austins did show a tool for doing this but it is hard to imagine it would work!

In answer to Dave's query, I agree that worn clutch levers are the main cause of poor clutch pedal travel.

I build the worn parts up with weld and file back to as near the original profile as possible. One point to watch is that the ends of the levers are the exactly same distance away from the pressure plate, otherwise the clutch pedal will vibrate.

And, no, I don't believe it's really possible to bend clutch levers successfully!

David

Other points that wear are the sl0ts in the ring on the thrust bearing and the sl0ts in the clutch pressure plate. Very badly worn parts cause the fulcrum of the clutch levers to shift to the edge of the pressure plate sl0ts, which makes the clutch heavier and fiercer.

Sorry about my disjointed reply, but it's taken me about 1/2 hour of faffing about to get this stupid forum software to accept my finely-honed pearls of wisdom. Posting a bit at a time revealed that it didn't like the word 'sl0t' spelt with an 'o', so I had to fool it by using a '0'

To err is human, but to make a real mess of things it helps to use a computer!

A7 clutches, once set up and adjusted properly, can be fine. I think we all have our favorite method of doing this mine being to drill/tap the clutch cover at the bearing point of each clutch lever and tap 1/4" BSF. I then screw in socket head grub screws and adjust each until a distance of 1 1/4" from the face of the clutch plate to the operating tip of the lever on all three levers is achieved. The actual dimension isn't that critical - having them all the same is. The grub screws are held in place with Loctite.

STEVE

I'm not keen on welding old parts so I do exactly the same as Steve, however I have long suspected that the 3 and 4 speed levers are a different shape and that the repro 3 speed levers are the same as the 4 speed and are not much use. The levers I got at Longleat and my gauge just proves it. Incidently the gauge also reveals that Austins moved the fulcrum point for the 4 speed lever nearer to the pillar (BJ13), presumeably in an attempt to reduce the effort required to disengage the clutch.
There is at least one owner who machines a new bearing pressure plate (BJ 19)having a thicker section into which hardened steel pads are fitted for the levers to bear on.
Dave

I haven't explained this very well, I havent had any problems with the 3 speed clutch. My message was to prompt some dialogue for those than do and from the close proximity of the clutch pedal to the floor on a lot of cars I see there are quite a few.
I did have a problem with a 4 speed clutch many years ago-a clutch cover plate I acquired had what I thought were 1/4" BSF plugs fitted where the clutch lever fulcrum bears. After a few hundred miles the clutch wouldn't disengage and I found that the plugs were not threaded-just rivetted in! The moral is to check any repaired part before fitting it. Another on a friends Ruby had me guessing till I looked at the gearbox-the circlip groove for the clutch thrust bearing spring had been damaged and a new groove had been cut 1/4" further back.
Dave

I have always steered away from the 'plug' idea for fear of making an already weak area weaker.