Hi its me again can anyone tell me if there is a way of assembling the clutch without special tools etc if not are they available for loan or rent etc.

regards Mike

Hi Mike

I just clamped mine up with G clamps and bits of wood. The mousetrap springs were very difficult and I cant realy remember how I did it in the end, but I know it was fiddly!!!
Would be nice to hear from someone who has a favourite technique for this job!

Steve

I use a rug making hook to pull the ends of the springs through the hole. You can get them from most good craft shops.

Good luck

Ruairidh

My springs must be very worn or am I missing something.

I put one part of the assembly in a large vice and use a 'G' cramp on the opposite side. do them both up gradually until both plates are tight together. now the springs should slip out, sometimes with the aid of long nose pliers. For assembly I simply push the wire spring ends into their holes by hand.

I have three ¼" BSF bolts about 1½" long which I use to start screwing the cover plate onto the flywheel. They are short enough so that when they are done up you can fit three of the correct length bolts to continue compressing the clutch springs. Then remove the three long bolts and fit the other three correct bolts before finally doing up all six together.

David

THANKS FOR THE INFO GUYS Ruairidhs tip worked just great after I bent the new springs just a little.

I hope to be reassebling the engine and gearbox into chassis tomorow I need to get on the road befor the good weather goes
Mike

The clutch springs etc seem to be a problem and there is also talk (at times) of bending the levers, yet I see from another piece of Forum input - am I loosing my mind, was it this Forum or the A7OC's - that Sandy stated his NEW linings were 0.130" (Hundred and Thirty Thou) thick, yet the old 'worn' ones were 0.145" (hundred and forty five thou) thick, that is 0.030" (thirty thou) thinner - because there's two of them - before he even puts the linings in the clutch/flywheel.

Was it Malcolm from the Cornwall Club who was looking for faulty items, well these may not be faulty but they are certainly not up to OME standards - therefore all those precise measurements in Woodrow are to naught if the linings are wrong to start with.

Naomi - Yes I'm back, been sailing round the Med. for the summer....... If you've got it, use it. *********

It would be good to get a lot more feed-back on the thickness of new linings. Can others confirm that they are now noticebly thinner? Recently I had to swap the clutch assembly from one engine to another and was surprised and disappointed at the higher bell-housing /toggle measurement in the rebuilt engine. I didn't suspect the linings in the rebuild as they had previously only seen about 3,000 miles "duty". The "old" engine and linings which had notched up some 15,000 miles gave a much better figure. But now, as you imply, it looks as though we will have to revise some well established datum figures and take even more care with fulcrum points.
Ron

I would have thought a difference of about 15 thou per lining or 30 thou total in the overall thickness would make very little change in spring pressure. What would appear more important to me is the material available for wear, ie the depth from the working surface to the tops of the rivet heads. Are the modern linings made of stronger stuff so allowing the material under the rivet heads to be thinner for an equal rivet depth? This would make the linings lighter. (Irrelevant considering the weight of the flywheel). Or are we being fobbed off with short life linings? The argument is somewhat academic in my case since I invariably reline as a result of oil contamination rather than wear

Martin

No problem re spring pressure. But only a small change in the thickness of the lining will have a noticeable, and adverse, effect on the position of the toggles where they make contact with the thrust mechanism.
In discussing this with Brian Haines yesterday, who has recently fitted new linings, he confirmed that he had found the rivet heads now came nearer to the friction face. Also he "felt the new linings were thinner than the old ones taken out".

Ron