Hopefully this will be an easy answer, so I recently purchased a new clutch assembly, have fitted the flywheel to the engine etc however reading though the Morris minor workshop manual it mentions the clutch assembly having to be balanced, as the assembly came as a kit will it of been pre balanced? If not is it a specialist garage job? Clutch assembly purchested from ESM - http://morrisminorspares.co.uk/shop/pro ... de7922f5d8
Any additional guidance will be greatfully received as well
Tom
Purchased from ESM the clutch kit should be a fit and forget solution , i.e. no need for balancing.
I'm assuming you're happy with the need for "centering" the plate using a clutch alignment tool ( they are relatively
cheap to buy , borrow if you can , or some people use a dowel of some sort , wood or metal. If it is not the right size they
expand it by wrapping some tape around a few times ). The Manual describes the process , some people even do it by eye !
Whatever you do tighten the bolts evenly , each one half a turn at a time working diagonally , back and forth around the perimeter. That is both the friction plate and then the whole clutch assembly. Don't attempt to tighten fully , one bolt at a time , it will put stress on the plate and might break it.
Coat the face of the thrust bearing and moving parts like the actuating arm with copper ease. Do the same on the gearbox input shaft , it will help you when you come to sliding the gearbox onto the engine. If the input shaft moves about too much put the gear lever into 2nd gear temporarily. Put some masking tape on the gear lever to remind you later it's in gear.
The face of the flywheel you fitted is clean and non greasy ? Otherwise a quick squirt of brake cleaner and a wipe with a clean rag would do no harm !
Try and keep your greasy hands away from it from then on.
Good luck with it.
Bob
Make sure that you fit the friction plate the correct way round. It should be stamped "flywheel side", but some modern kits seem to omit that very useful phrase. If you removed the actuating arm from the gearbox, then make sure that you fit that the correct way round too. Even after doing too many to count, a moment's inattention can lead to having to take the engine out again after the clutch fails to operate correctly
Don't forget the new carbon thrust..... and don't hit the operating levers and springs on the pressure plate as you ease the engine back on to the gearbox. Is the oilite bush in the flywheel tail ok ? I assume it would come with the 'kit'...
Just thought I’d share some ideas on aligning the clutch thrust plate. I fitted a new clutch housing (along with new clutch plate and carbon release bearing) and assumed that it would have been pre-aligned. After heaving the gearbox back in to my horror there was a nasty vibration when pushing down the clutch pedal and I needed the full range of the pedal to disengage. Obviously the kit was not aligned and I could not find the alignment tool anywhere. Gearbox out again and after studying the Workshop Manual I noticed In a sectional view that the caps of the thrust springs (this applies to the 948 housing, it may not be suitable for the 1098) were nearly the same level as the surface of the thrust plate. So, I put a straight edge across two of the caps and aligned the release levers so that the surface of the thrust plate rested exactly on the side of the straight edge, while ensuring the straight edge still rested on the top of the two caps. I repeated this for all 3 of the release levers until there was no visible gap between the straight edge and the thrust plate surface across all angles. Gearbox back in and voila! perfectly aligned thrust plate and no problem disengaging. Hope this helps in future?
