Morris Minor Owners Club

First off, a huge thank you to Dunketh from here - He seemed to actually enjoy climbing under an old heap to get oily bolts off! I thought I worked quite qquickly, he totally put me to shame today too And a thank you to the provider of the driveway and hoist (and light after it just got stupidly dark).

Anyway, a basically brief question:

If the clutch pressure plate fingers aren't all level, and one in fact is considerably lower than the other two, could this possibly cause vibration, rattles and general not goodness when driving? And if the round metal piece that fits on the end of the fingers and is pressed by the release bearing didn't go on entirely square, or was in one of the two "wrong" positions, and the three little spring clips were a little mis-shapen, would that also be a problem?

If the answer to one or both the above is yes, I suspect I may be abusing driveways again in the not distant future. Unless I can find an affordable garage who'll do it all while I sit at home nice and warm and not covered in crud (yes, this job has miffed me a little)...

Glad to hear you got home in the end, I thought I'd check on here!
Sorry to have to abandon you 'mid-job' but it was fun whilst it lasted.

I couldn't figure out why that release ring wouldn't sit straight. If you can get hold of another pressure plate we can swap it all over again.
Trouble is, if its not being pressed on level that would affect it.. I think we just assumed (I know I did) it would 'go-in' straight with the weight of the pedal behind it.

Aside from that bloody alternator bolt it wasnt too bad a job.
The driveway and hoist are always available.

The chap who gave up his hoist, access to any tools you could ever want and a nice driveway was a guy named Ian... the worlds expert on landrovers.

btw, how did it drive home in the end?

dunketh wrote:Glad to hear you got home in the end, I thought I'd check on here!
Sorry to have to abandon you 'mid-job' but it was fun whilst it lasted.

And next time (yes, there appears to be a need for a next time) hopefully it'll be warmer, and I'll sort some form of on the job refreshments! At least we know how to do it now..

I couldn't figure out why that release ring wouldn't sit straight. If you can get hold of another pressure plate we can swap it all over again.
Trouble is, if its not being pressed on level that would affect it.. I think we just assumed (I know I did) it would 'go-in' straight with the weight of the pedal behind it.

I have a feeling one of the fingers, springs it acts on, or pivot got manged when the input shaft caught on it. This is with now in a warm room having eaten hindsight of course.

I did think it'd be fine myself, but the more I think about it the more I have distant memories of the fingers needign to be level as the pressure plate springs act directly on them - So if they're not level, the springs aren't working right IIRC.

Aside from that bloody alternator bolt it wasnt too bad a job.

The worrying thing is that bolt never did turn up! Still, I've seen it advocated on here the top one is all you need, and as the engine's got to come out again and the bottom one is a pain... ;)

The driveway and hoist are always available.

I have a feeling they're going to be revisted in the near future then

The chap who gave up his hoist, access to any tools you could ever want and a nice driveway was a guy named Ian... the worlds expert on landrovers.

Ah ha. He might have any tool I could ever want, but could it ever be found?

btw, how did it drive home in the end?

Frighteningly.

It rattles, vibrates, and generally feels like it might explode at any time. Basically, the whatever-we-broke has made it less driveable than it was! Though being the mechanically sympathetic soul I am I did dump the clutch a few times to see if the slip was still there, and as a result now seem to have discovered a bit of lash in the diff. The drag makes things tricky, and it still feels a bit sluggish rather than sharp, but there's no slip anymore So even with a probably mangled pressure plate the new friction plate can actually friction, unlike that grotty glazed blackened thing that came off. If it wasn't losing power making thing wobble instead of rotate, and didn't sound like a deathtrap about to combust, it might almost be fun to drive

I'll get the alignment tool this week and just keep hold of it til we have chance to go again. Trouble is with the owner of it mucking about with MY FAVOURITE CAR IS A DATSUN CHERRY Mk3 Fiestas all yesterday we couldn't easily get it.

Regardless, that pressure plate is bannana'd.
Do you have a spare? I can pop up and help you man-handle a lump out of something else if necessary. Let me know and I'll pop an extra wheetabix in the bowl first thing!

edit: lol at the 'cherry' comment, I'm gonna leave my 'french' intact just because its funnier!

I've had a cunning thought about the alignment - One of those extension bars, wrapped in tape to make a snug fit, and tapped into the plate and end of the crank so it all stays still while swapping pressure plates. Who says I can't creatively cut corners?

Hopefully a pressure plate will be winging its way down here some time this week - I do know of a reasonable one that even has a new friction plate under it, but though I don't see the vehicle ever being finished, I'm not sure I could sneakily get the lump out and halfinch the clutch bits! There might be a spare pressure plate tehre though (there were loads, along with all those engines etc that got skipped ).

I really don't relish doing the whole thing again, but the car's really not well so I suppose there's not much choice. Shame about not beign able to weld - Could just grinder the front off to make life easier, then weld it back on at the end!

Packedup wrote:I've had a cunning thought about the alignment - One of those extension bars, wrapped in tape to make a snug fit, and tapped into the plate and end of the crank so it all stays still while swapping pressure plates. Who says I can't creatively cut corners?

Or perhaphs you just remembered a previous post
http://www.morrisminoroc.co.uk/index.ph ... +alignment

Rog

Ah, no, this isn't the bit of tape round a bar to align it trick, it's a variation. The friction plate is a nice new one (that hopefully I haven't killed with the problems) and is now aligned as the car is back together and driving, if vibratingly.

Rather than lose that alignment and have to get it right again, I'm figuring do the taped bar before taking the pressure plate off - That way if it's all wedged tight the friction plate won't be able to move while the new pressure plated is bolted on

Now thats a plan batman!

Then just slip the cover plate over the bar.
Of course, I can provide the clutch alignment tool which'll do the same job. Its just a bar with slid-on socket type things to match the bores of the spigot and clutch... Old Skool type.

I made a Moggie clutch alignment tool, by removing a gearbox input shaft from an old box. Don't think I've actually used it yet as I thought of the idea after strugling once. Just an idea if you have an old box lying about.

I did exactly that a while ago, but there's been a lot of upheaval and I've no idea where it might now be, if it even exists any more...

I noticed a couple of places selling plastic alignment tools - Looks all the world like a plastic input shaft to me, but probably worth a fiver to anyone who ends up doing clutches more frequently than (hopefulyl!) me

I don't do them often enough to need the tool so I use a 3/8" extension bar and masking tape, cheap and does the job perfectly