Morris Minor Owners Club

Oh dear Jessie is living up to her namesake and being cantankerous at the moment!

I have a Midget 1275 engine and matching 4 speed gearbox fitted to a 1962 4 door .

I have had to replace the clutch release bearing as the old one disintegrated.

I have had the engine and gearbox out to do this (rightly or wrongly, it was easier to work on anyway!)

I replaced the thrust bearing, the clutch plate had only done about 1000 miles or less and still had not worn appreciably so I refitted that.

I replaced the Midget thrust bearing forks (for hydraulic clutch) with a Minor one (for manual clutch) so I could fit the correct adjusting rod. I also replaced the forks bearing whilst I was at it.

I replaced the layshaft as the holes were oval together with the rubber and bronze bush on the chassis leg side. I also replaced the spring and the bearing on the gearbox side just for good measure. This together with a new adjustment rod meant that all this area was new and free from wear.

It all went back together OK, engine started first pull, good sign I thought..........................Wrong!

I now can not select any gear with the engine running. I have tried adjusting the adjusting rod up to its fullest. This means the clutch pedal has virtually no free play and is hard to push down (obviously wrong). It will just grate and crunch if you try to select any gear. (without the engine running the gear selection is quite normal.)

Can you suggest what has gone wrong? I am pretty sure I replaced the clutch plate the correct way round (could this be the problem?). The springs in the clutch plate looked OK. The cover is a Borg Warner type and those springs looked OK as well.

I am resigned to take the gearbox off again tonight but if anyone can throw any light onto my problem it would be gratefully received.

Is the engine using a Midget flywheel and clutch - or Minor flywheel and clutch ? I suspect the Midget assembly needs the Midget fork arrangement - and vice versa.

It is using Midget flywheel and Clutch (6.5 inch).

I have swapped the forks as the Midget one had a fork at the end (outside the Bell housing) to take the Hydraulic pushrod, and the Minor on has a hole to take the adjusting rod.

Aye - but it may have other differences too. Can you look inside the bellhousing through the access holes and see how much clearance there is from the carbon to the clutch thrust pad ?

I wonder if the thrust bearing has become slightly displaced its always best to check the clutch is operating correctly before final tightening up.