Morris Minor Owners Club

Read a comment on the Facebook page recommending the following:

Soak the the whole thust bearing in a quality friction modified oil for at least 3 months before installing. It will last a lot longer.

As it will be at least 3 months before I reassemble Vanessa, I've got time to do this. Firstly is this a good idea, secondly what oil would you use?

Clutch bearings are pretty durable and unless you are planning a vast mileage I wouldn’t think it necessary. Several Clutches I have replaced on classic cars showed little friction wear but were slipping because the springs had weakened with old age.

As for friction modified oil, I’ve never heard of the stuff.

There’s also the risk that any oil that oozes out in use might end up on the fiction plate.

Facebook the font of all non knowledge.......
You don't need to soak it in oil, that's why it's made of carbon it's essentially self lubricating.
I seem to remember a thread on here where the poster changed the thrust bearing to a mg proper bearing?

Do not soak the standard bearing in oil, it is designed to be fitted dry. I've always managed to get 150,000 plus miles out of a release bearing with no problem. The secret is to not ride the clutch. Use the clutch purely for changing gear. If you stop moving then put the box in neutral and take your foot off the clutch until you are ready to move again. Also adjust the clearance as per the workshop manual - there's a lot of thread on the adjuster rod, so plenty of scope to retain the correct clearance.

The modern idea of sitting with one foot on the clutch and the other on the brake is lazy, completely unsuited to a Minor (it will increase wear on the release bearing), and in my view dangerous - if your foot slips you could shoot forwards whereas in neutral with the handbrake on then you should be safe.

There are release bearings available in Oz but the whole issue is highly debateable.
http://www.spriteparts.com.au/shop/perf ... asebearing


Regards
Declan

Ahh so that's why people sitting in a queue blind me with stop lights, I though modern cars didn't have handbrakes!

Glad I asked. I must admit I was a bit sceptical. I fitted a roller bearing conversation in a 1275 Midget a number of years ago, it was never right, but I sold the car before getting round to changing it back.

On release bearings, I've seen threads referring to potentially inferior items where the carbon ring is pinned rather than being glued, and breaking at the pin. Does anyone know who supplies the glued items these days?

les wrote:Ahh so that's why people sitting in a queue blind me with stop lights, I though modern cars didn't have handbrakes!

It is annoying, but some cars do it intentionally. My last two Mercs, if you jab the footbrake down and let go it puts the car into HOLD, and it sits there with the brake lights on, releasing as soon as you accelerate.

I have never heard of oiling a carbon thrust before
Oil should go nowhere near a carbon thrust otherwise it will migrate to and contaminate the clutch plate leading to slippage.
Steer well away from clutch release bearings where the carbon is secured by pinning as the are prone to breakage.
I have a roller bearing release bearing fitted to my Minor and It has never given any trouble.
Look for NOS carbon thrusts.
See info in the link below:-
http://gerardsgarage.com/Garage/Tech/TO ... arings.htm

biomed32uk wrote:

les wrote:Ahh so that's why people sitting in a queue blind me with stop lights, I though modern cars didn't have handbrakes!

It is annoying, but some cars do it intentionally. My last two Mercs, if you jab the footbrake down and let go it puts the car into HOLD, and it sits there with the brake lights on, releasing as soon as you accelerate.

Well you live and learn, had no idea of that one!

I certainly don't ride the clutch, and agree that sitting in neutral is the way to get long clutch life, thats how I was also taught. It's also putting pressure on the crank thrust bearings and causing accelerated wear there as well.

I do sit with my foot on the brake though, especially if there is no one behind me me, and will sometimes pulse the brakes to flash the lights if I see someone approaching too quick for my liking.

Don't have any choice with the Merc as its automatic, so it removes that clutch thing from the equation. I drive the Minor to remind me how to change gear, gently !.

Found this thread on the web from 1998:-

http://www.imps4ever.info/coollist/98mar/clutch.html

Gavin

Im fairly sure that the original B & B carbon rings were a shrink fit ie neither pinned or glued...

The metal case was heated and the carbon ring dropped in and tightened as it cooled

Taupe

les wrote:

biomed32uk wrote:

les wrote:Ahh so that's why people sitting in a queue blind me with stop lights, I though modern cars didn't have handbrakes!

It is annoying, but some cars do it intentionally. My last two Mercs, if you jab the footbrake down and let go it puts the car into HOLD, and it sits there with the brake lights on, releasing as soon as you accelerate.

Well you live and learn, had no idea of that one!

Most modern cars with stop start also require you to have the footbrake applied for the stop start to function. In the manual it tells you to use the footbrake in traffic. My top of the range Volvo cannot be driven any other way as the handbrake is electric and takes a few seconds for an on and off again cycle with a major fumble for the small switch by the right knee. Also think of the Automatic drivers in modern and older cars its not realistic to knock them in and out of drive every few inches on the crawl down the congested road. Some modern autos actually disengage drive when stationary ONLY IF the foot brake is applied. Sadly this is all the making of the planet police and is of course all in the name of reducing fuel consumption and thus emissions.

Many many years ago in my english days, there was an article in one of the car magazines where the Workshop was puzzled that a woman regulary had to had the clutch release bearing replaced. It got to the Point, as I remember the article, where she was refusing to pay for the new work insisting that previously the Workshop had been Shoddy.

The Mechanik, completely perplexed, asked her to drive the car so he could observe her driving Habits. No Long Story to cut short, she never took her foot off the clutch which was therefor nearly always Spinning.

The mechaniks Moral to the Story? beware the clutches of women.