Listers:
All of you who have been following my "PI on 5 cylinders" saga will get a
(rueful) smile out of this story.
Following Derek's excellent advice from the list, I fiddled with the
dribbling injector and then let the fuel pressure clear it out and bleed out
the air. Within seconds, it was spraying a beautiful mist of gas into my
glass jar. So I reinstalled it without replacing it and the car ran like a
dream. My fire extinguisher helper/14-year-old son hopped in and we took a
10 minute ride together. We were thrilled and brought it back into the
driveway.
Just before exchanging high-fives on our minor success, I brought the car
(almost) to a stop and depressed the clutch. No luck. The clutch pedal felt
normal, but the transmission didn't disconnect from the flywheel. I slammed
on the brakes before driving through the garage door and the car stalled. I
popped the lever into neutral, started it back up, but couldn't engage any
gear because of a lack of clutch function. No change after the car cooled
down.
OK, this one I can't fix myself. My mechanic suggested that it was a
throwout bearing, and told me to buy a new complete clutch kit for him to
install later this week. I have read Nelson Riedel's extensive clutch
section on the Buckeye Triumph website, and I mentioned to the mechanic that
Nelson suggested replacing only broken or worn parts, but my mechanic says
that he has replaced a very large number of TR6 clutches and has had the best
success installing the entire kit.
I called TRF and spoke with John. He recommended the "magic clutch" kit with
the Toyota throwout bearing. He said that both his customers and his
personal experience with this kit is better than with any other kit. It was
on sale, so I bought it and had it shipped to the shop.
Am I on the right track here? The clutch seemed perfect until last night. I
do not know how old it is. The trans was fully rebuilt in 1998 or so by a
professional shop for the PO (I have actually spoken with that mechanic), and
it shifted beautifully, so I suspect that the clutch dates from then.
I wish this were as simple (and cheap) as a clogged injector...
Thanks.
Michael Samuels
'70 TR6 PI CP 5179 LP
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