Recently, I rebuilt the transmission in my Series I Alpine, and
prior to the rebuild the clutch worked fine. Since I replaced
the transmission, the clutch hydraulics have not worked "properly".
I didn't do anything to the hydraulic system, other than removing
the slave cylinder from the bell housing. I did replace the
throw-out bearing and it's fork. After reinstalling the slave
cylinder, I had to pump the clutch pedal each time to get it to
work. I tried several ways of bleeding the system - finally
took it to a local british car shop. They bled the system again,
and removed my return spring because they said it wasn't supposed
to have one (according to their book). This is a heavy spring
and a somewhat home made looking bracket. After they did this
it worked somewhat better, but pedal pressure was light and the
point at which the clutch disengaged seemed to vary.
My question: what is the purpose of the return spring? I would
think it would be needed to keep the throw-out bearing from
riding on the clutch. My book shows that the car should have
one. It seems like the new fork and bearing caused the distance
covered by the spring to change (possibly forcing the piston
back too far in the slave cylinder?). Do I want to adjust the
spring pull so that the spring pull stops just back from engage-
ment? Is this spring too heavy? (definitely is heavier than the
spring in the slave cyl - it will force the piston back in the
cylinder until the spring is slack). Anyone else have a return
spring on their Alpine? Thanks for your assistance!
............................................................
Kevin Meek (kevnmeek@netcom.com) Sunbeam Tiger B382002202
Santa Cruz, California Sunbeam Alpine SI B9011324
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