Message text written by Roger Elliott
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I have an unusual (I think) problem with the clutch on my 80 Spitfire.
I was driving to the Heartland MG meet and pulled into a McDonald's.
The clutch felt just a little strange as I was coming to a stop.
Well, when I came back out, the engine cranked over kind of slow then
started up. I let off the hand brake and pulled it out of first -THEN I
started rolling back which seemed a little odd. It wouldn't go into
reverse without grinding, as a matter of fact it wouldn't go into any
gear without grinding.
Pumping the clutch made no real difference. It helped a little but not
much. The pedal feel is normal as far as I can tell, but I can't
shift. (I know this sounds like a clutch that isn't fully bled and not
disengaging completely, but read on.)
We decided to take my Spitfire and put it in the garage and just take
Pat's 250 to the show. On the way to the garage, I discovered that the
clutch is slipping and I can't go over 60 mph. That sounds like it
isn't engaging well enough. So this sounds like opposite ends of the
problem - the clutch won't engage fully and it won't disengage fully.
<Snip>
Does anyone have any suggestions? At the moment, my best guess is the
rebuild on either the master or the slave failed. Neither were leaking
when I rebuilt them, which was done solely for the purpose of switching
to silicone.
Thanks,
Roger Elliott
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Roger,
Sounds like your pressure plate may have some defective fingerspring
pivots. The way the pressure plate works is like this: There are a number
of finger springs that apply pressure on the clutch disk. The throw-out
bearing presses on some cantilevered fingers that operate on pivots to take
up the pressure of the springs and move the pressure plate away from the
clutch disk.
When things work right there is sufficient pressure from the springs to
prevent clutch slippage and pushing the release fingers a prescribed
distance will release this pressure and move the plate off of the disk to
allow shifting gears.
If the pivot attachments fail the springs no longer apply the prescribed
pressure nor do the release mechanisms work right.
Sorry about the bad news. If you take the clutch out you will notice that
some of the fingers are not at the same level as the others. (BTDT but on
a Mustang)
But as I always say, Check the easy things first. Sounds like you have
checked most of the easy stuff already but look for others before yo pull
the transmission and lets hope I'm wrong.
Dave
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