[Mini] Clutch throw-out

[Anne]

As mentioned in the other message 'we' did some work on the Van last week.

One of the things was to replace the standard clutch with an uprated one.

Ever since the Van is back on the road with the supercharger the
clutch would slip if I would put my foot down.
It turned out it was a bit greasy, although the seal seemed in perfect order.
(Which can not be said of the clutch housing but that's another story)

Anywhoo,

The seal was replaced by a fresh one,
plate was replaced by an uprated version C-AHT596
as was the diaphragm changed to the 'grey' version C-AEG482

And then something weird had happened.

The clutch would not fully dis-engage anymore.
The travel was not enough for the plate to come fully free of the flywheel.

After bleeding the system and checkign for air, we figured that, even
at full throw, the slave cylinder just wouldn't be able to push the
lever out far enough to get the clutch to fully dis-engage.

After taking everything off and putting back the old diaphragm we
concluded that the old one had even 1mm more travel before it would
start to dis-engage.

In the end a 3mm washer was fitted behind the clutch bearing and now
it does again fully dis-engage.

None of the people at the DIY shop, among them experts with years of
english car experience, could give a definitive reason as to why all
of a sudden the throw-out had lost several mm.

Anyone here have an idea?

I've since driven a couple of hunderd km's without any issues, so it
seems that fitting the washer has done the job.
It still is odd though.

Anne.