In car clutch job. (sticking clutch problem found)

Started by jeff10049, October 04, 2015, 09:19:52 PM

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jeff10049

Well eff it I got sick and tired of my clutch not releasing restoration is not even done yet and here I am pulling the effin thing back apart in the car. Good news is I found the problem.  The symptoms were push in the clutch no release wait wait wait for it wait there it goes now I can shift. Checked all the normal stuff all good clutch didn't even start to grab until the pedal was way off the floor so it was not a travel problem it acted like it was sticking to either the flywheel or pressure plate and sure enough it was.

Sticking to the flywheel some sticky greasy shit was on the disk and flywheel, where it came from I don't know must have been trapped in the old clutch disk I reused the one that came with the car. Car is of the wet primary type so a previous leaking seal in the flywheel could have got oil on the clutch it was all apart when I got it so who knows. I cleaned everything with brake cleaner and put it together.

Had good material on it so I figured why not use it, my guess is after warming up a few times some old nasty oil came out from between the friction material and out the rivet holes makes since as the stuff was centered in the friction material. only on the flywheel side. This I'm sure was part of the grabbing/judder problem I was having as well.



New disk is ordered I have tried to take pictures and detail the steps for anyone needing to do a clutch in the car.

Its not hard to do took three beers and 2 hours to get it all apart.
I started by removing the coil since mine is mounted in the way, starter, and motor mount bolts to the sub frame on the clutch side.

Next  I took off the upper radiator bracket so I could jack the engine up on the clutch side without binding the radiator into the inner fender.

With the engine jacked up take off all the clutch cover bolts there is one lower one that taking off the dog bone might help gain access I got to it fine with a shorty 1/2" wrench.

Remove the clutch cover then lower engine almost all the  way down in this position you can get a 1-1/2" socket and extension through the rectangle hole in the inner fender with the wheels turned for access put a impact on it and take the flywheel bolt out.

Next get some form of flywheel puller on there what I did was put the bolt back in a few turns and then put the outer part of the pressure plate back on and put a little pressure on the three bolts with it pushing on the flywheel bolt I hit the back of the flywheel through the starter hole and it popped off. but keep in mind its only been on a short time might take a real puller if its stuck.

That's it its all out. I'll post the install when stuff gets here.


jeff10049

#1
You can see in the pic of the disk the shit is about rivet hole wide. moral of story don't reuse the clutch disk.

Yes that's blood on the inner fender those stainless bumpers are sharp as hell!

The oil seen in the pics is fresh from taking apart nothing was leaking on the disk.


Jeff

MiniDave

#2
Boy howdy, I feel your pain!

After doing all the work on Buzz I got the engine together and drove it for a few weeks and noticed that the clutch was slipping - it did not slip as far as I know when I drove the car home from Baltimore to KC, but in my rework I'd gone from a 3:44 final drive to 2:76, plus now the engine made decent power - result - trying to start on a hill I could step off the clutch and modify the slip with the throttle - then the final straw, it started slipping on an uphill on the highway.

So,  order a new clutch, out with the motor again and now it works perfectly. Of course, that wasn't the end of my clutch problems. On our next run down to the hills of Arkansas with a bunch of other Mini buddies a few weeks later the slave cylinder died. Good news was someone (Dooder) had a new one with them and an hour later I was back on the road.

My car doesn't have the hole in the inner fender, so on a previous in-car clutch job the yobbos just bent the inner fender up out of the way! I guess it might have been a good idea to make a hole in the fender for the future while the engine was out of the way, but pulling the motor is only a little bit more work.....
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

jeff10049

I thought about pulling the engine so far i'm happy I did not, we'll see how it goes back together.  Sucks doing this stuff on a car thats really nice easy to chip paint and scratch stuff.



jeff10049

Got the new disk put the car back together today went together in about a hour job went good no problems.
Best part clutch works perfect no shudder on take off easy shifts the synchros work well now that they can and thats great since I made two of them myself and if they didn't work Id have to pull it all apart and put B gear guts in it or try again making parts. Parts for this early A gear 3 sync transmission are nla.

It still will grind if you try to go first or reverse without going to another gear first to stop the trans spinning but i'm sure thats normal drag on the primary bushes and flywheel to primary gear seal.

Overall Im happy that I did the job in car if I had the parts when starting I would of been done in about 3 or 4 hours total I had no problem getting to the cover bolts with a combation of jacking the engine up and down some people talk about leaving a cover bolt out not sure why maybe newer cars? They were all pretty easy with simple tools I have at home just basic craftsman stuff. The only stuff you might need thats a little out of ordinary is the 1-1/2" socket and a impact. Or way to hold the flywheel and use hand tools to break the bolt loose, a torque wrench is a good idea for the flywheel bolt needs to go over 100 ft lbs. A flywheel puller is something else you should be ready to buy, borrow, or build.


Jeff

MiniDave

The grinding sounds absolutely normal, as long as when you stop the trans by engaging another gear it also stops the noise when you then go to first or reverse - if it does that - you're good to go!
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

jeff10049

Yes once the trans is stopped it's fine it will eventually start spinning again if you wait to long but I think its a normal amount of friction that gets it spinning considering the two primary bushes and seal in the flywheel combined with the fairly light gear train of the trans. I do wish it were a bit less on the residual drag/friction that keeps the trans spinning and I did make sure my clutch straps were level so not much else I can do. 

Main thing is its 1000 times better shifts better than ever now when driving. And goes into gear well enough from a stop might get even better with some use I don't think I've even fully warmed it up yet either way im happy with it now.

Jeff