NEW / Flywheel/ Clutch slips...HELP

Hi all, I installed an aluminum flywheel with a new clutch kit and am having clutch problems. It's is slipping. Is there supposed to be any free-play between the throw-out bearing and the clutch cover? When I push on the slave cyc. pushrod there is no free-play. Anybody got any answers short of pulling the engine AGAIN?
Thanks
maueman from sunny Florida
dual webers 40
180 psi compression

What car is it?

Hard to tell without knowing the car. Make sure the correct throw-out bearing is installed, some are crowned while others are flat. If you changed the fly wheel the required throw-out bearing may have changed. I had something like this when I swapped flys and clutchs between an 1147cc and 1300cc Spit. (also the throw-out bearing bushing is different between the two engine types)

[ 01-04-2004: Message edited by: 64Spitfire ]

[ 01-04-2004: Message edited by: 64Spitfire ]</p>

Hello Maueman,

in short, yes, there must be some freeplay.
Before you remove the box again, it is worth trying either a shorter push rod or maybe repositioning the cylinder with spacers etc to see if your clutch action is normal when you have free play (about1\8")

Alec

[ 01-04-2004: Message edited by: piman ]</p>

Good point. If the new flywheel is thicker than the old one, the pressure plate will be further back in the bell housing.

Another possibility is that the distance from the surface of the flywheel to where the throwout bearing rides is greater than it should be. It is sometimes interesting the little differences that crop up with replacement parts...

It could be that the pressure plate is enough further back that its trying to push the throwout bearing further back than the clutch fork and the push rod from the slave cylinder will let it go.

When you loosen the mounting bolts for the slave cylinder, is it being pushed out by the rod?

If so, remove the bolts and try fitting it back in by hand. When you first feel some resistance, measure the gap between the mounting surfaces. refit the slave cylinder with enough washers on the bolts to hold the gap you measured.

Try the clutch then. Adjust the number of washers as needed to get the clutch operating properly, then measure the final gap you come up with between the mounting surfaces.

Remove the cylinder and cut that much off the end of the rod that inserts into the cylinder. Round the end off like the origonal end and reinstall everything without the washers. DO NOT LEAVE IT WITH JUST THE WASHERS.

That "should" solve your problem assuming all this is the problem.

If nothing else, the push rods are cheep and easy to find, and its a heck of a lot less effort to try it than to pull the engine and transmission out again.

Sorry the car is a 1978 Triumph Spitfire,
Rebuilt engine dual 40 doce webers. OD tranny
thanks