TR6 1974 TR6 clutch noise when pedal is depressed

[H20fowler]

Hi Folks! New member here and very thankful for this thread as it was very handy over the past 6 years as I worked through a complete frame off resto of my dad's (rest his soul) 74 TR6.

Project done...or so I thought...appears I have a couple issues and hope to get some solid thoughts. When I depress the clutch pedal, I get a noise that sounds like the same noise as when a power steering pump fails.

Also, I traded out the zenith stromberg's for a pair of webers and now I have an oil issue where oil is spewing out the tiny hole in the oil filler cap on top of the valve cover as well as up and out of the dip stick tube. I don't particularly want to change out the webers and have figured out that the oil pressure needs to go somewhere so I'm hoping for some suggestions of a "work around" to this.

Thanks for reading my post of woe and thanks also for the expert advise!

 

[TR3driver]

Might help if you tell us what has been done in the clutch area. One possible pitfall is that earlier cars (TR2-4) used a slightly longer front cover on the transmission. The part number didn't change, and the covers will interchange fine, until the clutch pedal is depressed. Then many pressure plates will try to grab the front cover.

The ZS carbs provide a port with a constant low level vacuum, which is used for crankcase ventilation. The Webers don't have the port. What I did on a friend's car was to add a tube from the rocker cover port to hang down below the engine, somewhat similar to the road draft tube on earlier TRs. Seemed to work OK for him; he didn't mind the car "marking it's spot" from the tube as long as it wasn't all over the engine compartment.

Otherwise, I think you'll have to cobble up some sort of PCV system, or at least a catch can for the vent line.

 

[H20fowler]

Might help if you tell us what has been done in the clutch area. One possible pitfall is that earlier cars (TR2-4) used a slightly longer front cover on the transmission. The part number didn't change, and the covers will interchange fine, until the clutch pedal is depressed. Then many pressure plates will try to grab the front cover.

The ZS carbs provide a port with a constant low level vacuum, which is used for crankcase ventilation. The Webers don't have the port. What I did on a friend's car was to add a tube from the rocker cover port to hang down below the engine, somewhat similar to the road draft tube on earlier TRs. Seemed to work OK for him; he didn't mind the car "marking it's spot" from the tube as long as it wasn't all over the engine compartment.

Otherwise, I think you'll have to cobble up some sort of PCV system, or at least a catch can for the vent line.

Thanks for the note! I don't believe any clutch work was done and I'm beginning to lean towards noise from the throw out bearing. Not sure how long the TOB will last before it decides not to rotate any longer...if anyone has any experience with how long the "death" process takes on a TOB that would be great.

Thanks also for the advise on the tube from the rocker cover port, seems to be working like a charm!

 

[TR3driver]

My experience is that it varies greatly. On my 3A, it went from "what's that noise" to fubar in just a couple of weeks daily driving (roughly 40 miles/day city traffic). Got hot and caused the sleeve to seize to the front cover, making the clutch totally inoperable. But on an old Chevy, the TOB never did seize, just got really rough and stiff. It was still more or less functional when I finally got the clutch changed 3 or 4 months later. But it wouldn't have remained so much longer, the PP fingers were just about worn through from the bearing rubbing them.

As a side note, lots of folks modify the TR6 clutch, perhaps without even realizing that is what they are doing. For example, Roadster Factory (aka TRF) sells a "magic clutch kit" that consists of non-TR parts to "upgrade" the clutch. The mods all involve certain compromises, and mostly bearings that don't work right unless other changes are made. If you get bored, you might read through the series of clutch articles starting at
https://www.buckeyetriumphs.org/technical/clutch/ReleaseBearing/ReleaseBearingWoes.htm for more info.
(BTW, in spite of the comment at the top, the article will never be updated and there is no email address for the author. He has graciously allowed the articles to remain available, but has moved on to other hobbies and does not wish to be contacted about Triumphs.)

There is also some interesting info at
https://vintagetriumphregister.org/maintain/clutch-laycock.pdf (which may or may not apply today).

IMO the problems with RHP bearings are in the past; but I don't know that for a fact. The one I have in my TR3 has served quite well for a lot of years, but I use a somewhat hybrid setup with a TR3 slave cylinder driving a TR6 clutch on an alloy flywheel. I even have a B&B friction plate under a Luk pressure plate; which is supposed to be a no-no. Checking it at roughly 50,000 miles (again mostly city driving), it appears that the flywheel surface will be worn out about the same time the friction plate goes. I put it back in as-in rather than take a chance on getting defective new parts. This time around (another 50k or so), I'll probably have to get the friction plate relined and replace the friction surface on the flywheel; but I'll keep the old bearing unless it shows signs of wear or damage.