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T-Series 79 Midget clutch

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donandmax

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I had about 2 inches of free play in my clutch. When things got hot it woul grind into reverse. I checked all the linkage except the pushrod end that goes into the engine because you have to pull the engine to get the pin out.I bled the system using a vacuum pump. Now I only have an inch of freeplay and my clutch engages about an inch from the floorboard. Is this normal and now would you consider this OK?
 
Sounds to me like something is out of kilter at the top end...ie you may have the wrong little linkage rod in the connection from the pedal to the master cylinder. It ought to start to diengage after about 3/4 inch of slack at the pedal and be clear out well off the floor, like an inch or so. That or maybe someone put the wrong slave cylinder on and it doesn't have enough stroke.
 
I had a problem similar to that. Your clutch does disengage or does not disengage at all? Even with extensive customization, the clutch on mine is still not exactly high up (but that's ok, at least it completely disengages!). I can describe the problems that I believe caused the problem, but I eventually went to refitting a custom cylinder setup. That's reasonably impractical on a dual circuit brake setup, so I can't recommend it for later Midgets.
 
Matt, My clutch works very well. Its just that pedal travel is about and inch from the top to just when you feel it start to resist foot pressure. I heard 1/8 of an inch is normal.. Now when I depress the clutch all the way to the floor and put it in gear and start to release the pedal it grabs pretty quick, It'll starts to grab about 1/2 inch from the floor. I'm wondering if this is a sign of a clutch starting to wear put or is this normal. I know on my pickup the transmission starts to engage about 2 inches from the floor.
DJ
 
I think this is normal. Perhaps before you had a clutch in need of bleeding. There is one more thing to check however. In the pedal box, the clevis pin and pushrod can be worn. When the pushrod holes widen or the pin gets sloppy in the hole, there will be too much free play in the pedal. This equates to a less effective pedal. See if these items are worn by removing the plate underneath the coil (coil gets unbolted when you unbolt the plate). It should have 4 small bolts in it (either flat or phillips head) located roughly at the four corners along the longer sides (top and bottom). Other than that, I'd say it's awfully hard to quantify how far the pedal travels before you feel force in a meaningful way, and no two cars are exactly the same (so you don't have a problem). Hope this helps!

Matt
 
Matt, I checked all that "stuff" yesterday and found no worn linkage in fact it all looked new. I think your right
it may be normal for this car. Anyway "If it ain't broke don't fix it" applies here. Thanks
DJ
 
make sure the cross over flex pipe is still good. It tends to collapse after a number of years of use and becomes a choke point. it eventually collapses completely in the vacuum stroke.
 
Jeff,I was out driving today and the transmission got harder and harder to shift. Finally it would just grind when I tried to put it into reverse. I have about 2 inches of free play in the pedal. And when you let out the clutch it engages about 3/4 inch from the floor. I bled the slave checked all the linkage except the rod going from the slave into the engine.(cant see that unless I pull the engine) The PO said the clutch had plenty of "meat" left on it.Cant figure out why I have so much pedal freeplay. Do you think thats the problem or is it the clutch or even transmission ??
Don
 
Hi Don, have you looked at your shoes to see if the clutch master is leaking onto them?



mark
 
The way the problem came on, I would bet it is the clutch and not the transmission. Make sure that your free play and disengagement checks out the way you described the problem. The engagement should have a reasonable amount of travel at the slave cylinder after the disengagement event occurs. If that is true then the PO probably ate some of the meat on the way to the sale.
 
The most common problem I've seen related to this question is free play between the clutch pedal and the clevis rod pin the goes into the clutch master cylinder.
The upper end of the clutch pedal has a hole in it that the clevis pin goes through (to connect it to the master cylinder). This hole becomes elongated with use. One of mine did this and I simply welded it closed and redrilled it (and added some grease). The pin itself can also become worn. A tiny amount of wear in the pin or hole translates to a huge amount of slack at the pedal.

The hydraulic system is basically self adjusting, so if the clutch disc wears (within normal limits) the system will compensate for this. If the clutch is worn beyond normal limits, it will usually slip (you didn't mention slipping, so I'd guess it's still OK). If the rod on the slave-end wears a bit, this wear will also be made up by the system (unless it is very worn). You might have some lost motion as a result of a very worn throwout bearing, but it would be very noisy when the pedal was depresssed. I guess it could be the pressure plate yoke, but these are pretty durable and I haven't seen a bad one yet.

If you have the original plastic line that connects the slave to the master cylinder, I'd replace it as a matter of course.
All of this assumes that the clutch system is fully bled....they can be a bit tricky to get that last bit of air out.

As a temporarly solution, if your trans is grinding when engaging reverse, pump the pedal up and down a few times and then put it in second gear before shifting to reverse.

You may have better luck if you use the "search function" in the 'Spridgets" section of British Car Forum (most of the MGs at this part of the Forum are MGBs and MGAs). Also, your car has the same drivetrain as a 1500 Triumph Spitfire, so you may wish to search the Triumph section for some more info.
By the way, if your car has been grinding for a while, be sure to change your trans oil soon. Older Spridgets use motor oil in the trans but your newer Spridget uses normal gear oil.
 
Ok guys I went out and shifted the transmission in all the gears including reverse. WITH THE ENGINE OFF..It shifted smoothly into all gears. I guess that eliminates the transmission. I ordered a new slave cyl. from VB (they have them on sale until the end of the month) I also ordered a new plastic line to go with it.Now all linkages seem to be tight, except for that long bolt that goes through the brake and clutch pedal. On the clutch pedal there is a very tiny bit of play when you push on the bedal you can see it move forward ever so slightly (1/16 In.) or less. Can this cause all this problem..??
Thanks for the replys guys.I'll take each one into consideration..
Don
 
Pulled the slave cyl. Crud leaking out of the front. Inside lots of rusty looking pitting and crud.. Looks like I may have found why clutch not working !!I'm surprised it got me back from Cal. to Co.
 
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