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TR4/4A Clutch hydraullics question

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Randall:

Thanks for the help. I will try things this weekend to see if I can break it loose. I'm still not completely convinced that it is rusted. While the clutch arm is moving with the pedal, I'm not sure that it is moving enough to disengage. I will try to determine this before worrying about the rust. I have another sports car (427 Cobra Replica) in the same insulated garage that is parked for long times as well and I have never had the clutch plate rust to the flywheel in 22 years of ownership. I guess it is possible - it just doesn't seem likely to me. That plus the black fluid in the clutch master cylinder still has me leaning towards a bad master cylinder seal (rebuilt about 1 1/2 years ago). I will try to concentrate on this car over the next weekend or two until I get it figured out.

Thank you everyone for the suggestions and support as always. Great forum. I will let you know what I discover.

Corey
 
That's good thinking, Corey. You should be able to see about 5/8" movement at the clevis pin. And even if you are getting enough movement there, the problem might still not be a rusted clutch disk. It's more like one of those things that is worth trying, because it is a lot easier than having to pull the transmission. In nearly 40 years of TR ownership, I've only had a rusted clutch once.
 
Thank you all for the help and advice. As usual this group was right on with the diagnosis. I had a chance to work on the car this weekend and I was able to get the pressure plate unfrozen from the flywheel. It had rusted to it as suggested. I have never had this happen on any car before and was surprised by this action. I was able to get it started in reverse gear and it popped out fairly quickly. Thankfully!

I went ahead and replaced the clutch Master Cylinder and the plastic tube to the slave. I put in the stainless braided line to replace the tubing. No issues with the swap out and it all works great. I will be interested to see if the fluid gets dark again or if it was a result of the rebuild kit a year ago. New parts and new fluid, so I should be good to go.

To close the loop on another thread about exchanging the gas tank, I installed the replacement tank from Victoria British this weekend as well. All went well except that the space between the side mounting brackets was an 1/8" too narrow for the replacement tank. After a small amount of grinding on both ears, I was able to install properly and so far all seems to be good. Many miles ahead will tell.

Thanks again to all for their opinions and suggestions. I really appreciate the solid help.
 
I bought my 1958 TR3A brand new in May, 1958. It sat in my dry warm garage from 1972 to 1987 when I started my restoration which I completed in 1990. During the restoration, I changed all the rubber seals and rubber brake and clutch hoses. I have used purple silicone brake fluid (DOT 5) since 1990. I now have driven 115,000 miles since 1990. I noticed that the purple colour had turned black about 1994. Since then I have changed the seals in both the master cylinders as well as in the clutch slave cylinder. Any time I bled the system, I got black silicone brake fluid coming out. I am of Scottish descent and we hate to throw things away. So I saved this black brake fluid in a glass bottle and noticed about a year later it was purple again with a lot of black sludge in the bottom of the bottle. I canted off the purple fluid for use at a later date.

In 25 summers of driving my TR3A with "purple" brake fluid, it has always remained black in the reservoir as well as in the lines and I've never had any issues because of the colour.
 
George - I tie the dental floss all together again for later use. But the knots get stuck between my teeth !

Cheers

Don

BTW, I have the same wife, the same house we have lived in since 1968, the same CCM bicycle with 3-speed Sturmey Archer gears I bought in 1951, the same TR, and so on. And I still weigh 150 lbs. for the past 50 years. We just got rid of the cedar patio table we bought in 1969.

Here is a photo of Louise and me in 1956. I'm 18 & she is 17.
 
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