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Rivergate conversion problem

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C

Coastalman

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I am having some engine work done on my 1275 motor. When the mechanic pulled the tranny apart from the engine he found the pressure plate fingers to be badly worn. There is only about 4,000 miles on the car since the 5 speed conversion with the correct Datsun transmission. He said the bearing is good as well as the disk. Has anyone seen this problem or have any ideas why the pressure plate would be showing wear? The car drove fine with the only hitch being that the clutch pedal had to be pushed all the way to the floor to shift. I tried to adjust the Rivergate slave cylinder to help give me some more pedal, but the adjustment was very fine and had to be that way. The clutch master cylinder is the newer one with the plastic tank on it. That push rod is not adjustable.
Thanks,
Charlie
 
Thinking out loud here: If the pivot of the throw-out arm is too far away from the clutch, then the travel and angle of the bearing may be incorrrect. Contact Rivergate to verify how it should be adjusted.
 
Threaded rod with a coupler in the middle will solve your pushrod issues. The old Frank C. Trick for clutch slave pushrods. Perhaps bent clutch fork.
 
Since the guide tube on the transmission is removed for the Rivergate conversion the throwout bearing is not centered on the pressure plate and therefore will scrape all over the fingers of the pressure plate giving the look of "badly worn".
In the original (Datsun) installation the throwout bearing is held centered and therefore the problem doesn't happen.
BillM
 
Good info. I do have an email into Will at Rivergate asking if he has seen this. I will be going to see the car this week and see exactly what it looks like.
Charlie
 
Charlie,

A couple things:

1. Normally, this would be a result of no free play on the release bearing, but if what Bill says is true (about the guide tube), then the release bearing is not held in place properly and can tilt out of alignment, even fall off the fork. I know on the 1098, the guide tube is cut short by about 1/2"-3/4", but I didn't think it was actually removed.

2. The BMC clutch was not designed to have the release bearing ride against the fingers of the pressure plate.
 
The Rivergate kits require the release bearing carrier on 1275 engines left in place but must be (1.65”) in length. Sometimes you will find the carrier has been change with an incorrect release bearing carrier. In order for the Rivergate to function correctly this needs to be carefully checked. Their needs to be a minimum of (.125 “) clearance, preferably (.187”) between release bearing and pressure plate springs.
 
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