Winter repair plan[s] for my 74...

[Jer]

Release bearing failed on my 74 back in September, wasn't about to rush to fix that late in the driving season, made use of my CAA coverage & had it towed to my mother's place where I have the shop to perform repairs... car is just a driver, from the research I have done Borg & Beck is the safe plan for a clutch and to make sure that I use a release bearing that does not have the "roll pin" in the side because they have been known to fail prematurely, not sure of the quality of the release bearing that the borg & beck clutch kit comes with, I would assume it's better than some other sources. I have read good things about the peter may engineering replacement, but for a driver if I get a good quality release bearing I'm not sure if it's needed, as long as I remember to only use clutch for shifting & not hold it in a lights etc. (like I had done before because I did not know about the goofy release bearing that Spridgets have :-s).

Also the layshaft has always been noisy in this car so while I have the tranny out I thought I might as well look into that... never worked on a gearbox before & considering I'm a few hours away from Grand Rapids MI I'm considering attending University Motors for a gear box tech session in March, that will save me much frustration I would assume !

Also will replace oil pan gasket (Payen of course), engine & tranny mounts (any suggestions on a good source for these I have read the usual suspects quality is suspect) - U-joints were replaced 2 years ago, rad hoses, fuel line, head gasket, bypass hose, carbs rebuilt all last winter.

Any thoughts or recommendations ? Fortunately my 67 ran fine & behaved this summer so I will only have to focus on the 74 (again) this winter.

 

[Jer]

Took the motor & tranny out this morning, 3 hours from draining fluids to having the motor & tranny separated... not a bad job to do, never done on a spridget before - Now... I was sure my release bearing was shot... they say a picture say's a thousand words...

 

[Bayless]

Yep, I think you diagnosed that one right. I wouldn't reuse it.

 

[Trevor Jessie]

I'd go ahead and renew the bushing in the fork arm pivot. It may feel ok, but after you clean the oil and clutch dust out of it ... it will probably wobble. I think some of these get beat up as the throwout bearing is taking a beating on its last leg.

 

[Rut]

I don't know, looks almost new to me!

 

[nomad]

I'd go ahead and renew the bushing in the fork arm pivot. It may feel ok, but after you clean the oil and clutch dust out of it ... it will probably wobble. I think some of these get beat up as the throwout bearing is taking a beating on its last leg.

Agree with Trevor completely and would add that you should check to make sure your TO arm isn't bent and that the new TO bearing ends up exactly concentric to the exactly centered main shaft when you're done. I blame a similar mess in my BE a couple years ago on a TO bearing that wasn't running true because of a bent arm.

Kurt.

 

[Jer]

Agree with Trevor completely and would add that you should check to make sure your TO arm isn't bent and that the new TO bearing ends up exactly concentric to the exactly centered main shaft when you're done. I blame a similar mess in my BE a couple years ago on a TO bearing that wasn't running true because of a bent arm.

Kurt.

Good advice from you & Trevor, I will check both of those things out , Thanks - I don't want to have to go this deep again for a bit ! wheeew did that thing ever blow !, I don't know the history of the car, but I have put a few thousand miles on it since I bought in fall of 2010 - It had been apart before but not sure when or what was changed... very little warning, I was driving one day & didn't notice any issues, the next time I go to back out of the garage & I hear some nasty growling when I touched the clutch... at least it happened at home in the driveway !
!

 

[Jer]

Clutch fork was toast, bent & twisted ! I was fortunate enough to source a good used spare from another participant in the University Motors Gearbox session earlier this week (thanks David !!)

John Twist & his gang put on a great gearbox session, I got what I was looking for - a rebuilt gearbox & the confidence to do the one for my 67 on my own next winter ! I f anyone has been wondering about attending one of the sessions at University Motors I highly recommend, it was a great experience - wish I wasn't fighting a stellar head cold, but I still made it

Hope to install motor/tranny in about 2 weeks, one question how do I know which way to put the clutch disc in? I don't want to trust the way the old one was installed... I did have a bent clutch fork after all...

 

[Trevor Jessie]

It really only goes one way. If you try to do it backwards the interference will be obvious.

 

[Jer]

Success !
Discovered that the old pilot bearing had fallen out of the crank when I had removed the gearbox, so that must have been slipping in there, installed new pilot bearing & it had a good tight fit no idea why the other bearing had slipped out, but the D.P.O. had all kinds of interesting repairs done on this car Also discovered the push rod had been "extended", that explains the bent clutch fork, well explains how they choose to deal with the bent clutch fork ! I cut it back to the correct length - Car fired up good, shifts thru the gears nicely (at least for the short trip I took it on) - next weekend I will install the grill, bonnet, do a sanity check & take it for a good long run !
Now if we can just have some good driving weather up here...