Hi, Hoping someone on here can help. I have a 78 bay with a 3 rib gearbox. It was running ok when I first got it but it’s type 1 engine died and I had to buy a new one. The new one has a 215mm clutch which I changed along with the pressure plate and release bearing. However when I put the engine back in I could only get gears without the engine running. When it was running I couldn’t get any gears. Yesterday I pulled the engine again expecting to find the issue but the clutch seems fine, I can see the handle move and the release bearing comes forward as expected. I’ve removed the pressure plate and clutch again and will reassemble but before I do, can anyone think of anything else I should check whilst I’m in there? Thanks
Usually it’s the cable adjustment but if you’re sure it’s releasing the plate enough then possibly the plate is wrong. I’ll guess cable adjustment is still the issue others will advise who have more experience of them
Makes no difference, though sometimes getting the splines aligned by rotating the engine seems easier in gear - probably imagination through! I'd suspect cable adjustment is the issue.
Thanks all. Before I pulled the engine I tried adjusting the cable in both directions and whilst it changed the slack in the peddle it never fixed the issue at all
Were you using your hand to check the pedal free play? It's quite a different (and better) perception if you do rather than judge with your foot.
On the other hand you're about the 3rd or 4th person in the last year or two with this problem so maybe there's a common denominator. At least one of those after taking the engine out a few times found he wasn't tightening the cable enough. When you're getting near it gets really difficult to turn the wing nut and needs grips clamped on the sq bit of the cable end to stop it turning. Hope that's some clues.
The brackets at each end of the flexible Bowden cable are very important to get the required S bend. The one furthest forward holding the solid tube is prone to coming adrift and the one that bolts to the side of the gearbox strips threads easily, both contributing to lengthening of the cable!
...and it's common for the steel conduit that ends under the torsion beam to loose a few mm as previous owners hack off rusty end. It that case you'd need a stack of M12 washers at the other end of the bowden tube to both get the shape and to get enough adjustment on the cable. NOT washers under the wing nut.
With a new Bowden tube from the bracket under the suspension tube up to the bracket on the side of the gearbox, it needed four washers (about 5-6mm total I suppose) placed between the end of the bowden tube and the bracket on the gearbox. That pushed the end of the clutch cable that distance forwards, effectively shortening it. Otherwise I ran out of thread on the cable end for the adjustment nut, which needs to lock into the notches in the diamond shaped bit of the end of the clutch lever so it locks and it can rock and not snap the cable, so as @Zed says, no washers there or the cable will snap faster. All the clutch action happens over a very short distance.
