Sunday, September 23, 2012

Austin Mini - Clutch Part 2

Non-Verto woes

After studying the Haynes manual carefully, I enlisted the help of Gilbert, an ace Japanese car mechanic, for this operation. He already assisted me in the past - replacement of the steering rack and ball joints.


Front sub frame supported by jack stands + a trolley jack under the transmission, the Mini is prepared for a full clutch overhaul.

Filthy flywheel cover - mixture
of clutch lining dust + motor oil

Flywheel + clutch disc drenched in oil

the culprit

New diaphragm,
release bearing, clutch disc + oil seal

this oil seal
prevents motor oil from the crankcase
from contaminating the clutch/flywheel 

new clutch disc installed

Flywheel + new diaphragm
With the flywheel cover and starter re installed it was time for a test drive. No more clutch slip and significant improvement in drive ability, but...


...there is significant wear on the ball (red*) at the end of the clutch release lever and socket (red*) of the release bearing plunger which prevent proper adjustment of the throw out nuts (2). I had to keep the 1/4" thick bolt between the slave piston and clutch arm rod (blue**) to get clutch action. To get it back to factory specs, I need a new clutch arm lever + release bearing plunger.

Just like music performance, I always try to be a perfectionist so this has to be sorted out properly ;)


4 comments:

  1. Hi, I hope you can help me, I have a problem whit the clutch or gear box, the problem it's that I can't put any gear when the car is running, I think is because I can't put the clutch correctly, fels like if something in the fly well or past has something hard, I made some test but nothing work, can you explain how the lee verto clutch work? Or some recommendation for ensamble the clutch. Regards. My mini it's a Belgium 76 preverto clutch.

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    1. Hi Draki,

      I really am not an expert and cannot explain the difference between pre-Verto and Verto. But so far all my troubles with my Mini were solved by thorough reading of the Haynes manual which may even be available on-line for download.

      JE

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  2. Can you upload more picks from your clutch? Maybe y can find something that can help me. Or if you have picks on FB I can find you. Regards and thanks for the answer.

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    Replies
    1. Sorry, all the photos I took are already uploaded.

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