Topping up clutch fluid?

[CerbWill]

Bit of an update. Master cylinder has had it's seals changed. Ukkid has kindly sent me his spare gearbox input shaft retainer which arrived today.


Clutch Bellhousing altered with a 114mm hole saw.



And cleaned up a bit.



Input bearing retainer fitted, and threaded mount for slave cylinder in place.



Its here that I've hit a problem. When screwing the slave cylinder onto the threaded mount the mount hits the inside of the slave piston before I've wound it on enough to achieve sufficient clearance, so I need to cut the mount down a bit. That's tomorrow's job. From there I'll be able to figure out the best place to drill a hole in the bellhousing to pass the hydraulic pipes through, and then it'll be time to battle the gearbox back onto the car.

Edited by CerbWill on Wednesday 22 September 08:33

[plug]

Looking good, which bearing type and version of the 6000 did you get? Let's hope this is a good long term fix to the slave problems.
Are you going to put in a clutch pedal stop?

[CerbWill]

I got the 52mm radiused bearing 60-6000 from Competition Supplies, which has actually given me another problem. Some photos of the 6000 series show it coming with an anti-rotation bolt but mine didn't. I need to drill and tap a hole in the bearing retainer for an anti-rotation bolt to stop the whole slave assembly rotating. I can't use the mounting holes for one as the bolts are too big. Also, my dremel has just died. Seems TVRs aren't meant to have clutches today! I'm not fitting a clutch stop (yet) because the master cylinder shouldn't be able to move enough fluid to max out the available slave piston travel.

Edited by CerbWill on Saturday 22 August 13:22

[CerbWill]

And its done. Hopefully I'll get it back on the car tomorrow.

Edited by CerbWill on Wednesday 22 September 08:35

[aide]

That's absoutely brilliant.
Great work
This is my winter project!

[aide]

You could perhaps completly reroute the hose from the master higher up in the transmission tunnel, away from the manifolds?

[plug]

I'm hoping it will make the pedal softer as well.
Should be worth the extra money to fit if the seals last, and surely they can't fail as quickly as the Tvr/Rp ones.

[CerbWill]

Thanks guys. Gearbox is back on now. Time to find the best way of routing the clutch feed pipe. I've got the standard pipe wit an adapter to join to the 30cm hose that came with the slave so I've got a bit of slack to play with but now much.

I think it cost about an extra £120 over a raceproved slave, so we'll see how long it lasts.

[CerbWill]

And we have (possible) success! With the car in gear I cant turn the propshaft with the clutch out, but can spin it freely with the pedal in. Pedal feels lighter but less movement is required so I think I'm going to end up drilling another hole higher up the clutch pedal arm to increase the pedal ratio. I need to finish off the reassembly and try it out whilst driving first though.

Also had a 'Classics from the Mrs' moment trying to bleed it. She's been well trained in clutch bleeding through her fascination with Wheeler Dealers but she jumped in and pressed the pedal. No clutch fluid being sucked into the master cylinder. "Oh dear" thought I, worried I'd messed up rebuilding the master cylinder. But I thought I'd check she was actually pressing the clutch pedal, "yes, the middle one" she replies. She's been driving for 10 years.

[plug]

Thats great to hear all going well (just), I have a speed six and the hoses don't go near the exhaust manifolds so I'm not sure if heat is a major factor with the seals failing.

[CerbWill]

Victory is mine! Its all back together and, after a protracted battle with TVR's legendary electrics, its all working. As mine is an early car it has the bulkhead connector in the engine bay and that did not like being disturbed. First it wouldn't even turn over as the starter solenoid wasn't getting 12v, so I replaced that wire. Then it wouldn't start because the ECU thought the throttle pots were remaining at 9.4% regardless of position, so I re-seated the plug, and then it ran, but on 1 bank only because the o/s injectors were only getting 8.5v instead of the full 12v, a quick clean up of the plug with a dremel and a soft wire brush, and finally all was well. The clutch does indeed work as a clutch, however the pedal travel feels quite limited so I'll measure up my other cars and see if I can adjust the pedal ratio to make the travel distance more normal.

To quote James May after sorting his BMW's head gasket in the Middle East Special 'He's made his point. I have triumphed over him. So he can sod off, frankly. Cerbera clutch designer, take note!

If anyone needs part numbers or any advice to help them do this on their car PM me and I'll help if I can.

Edited by CerbWill on Sunday 30th August 17:17

[LincsCerb]

Looks like you've been busy, great work.

Can you not adjust your master cylinder to give more free play.
Or failing that have you looked at sourcing a master cylinder with a smaller bore then you would get more pedal travel without having to modify anything else or do titan have master cylinders that match their slaves.

Edited by LincsCerb on Monday 31st August 10:19

[CerbWill]

I could do. Willwood & Girling both make 0.625" diameter master cylinders, the Cerb being 0.7" as standard, so that would seem to give an extra 25mm pedal travel. It takes about 10cm of travel to disengage the clutch, vs about 15cm in my other cars (admittedly both run of the mill Renaults) so my options are, move the pushrod 17-18mm up the clutch pedal arm with the standard master cylinder, fit a new 0.625" diameter master cylinder, or fit new master cylinder and move the pushrod about 8 or 9mm higher.

[LincsCerb]

I've got 14cm of total travel on my clutch and it starts to engage/disengage roughly half way. As long as yours isn't applying to much pressure to the clutch fingers then maybe it's ok.

[CerbWill]

It works fine and I've adjusted the clutch pedal so it hits the trim panel behind the pedals just after the clutch is disengaged to prevent excess movement which could damage the fingers, it just doesn't feel 'right'. A 0.625" master cylinder is on order.

[LincsCerb]

Are you worried that it's pushing the slave too far.
Maybe your master cylinder feels different since changing its seals.

[CerbWill]

Martin, as I'd adjusted the clutch pedal so that the threaded rod would hit the trim panel just after the clutch had released there was no possibility of over-extending the clutch but the total pedal travel just felt too short. I've since changed the master cylinder for one of 0.625" diameter and the pedal feel and range of movement is much better. I've now completed roughly 200 miles on a trip to the in-laws and back without issues.

[LincsCerb]

That's good news Will.
If you fancy a bit more testing there's the Chatsworth meet on the 4th October and a run out the day before.

[ukkid35]

CerbWill said:

Ukkid has kindly sent me his spare gearbox input shaft retainer which arrived today.

Many thanks for the brand new replacement which arrived yesterday - much appreciated.

[fatjon]

crypto said:

No, the master cylinder wasn't changed.
Peter

What's the long term result on this conversion. Sick to death of the clutch troubles and need a solution. Is it still behaving well?