Back in a Lotus - 2006 Exige S
Discussion
Whilst waiting for my suspension to return, I got on with the next job on the list... the supercharger.
I'm not doing anything major, but since I've discovered a few broken brackets/incorrectly mounted bits I wanted to get it off the car completely - inspect everything and then bolt it back together properly. It also gives me better access to stuff like the starter motor, so there was a nice bonus there when putting the gearbox accessories back in place.
Getting the unit out isn't that hard with the clam off, with the clam on it's still possible but you'd need a pretty intimate knowledge of where all the bolts are I think. Inlet manifold comes off first, then the main blower unit can be just pulled out.
The oil inside the supercharger nose has no published service interval that I can find, but some people have found that they can leak either externally (making a mess) or internally causing invisible damage so it's worth at least checking levels occasionally. With the supercharger on the car your only way to gauge oil level is to stick a syringe in the fill hole and suck it out, but it's notoriously difficult to get all of it out so you never really know how much oil you've got. I've tried multiple times and each time can only extract 60ml or so of oil (it should have 110ml), but with it on the bench I could pour it all out and sure enough the full 110ml came out - so there's a lesson there, I imagine a fair few people overfill theirs as they incorrectly believe they extracted it all first.
Obviously I then couldn't help myself having a proper nosey inside.
All looks well, as it should considering I've done 90% of the mileage on it (it was replaced in 2012 by a previous owner). I've ordered some new o'rings for the various air/inlet adaptors as they're all a bit crusty and the service kit that I've ordered includes the correct oil and a replacement coupler. My coupler is absolutely fine, but they are a wear component that eventually can make for a noisy supercharger (clacking at low RPM) so I'll stick the replacement in anyway.
Rotors look in fine fettle, the teflon-like coating they have is intact which is better than most pictures I've seen of higher mileage units. The needle bearings in the rear of the casing cannot really be serviced, so will just repack them with high temp grease and be on my way.
Removal of the SC also gives easy access to the engine thermostat, so I've thrown a new one in whilst in the area. Very cheap part, so just a case of swapping out whilst it's accessible.
The knock sensor is also right in that region so I took a minute to remove that, clean and refit with the correct torque setting (which can apparently have a big impact on knock detection). For what it's worth it felt like it was over torqued, but it's hard to gauge really.
I'm still awaiting the service kit for the SC so I can't put this part of the car back together yet, so whilst twiddling my thumbs I got the manifold wrapped. Hateful job, and after a summer of running the 2bular manifold I would say it's not quite mandatory - but the contents of your boot do get a bit toasty.
I'd quite like to get this ceramic coated at some point but budget creep has already gone a bit mental. Maybe one for next year.
There's been loads of other small activities going on, barely worth writing about but it's all slowly starting to come together. I expect the wishbones back soon, they're the main bottleneck now as they prevent me from firing the car up to test whether my gearbox/clutch actually works...
I'm not doing anything major, but since I've discovered a few broken brackets/incorrectly mounted bits I wanted to get it off the car completely - inspect everything and then bolt it back together properly. It also gives me better access to stuff like the starter motor, so there was a nice bonus there when putting the gearbox accessories back in place.
Getting the unit out isn't that hard with the clam off, with the clam on it's still possible but you'd need a pretty intimate knowledge of where all the bolts are I think. Inlet manifold comes off first, then the main blower unit can be just pulled out.
The oil inside the supercharger nose has no published service interval that I can find, but some people have found that they can leak either externally (making a mess) or internally causing invisible damage so it's worth at least checking levels occasionally. With the supercharger on the car your only way to gauge oil level is to stick a syringe in the fill hole and suck it out, but it's notoriously difficult to get all of it out so you never really know how much oil you've got. I've tried multiple times and each time can only extract 60ml or so of oil (it should have 110ml), but with it on the bench I could pour it all out and sure enough the full 110ml came out - so there's a lesson there, I imagine a fair few people overfill theirs as they incorrectly believe they extracted it all first.
Obviously I then couldn't help myself having a proper nosey inside.
All looks well, as it should considering I've done 90% of the mileage on it (it was replaced in 2012 by a previous owner). I've ordered some new o'rings for the various air/inlet adaptors as they're all a bit crusty and the service kit that I've ordered includes the correct oil and a replacement coupler. My coupler is absolutely fine, but they are a wear component that eventually can make for a noisy supercharger (clacking at low RPM) so I'll stick the replacement in anyway.
Rotors look in fine fettle, the teflon-like coating they have is intact which is better than most pictures I've seen of higher mileage units. The needle bearings in the rear of the casing cannot really be serviced, so will just repack them with high temp grease and be on my way.
Removal of the SC also gives easy access to the engine thermostat, so I've thrown a new one in whilst in the area. Very cheap part, so just a case of swapping out whilst it's accessible.
The knock sensor is also right in that region so I took a minute to remove that, clean and refit with the correct torque setting (which can apparently have a big impact on knock detection). For what it's worth it felt like it was over torqued, but it's hard to gauge really.
I'm still awaiting the service kit for the SC so I can't put this part of the car back together yet, so whilst twiddling my thumbs I got the manifold wrapped. Hateful job, and after a summer of running the 2bular manifold I would say it's not quite mandatory - but the contents of your boot do get a bit toasty.
I'd quite like to get this ceramic coated at some point but budget creep has already gone a bit mental. Maybe one for next year.
There's been loads of other small activities going on, barely worth writing about but it's all slowly starting to come together. I expect the wishbones back soon, they're the main bottleneck now as they prevent me from firing the car up to test whether my gearbox/clutch actually works...
Always enjoy catching up on this thread, makes me feel better about my severe case of 'whilst im in there...' 
i cant see you gearbox upgrades making the car worse but know your anxiety about it! Im sure the first drive after all the work will be great.
Im glad you mentioned about your ramp not being great for front engine rwd cars, i'd been looking at them a couple of years ago but thought they would be fairly useless for my car other than brakes, changing engine oil etc. and i needed to get the gearbox out. Ended up with a quickjack that only lifts 500ish mm but it gives full access down the centre and i can hang it on the wall when not in use. As you say having the car in the air all the time in such a way gives you a lot more tinkering time!
i cant see you gearbox upgrades making the car worse but know your anxiety about it! Im sure the first drive after all the work will be great.Im glad you mentioned about your ramp not being great for front engine rwd cars, i'd been looking at them a couple of years ago but thought they would be fairly useless for my car other than brakes, changing engine oil etc. and i needed to get the gearbox out. Ended up with a quickjack that only lifts 500ish mm but it gives full access down the centre and i can hang it on the wall when not in use. As you say having the car in the air all the time in such a way gives you a lot more tinkering time!
scottos said:
Always enjoy catching up on this thread, makes me feel better about my severe case of 'whilst im in there...' i cant see you gearbox upgrades making the car worse but know your anxiety about it! Im sure the first drive after all the work will be great.
Im glad you mentioned about your ramp not being great for front engine rwd cars, i'd been looking at them a couple of years ago but thought they would be fairly useless for my car other than brakes, changing engine oil etc. and i needed to get the gearbox out. Ended up with a quickjack that only lifts 500ish mm but it gives full access down the centre and i can hang it on the wall when not in use. As you say having the car in the air all the time in such a way gives you a lot more tinkering time!
"Whilst I'm in there...".... those words have cost me a fortune! i cant see you gearbox upgrades making the car worse but know your anxiety about it! Im sure the first drive after all the work will be great.Im glad you mentioned about your ramp not being great for front engine rwd cars, i'd been looking at them a couple of years ago but thought they would be fairly useless for my car other than brakes, changing engine oil etc. and i needed to get the gearbox out. Ended up with a quickjack that only lifts 500ish mm but it gives full access down the centre and i can hang it on the wall when not in use. As you say having the car in the air all the time in such a way gives you a lot more tinkering time!
I did consider quick jack, but ultimately I wanted height - and my lack of "transmission tunnel" meant that any advantage of one over my current setup was just negated. I do agree though that a quickjack setup is probably more versatile for most types of vehicle. Maybe there's room in the garage for both
My Supercharger service kit and o-rings all arrived, so I got to work putting that back together.
Old Coupler didn't have any notable play in it, but the new one was a much tighter fit... so I guess wear had started, no matter how slight.
Lotus (Bell and Colville) still had the O-Rings in to order, old ones seemed ok but they were only pennies.
Rear needle bearings cleaned out, then re-packed with high temp grease.
Nose was refitted with anaerobic gasket maker, and filled up with the 110ml spec oil.
The completed unit got a wipe down ready for reinstall.
Installing is pretty much a case of just lobbing it into the void in the engine bay, then trying to line up a number of different brackets along with fitting the inlet manifold.
One of the main reasons I removed it was to check all of the mounting points and see if I could find any clues as to why I had 2 broken brackets and one missing one previously (basically the SC was hanging purely by 2 pinch bolts to the inlet manifold, and the silicone joiner to the intercooler) and nothing was obviously amiss.
I did have a scare with the stay mount that Type116 Motorsport welded for me, I went to put one of the bolts in (through the clutch slave cylinder and into a threaded hole on the gearbox) and stripped the first couple of threads. Luckily this cleaned up reasonably well with a tap, and I made an attempt to avoid further damage by converting it to a stud arrangement instead:
The studs make it much easier to line everything up, as you need to push the clutch cylinder in against the pressure of the fluid/system whilst lining up the bolt holes. Now I can just slot it all over the studs with the SC stay bracket, and do the nuts up afterwards.
It's now fitted with the TB bracket, stay bracket and nose brackets all done up properly - possibly for the first time in the life of the supercharger! My best theory is that the nose/alternator bracket was neglected upon initial installation, and the subsequent twisting force on the unit caused the rear two brackets to fail over the years.
With the blower back on, this allowed me to do some much needed rebuilding to reduce the amount of crap I have lying around, and finally start reducing the "loose nuts and bolts" count.
- New Aux/SC belt fitted
- Roll bar supports refitted
- Charcoal canister put back together and re-plumbed
- Fuel rail and covers back on
- Charge cooler and plumbing back on
Between all that I had a little side job, my boot release cable had long since had a brush with my exhaust manifold and the sheathing had melted off.
Having this cable snap is a bit of a pain in the arse, so thanks to a fellow community member for the hint, I grabbed a new Vectra bonnet release cable w/ handle from eBay as a drop in replacement. Threading the new cable through the firewall, over the top of the fuel tank and back out into the car was a right barrel of laughs - but nothing a bit of endoscope+telescopic grabby thing couldn't handle.
Couple of updates from the weekend, with more to come when I finish off a few things tomorrow/Wednesday depending on postman.
Got my new ARB fitted.
It's a 1" bar from Racefab, I mentioned a few trackdays ago that I was committed to trying one to try and cut out the 'delay' I was feeling on faster sweeping turns such as Port Froid at Blyton or the Jim Clark Esses at Croft. It's probably another controversial change as generally body roll = grip, but I feel like I want to try it a little stiffer up front. It's an easy change to revert if I don't like it, besides it might protect my front arch liners a bit too.
Next I had some painting to do. I noticed when I took my fuel filler cap surround off during clam removal that I had some lacquer peel underneath it. I forgot to take an initial photo as it looked worse than this, but I'd cut off the worst of it with a blade before this photo.
It's just visible in the 6 O'clock position, wasn't really visible on the car but I did want to try and nip it in the bud before it spread. I rubbed it down with 1000 grit and cleaned it all up before squirting some Halfords clear lacquer over the area:
I've got a bad track record trying to do paintwork on actual body colour panels, so for the last few cars I've owned I've stuck strictly to painting satin black accessory panels and that's it... but this came out a treat. I was expecting to need to wet sand it back and polish it all up a bit to blend it back in to the main panel but it looks amazing straight out of the can.
It may look nasty under the cold light of day once the car is wheeled out into the sun, so I'm still expecting to do some DA work with it - but for now I feel it couldn't have gone better.
Got my new ARB fitted.
It's a 1" bar from Racefab, I mentioned a few trackdays ago that I was committed to trying one to try and cut out the 'delay' I was feeling on faster sweeping turns such as Port Froid at Blyton or the Jim Clark Esses at Croft. It's probably another controversial change as generally body roll = grip, but I feel like I want to try it a little stiffer up front. It's an easy change to revert if I don't like it, besides it might protect my front arch liners a bit too.
Next I had some painting to do. I noticed when I took my fuel filler cap surround off during clam removal that I had some lacquer peel underneath it. I forgot to take an initial photo as it looked worse than this, but I'd cut off the worst of it with a blade before this photo.
It's just visible in the 6 O'clock position, wasn't really visible on the car but I did want to try and nip it in the bud before it spread. I rubbed it down with 1000 grit and cleaned it all up before squirting some Halfords clear lacquer over the area:
I've got a bad track record trying to do paintwork on actual body colour panels, so for the last few cars I've owned I've stuck strictly to painting satin black accessory panels and that's it... but this came out a treat. I was expecting to need to wet sand it back and polish it all up a bit to blend it back in to the main panel but it looks amazing straight out of the can.
It may look nasty under the cold light of day once the car is wheeled out into the sun, so I'm still expecting to do some DA work with it - but for now I feel it couldn't have gone better.
shalmaneser said:
That does look good. My current car and others I've owned in the past have suffered for patches of lacquer peel and I'd always assumed it was a respray job to fix. This changes my mind somewhat.
Yeah I'm pretty chuffed. Not sure I would have been brave enough to take this on in the middle of a panel, but saying that if the only alternative is getting it in to a bodyshop then I suppose there's nothing to lose!Wet sanding is something I've never had the baws to do, but based on how well this went... I might have a go at tidying up a couple of stonechips, maybe.
I gave it a hand polish this afternoon with a couple of compounds - it's shining up a treat, not particularly orange peeley and can't see any masking lines which I was most nervous about. I do however need to clay off a bit of overspray from elsewhere on the panel though
I hate this thread, always makes me wish I had the space/skills to do the same
Looking forward to getting mine back weds, some lightweight steering arms put in and -2.4 front camber now + light 1.4kg battery fitted. Just waiting for lockdown to end so we can stop spending and start tracking!
Interesting comments on the ARB, roll=grip to a point surely or racecars would be soft?
I've been thinking about a rear ARB as to me it feels like there's some roll oversteer going on on corner entry, both our engines are mounted pretty high compared to regular cars when compared to the overall CoG of the car so it makes sense to me.
Looking forward to getting mine back weds, some lightweight steering arms put in and -2.4 front camber now + light 1.4kg battery fitted. Just waiting for lockdown to end so we can stop spending and start tracking!
Interesting comments on the ARB, roll=grip to a point surely or racecars would be soft?
I've been thinking about a rear ARB as to me it feels like there's some roll oversteer going on on corner entry, both our engines are mounted pretty high compared to regular cars when compared to the overall CoG of the car so it makes sense to me.
Edited by honda_exige on Monday 8th February 22:31
Edited by honda_exige on Monday 8th February 22:31
honda_exige said:
I hate this thread, always makes me wish I had the space/skills to do the same
Looking forward to getting mine back weds, some lightweight steering arms put in and -2.4 front camber now + light 1.4kg battery fitted. Just waiting for lockdown to end so we can stop spending and start tracking!
Interesting comments on the ARB, roll=grip to a point surely or racecars would be soft?
I've been thinking about a rear ARB as to me it feels like there's some roll oversteer going on on corner entry, both our engines are mounted pretty high compared to regular cars when compared to the overall CoG of the car so it makes sense to me.
It feels like adding an ARB is like adding the diff, half the internet says it'll ruin it and half the internet says it'll be amazing - but it's cheap enough, easy enough to adjust and/or revert so I'd like to try it myself. The fact the car can perform so well with such a soft setup is part of the genius of the package I guess, and what makes them such good road cars. Looking forward to getting mine back weds, some lightweight steering arms put in and -2.4 front camber now + light 1.4kg battery fitted. Just waiting for lockdown to end so we can stop spending and start tracking!
Interesting comments on the ARB, roll=grip to a point surely or racecars would be soft?
I've been thinking about a rear ARB as to me it feels like there's some roll oversteer going on on corner entry, both our engines are mounted pretty high compared to regular cars when compared to the overall CoG of the car so it makes sense to me.
Dan @ HPE was telling me that a rear ARB was always intended for the Elise platform (at least the S1), I guess packaging one in is quite difficult, but I know a couple do exist out there.
I got my calipers finished off tonight. Most of this effort is from the weekend but needed to wait for a couple of bits.
Initial plan was to just clean the calipers up as they were in very good condition for the age of the car, but as I had some down time waiting for wishbones to get back I thought I'd put a bit more work in.
Fronts are easy to strip so did these "properly". Rears are apparently a nightmare, and there's a fair chance of writing them off by breaking an unobtainable grub screw/bolt so I left them alone and did what I could 'externally'.
50:50 after the first degreasing. Pretty much good enough to go back on the car, but in for a penny and all that...
Step 2...
Pretty clean and ready for paint after the dishwasher.
The VHT paint I used recommends curing in the oven, so in they went. 160C for an hour!
Really happy with the finish, very close to the OEM look but hopefully a bit nicer to keep clean than the raw cast ally.
With the fronts rebuild with new bolts, fresh seals and pistons I got onto the rears. As I said before I didn't want to dismantle these so they'd be avoiding the dishwasher and oven, but I compensated with a good blast with the heat gun to hopefully cure them enough.
Final 50:50s:
Really happy, I think they've scrubbed up a treat.
Initial plan was to just clean the calipers up as they were in very good condition for the age of the car, but as I had some down time waiting for wishbones to get back I thought I'd put a bit more work in.
Fronts are easy to strip so did these "properly". Rears are apparently a nightmare, and there's a fair chance of writing them off by breaking an unobtainable grub screw/bolt so I left them alone and did what I could 'externally'.
50:50 after the first degreasing. Pretty much good enough to go back on the car, but in for a penny and all that...
Step 2...
Pretty clean and ready for paint after the dishwasher.
The VHT paint I used recommends curing in the oven, so in they went. 160C for an hour!
Really happy with the finish, very close to the OEM look but hopefully a bit nicer to keep clean than the raw cast ally.
With the fronts rebuild with new bolts, fresh seals and pistons I got onto the rears. As I said before I didn't want to dismantle these so they'd be avoiding the dishwasher and oven, but I compensated with a good blast with the heat gun to hopefully cure them enough.
Final 50:50s:
Really happy, I think they've scrubbed up a treat.
Fonzey said:
It feels like adding an ARB is like adding the diff, half the internet says it'll ruin it and half the internet says it'll be amazing - but it's cheap enough, easy enough to adjust and/or revert so I'd like to try it myself. The fact the car can perform so well with such a soft setup is part of the genius of the package I guess, and what makes them such good road cars.
Dan @ HPE was telling me that a rear ARB was always intended for the Elise platform (at least the S1), I guess packaging one in is quite difficult, but I know a couple do exist out there.
Dan makes rear ARBs for Honda'd cars now, was considering getting one fitted but like you found opinions all over the place! Proof is in laptimes for me. Dan @ HPE was telling me that a rear ARB was always intended for the Elise platform (at least the S1), I guess packaging one in is quite difficult, but I know a couple do exist out there.
Big weekend as I got my wishbones back from Type116 Motorsport after blasting and plating.
I still had a fair bit to do, starting with masking off and spraying POR15 clear over the top. It seems to come out of the can like water when it's cold so spraying in the garage wasn't an option, so I converted the utility room into a spray booth (which went down better than expected....)
Everything got a couple of coats and then was left to cure over night. The following day I could start the fun stuff installing the nice shiny new balljoints and Nitron bearing kit.
The EliseParts BJ and Bush tools really made this a doddle, initially hard to stomach the cost for what is a few bolts and some machined metal but it's worth its weight in gold once you start these sorts of jobs.
I got all eight balljoints done first so I could give the tops of them a quick squirt with POR15 and then got on with the bearings after it dried a bit.
Really happy with how it all came out, and hopefully these will be looking nice for years to come.
Colour is a really close match to the spitfire toe links.
This week I'll gradually build the four corners back up, got fresh fixings all around to go on. Once that's done I might actually be able to fire the car up and see if stuff works - like gears.
I still had a fair bit to do, starting with masking off and spraying POR15 clear over the top. It seems to come out of the can like water when it's cold so spraying in the garage wasn't an option, so I converted the utility room into a spray booth (which went down better than expected....)
Everything got a couple of coats and then was left to cure over night. The following day I could start the fun stuff installing the nice shiny new balljoints and Nitron bearing kit.
The EliseParts BJ and Bush tools really made this a doddle, initially hard to stomach the cost for what is a few bolts and some machined metal but it's worth its weight in gold once you start these sorts of jobs.
I got all eight balljoints done first so I could give the tops of them a quick squirt with POR15 and then got on with the bearings after it dried a bit.
Really happy with how it all came out, and hopefully these will be looking nice for years to come.
Colour is a really close match to the spitfire toe links.
This week I'll gradually build the four corners back up, got fresh fixings all around to go on. Once that's done I might actually be able to fire the car up and see if stuff works - like gears.
I may have hit a snag, not in total panic mode quite yet - but starting to prepare myself for getting the gearbox out again...
I got the rear suspension fitted up over the last couple of days, very satisfying and love the overall look.
With support for the driveshafts, I could now finally start the car. Bit of a nervous moment, I've had my grubby hands on a lot of important stuff but it fired right away and purred away nicely. Result
Things soured a bit when I tried to use the gearbox. It appears my clutch is constantly engaged, with the pedal fully to the floor I can shift into the forward gears but the hubs immediately get drive. Getting into reverse is a no-no as it just grinds. Bugger...
I've inspected the clutch fork as the pedal is depressed and it seems to be getting a healthy range of motion, but with no reference point as to what is the "full" range, I can't really say.
Plan is to get the front uprights all assembled and get the brakes and clutch system bled. Maybe I introduced some air into the clutch circuit when removing the calipers (not sure how, but fingers crossed it is that). Aside from that, I'm open to suggestions about what I could have messed up inside the clutch assembly.
Release bearing had free movement on the shaft
Pressure plate bolts all done up in a star pattern to spec
Clutch must have been aligned well enough because the gearbox slotted straight in
Not sure what else I could have messed up in there?!
I got the rear suspension fitted up over the last couple of days, very satisfying and love the overall look.
With support for the driveshafts, I could now finally start the car. Bit of a nervous moment, I've had my grubby hands on a lot of important stuff but it fired right away and purred away nicely. Result
Things soured a bit when I tried to use the gearbox. It appears my clutch is constantly engaged, with the pedal fully to the floor I can shift into the forward gears but the hubs immediately get drive. Getting into reverse is a no-no as it just grinds. Bugger...
I've inspected the clutch fork as the pedal is depressed and it seems to be getting a healthy range of motion, but with no reference point as to what is the "full" range, I can't really say.
Plan is to get the front uprights all assembled and get the brakes and clutch system bled. Maybe I introduced some air into the clutch circuit when removing the calipers (not sure how, but fingers crossed it is that). Aside from that, I'm open to suggestions about what I could have messed up inside the clutch assembly.
Release bearing had free movement on the shaft
Pressure plate bolts all done up in a star pattern to spec
Clutch must have been aligned well enough because the gearbox slotted straight in
Not sure what else I could have messed up in there?!
One of my lead theories was the fact I used an original Toyota bearing rather than the one included with the clutch kit (under advise that clutch kits generally provide poorer bearings). If this turned out to be a difference in depth, then perhaps it could explain why the clutch wasn't disengaging.
I managed to obtain the dimensions of an OE release bearing and they're identical to the competition Clutch bearing that I have here, so the bearing is not looking like the cause.
Based on the fact the hydraulics seem ok and the bearing is clearly making contact with the pressure plate I can only think of three things:
1. Pressure plate is broken and isn't lifting the pressure surface when the diaphragm is compressed
2. Friction plate is mechanically or chemically stuck to the input shaft and/or flywheel
3. My slave cylinder for whatever reason doesn't have the reach/power to push the pressure plate enough.
I think I can try to tackle 2 and 3 this week, I'll get the car on its wheels and roll out onto the road and try starting it in first gear(with clutch in), see if I can shock the friction plate loose.
In the meantime I'll see about sourcing a longer slave pushrod to try and put a bit more force onto the pressure plate. It seems to be a done thing in Toyota circles after swapping clutches.
If neither of those yield results, I'll drop the box at the weekend and hope I find something obvious inside.
I managed to obtain the dimensions of an OE release bearing and they're identical to the competition Clutch bearing that I have here, so the bearing is not looking like the cause.
Based on the fact the hydraulics seem ok and the bearing is clearly making contact with the pressure plate I can only think of three things:
1. Pressure plate is broken and isn't lifting the pressure surface when the diaphragm is compressed
2. Friction plate is mechanically or chemically stuck to the input shaft and/or flywheel
3. My slave cylinder for whatever reason doesn't have the reach/power to push the pressure plate enough.
I think I can try to tackle 2 and 3 this week, I'll get the car on its wheels and roll out onto the road and try starting it in first gear(with clutch in), see if I can shock the friction plate loose.
In the meantime I'll see about sourcing a longer slave pushrod to try and put a bit more force onto the pressure plate. It seems to be a done thing in Toyota circles after swapping clutches.
If neither of those yield results, I'll drop the box at the weekend and hope I find something obvious inside.
Are you 100% sure its bled up correctly - my experience of Hydraulic clutches is they can be a lot more tricky to bleed than brake systems. I would definitely check it and have another go with a pressure bleeder (with a helper/spotter too) to make sure its right before you go stripping it down again.
snotrag said:
Are you 100% sure its bled up correctly - my experience of Hydraulic clutches is they can be a lot more tricky to bleed than brake systems. I would definitely check it and have another go with a pressure bleeder (with a helper/spotter too) to make sure its right before you go stripping it down again.
Yep I'll give it one more go after I change the slave cylinder pushrod for a longer one. I do use a sealey bleeder, and there was no reason for the system to need bleeding anyway so I don't have high hopes - plus I can see the fork actuating a healthy amount, and I also managed to get an endoscope inside to see the pressure plate 'fingers' being depressed... I just don't know how far they should go, for all I know it's stopping 2mm short!I think the only possible installation issue I have left is how I bolted up the pressure plate, I was well read on the concept of a 'star' approach, gradually bringing them up to spec etc - but maybe I cocked it up and the diaphragm is distorted slightly. What worries me most about this is that it's probably not going to be apparent if/when I strip it all down again so I'm going to be left with a decision to just bolt it all back up again and hope for the best, or throw the clutch kit away and install a new one?! That's going to suck, I really just want an obvious cause to present itself so I can plough on and get it done.
Hmmm maybe some progress. I got the car up to temp and bled coolant and all that stuff, once it was up to temp I turned it off, then tried starting it a few times in 5th with the clutch depressed. After a few stalls (and some awful clanging and banging) I can now shift into 1st and 2nd without it stalling, but there's a terrible smell of slipping clutch. If I apply any gas at all, it stalls or turns the axles depending on brake pressure.
I think it's partially disengaging, but not fully - so hopefully the longer pushrod will help.
I think it's partially disengaging, but not fully - so hopefully the longer pushrod will help.
Yesterday I got the car on its wheels and rolled it out onto the road to see if a bit of "real world" resistance would bring the system to life.
It didn't.
I also hacked down an 8mm allen key to emulate an extended pushrod for the slave cylinder and it made no difference either.
With the car on the road, I couldn't select any gears with the clutch depressed. If I put a bit of pressure on 1st gear, the car would try to lurch forward. Gears are all dead easy to select with the engine off, so if I tried starting it in gear, it would either stall (if in a higher gear) or start moving if in 1st, 2nd or reverse.
Pretty much committed now to getting the box back out. I'll try one more bleed this afternoon/evening and then crack on with it tomorrow.
Even though it would come at cost to me, I'm hoping to see some sort of devastation in there, disintegrated friction disc or bent pressure plate fingers or just SOMETHING that would explain the issues. If I take it all apart and it looks "fine", I'm going to be in a bit of a pickle.
It didn't.
I also hacked down an 8mm allen key to emulate an extended pushrod for the slave cylinder and it made no difference either.
With the car on the road, I couldn't select any gears with the clutch depressed. If I put a bit of pressure on 1st gear, the car would try to lurch forward. Gears are all dead easy to select with the engine off, so if I tried starting it in gear, it would either stall (if in a higher gear) or start moving if in 1st, 2nd or reverse.
Pretty much committed now to getting the box back out. I'll try one more bleed this afternoon/evening and then crack on with it tomorrow.
Even though it would come at cost to me, I'm hoping to see some sort of devastation in there, disintegrated friction disc or bent pressure plate fingers or just SOMETHING that would explain the issues. If I take it all apart and it looks "fine", I'm going to be in a bit of a pickle.
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff