Triumph Repair: clutch adjustment, triumph spitfire, clutch adjustment

Question
I have a 1965 Spitfire Mk2.  Shifting is rough and I thought the clutch might not be disengaging completely.  The master is full of fluid.  Is there a way to adjust the slave?

Thanks

Answer
Hi Jeff,

The Spitfire clutch system does not have an adjustment. It is hydraulic and the standard first test is to push the pedal by hand and it should move about an inch free travel. Then it should be hard to push and feel about the same resistance all the way to the floor. If the pedal is spongy feeling at first and not get really hard to push until half way to the floor, it probably has air in the system. Air can only enter through the master cylinder either because it was low on fluid or the seals in the master cylinder are going bad.

The Triumph Spitfire and the TR-6 both suffered from not enough travel in the clutch to get the clutch to disengage cleanly so you must not have any additional carpet on the driver's side.

If it is soft feeling at first then you should try bleeding it. The bleeder valve is on the slave cylinder on the bell housing under the car. (Use only DOT-4 brake fluid)

If bleeding the system does not correct the problem of a soft pedal then you should either rebuild the master and slave cylinders or replace them.

If the pedal was hard to push as soon as the little free play was taken up, you may have an internal clutch problem.

Here is a test you should do. Warm up the engine and be sure the idle is below 900 RPM and let it idle. Then push the clutch in all the way and hold it for two seconds and pull the gear into 2nd gear and keep the clutch all the way down and quickly put it into 1st gear and with the brake off note if the car tries to "Creep" along. If not put it in neutral and keep the pedal down and let it idle for two seconds and put it into reverse. Did it grind going in?
If it did not grind, you have no clutch release problems.

If you are getting a grind going into especially 2nd from 1st but not much into 4th from 3rd then the 2nd gear syncro ring is worn. If this id true, drain the gear oil out of the transmission and replace it with engine oil. and drive the car for a couple of days to see if it improves.

If it does improve, you need to read my tech tip on how to make a straight stick transmission last. http://mg-tri-jag.net/tech4.htm

Howard