Triumph Repair: 1978 spitfire frozen clutch, clutch pedal, car specialist

Question
Hi
I Have a 1978 spitfire British version with 42,000 km all original was in storage for 12 years. now the clutch is frozen, what is my best solution, if i have to change it is there a shop that specialized in triumph in south Miami

Answer
Hi Jake,

By "frozen" you mean it will not release even though the clutch pedal feels normal? This is common when a car sits for a long time.

I have been able to break some loose without removing the clutch but it takes some skill and care. Not sure it can be done on a car that was stored for 12 years, especially in FL.

I have had about a 50% success rate on cars stored for a year or two so I am not sure it can be done at all on your car. Here is how I did it.

If the engine runs good take the car to a long straight road with no stop signs or lights for a long distance. Warm the engine up and shut it down and put it in 1st gear and start the engine. This will usually get you going in low gear and speed up to about the speed that you would shift to 2nd and ease off on the throttle so it is not under load and pull the shift lever into neutral and set the throttle at about the RPM that it would be at that speed in 2nd gear. If you get it correct you should be able to shift into 2nd gear with only a slight jerk and and not much gear clash. Then speed up in 2nd and repeat the process until you are in 4th gear. Then run up to 3500 RPM in 4th gear and hold the clutch pedal to the floor and open and close the throttle in quick movements. If possible it may break loose in just a few seconds of doing this. If it don't just slip it into neutral and stop and haul the car back to your garage and pull the clutch out.

The reason it must be done in 4th gear is because that is when the max strain is on a clutch and the reason you do it at 3500 RPM is because that is the highest torque point of the engine.

I don't know any shops in Miami but there should be several British car specialist in the Miami area. Look in your yellow pages or try Google on the net.

Howard