Triumph Repair: 77 spitfire hissing, robert bentley publishers, clutch work

Question
hi. I have a 1977 1500. The clutch has some serious issues and I have
ordered a 3pc clutch kit as well as a new slave cylinder. I plan on
replacing the clutch, slave, and transmission sometime this week. I
don't have any experience in this realm, so any advice on how to go
about it or pointers to resources would be great. The real reason I am
here though is because the engine started hissing yesterday night. I put
in oil and checked the level, all seems fine. Next I removed the top and
bottom radiator hose and ran water through for about fifteen minutes,
reconnected hoses and filled the radiator with 50/50 mix. Was I
supposed to do anything else? I couldn't find any sort of bleeder valve
to release air. I have driven the car with the hiss and other than the
noise the engine runs and sounds the same. Any idea what could be
causing it?

Answer
Walter,

Best advice for clutch work is to pick up a good manual.  Robert Bentley publishers have a great manual for the Spitfire.

As to an engine hiss.. that doesn't give me much to go by.  Did you see water leaking from the radiator?

Sure it's not an exhaust leak?   Or maybe even you're hearing the air going into the carb?   Maybe a vacuum leak?   Does the car run ok otherwise?

And no, there's no bleeder for the cooling system.   The filler cap is high enough that you'll fill the block by filling the radiator.



Cheers,

Jim