Triumph Repair: 1972 Spitfire clutch problem, clutch plate, clutch pedal

Question
I hear a whine when I push the clutch in.  It doesn't happen all of the time.  There seems to be no clutch plate slippage under torque.  Sometimes, I can get it to stop by pumping the clutch pedal.  Is it a bad throw-out bearing?

Answer
Alan,

When the sound does happen, is it constant?  Or does it die away in a couple of seconds?

If it's constant then it's most likely the throwout bearing.  By pumping the clutch you might be getting the bearing to move around a bit so it stops making noise...  

If it's a sound that dies down quickly then it might be the gearsets (laygear and 4 gears in mesh) making a bit of noise.  

Luckily the transmission in the Spitfire isn't too difficult to remove, if you're mechanically inclined.


Cheers,

Jim