Question.-Dear jim I'll try ti answer your questions First; when I bought he said it waS running fine when he stored it.
Second Yes I can put the car in gear and start it. I can't rember if I tried to put in revirce or not but I tried other gears it would go in gear with out the clutch but it would not move I pulled the car to a nearby storge and parked it.
Third No I am not sure I got it back into the throwout push rod. When I loosened the squze clamp the slave poped out a little about a 1/4inch or so and it wouldn't go back when I tried to put it back-. Yes there is flouid in the master cylinder. The slave bleed bipple is right beside the fluid line twards the driver side I could not ger a wrench on it I was working under the car. Will I half to take out the floor bords?--
Thanks for your answer
Bill-------------------
Followup To
Question -
Dear Jim
I have a problem with my cluch on my 1980 spitfire
I got a book and tried to follow instructions BUT
I ran into problems
First The clutch would not disengage I tried starting it in 2nd and 3rd gear it still would not realese from the flywheel
Next I tried taking the slave out that didn't work I couldn't ger it out (working under the car)
I loosened the fluid line to try to get it off that did not work
Next I put it back togeather and now the pedal goes effertly to the floor and when I start the car I can put the transmision in any gear but nothing happens the car wont move its like the clutch pedel is pushed in
What went wrong? the book doesn't talk about this.
In deep trouble
Bill
Answer -
Bill,
It sounds like you're describing several problems here.
First off, did the car ever drive normally while you have had it?
Second. Can you put it in gear and start the car now? Can you put it into reverse with the engine running? or is the clutch still engaged?
What it sounds like is you hydraulics failure originally. Or a bad pressure plate (or bad throw out bearing). When you pulled the slave cylinder were you sure to get it back onto the throwout push rod?
Is there fluid in the clutch master cylinder? Is the slave installed with the bleed nipple above the clutch hydraulic line? Did you bleed the clutch?
If you start the car in gear and it doesn't move, can you see if the drive shaft is spinning under the car? If so, then maybe it's a universal joint.
Let me know some more details and maybe we can figure this one out.
Cheers,
Jim
AnswerBill,
Ok, to get full access to the slave cylinder, what you need to do is pull the transmission tunnel out. To do that you need to pull the dashboard support (where the radio is, or should be), one or both seats and the carpet over the trans cover. The trans cover will either be made of compressed cardboard (original) or plastic (aftermarket) and held to the floor/firewall cute little slide locks (original) or just a bunch of sheet metals screws (typical DPO bodge).
Still, if you can get the car *IN GEAR* without the clutch working then it's a sign that there is more wrong than the hydraulics. Normally when the hydraulics fail you *can't* get the car into gear. Since you'll have the trans cover off, it's fairly simple to pull the transmission then.
Support the engine oil pan (carefully) with a good car jack with a piece of 2x4 or 2x6 on top of the jack. Just jack the engine up enough to support the engine weight, don't try to push the engine out on it's own.
Disconnect the battery. Disconnect the wiring harnes to the trans, pull the bolts holding the driveshaft to the trans back end, pull the bolts holding the bellhousing to the engine backplate and that's about it. Sometimes the trans gets stuck on the driveshaft, but a bit of creative prying/angling gets around that.
But before you pull the trans, did you check for broken U-joints?
Cheers,
Jim
