Triumph Repair: Spitfire clutch replacement, clutch disk, clutch replacement

Question
Hi Howard,

I'm loving the insightful answers you give to mechanical questions.  So, I just replaced the clutch in my 67 Spit but it apparently has a gearbox from a later model (73-74)  I used the 3-in-1 clutch kit from Victoria British Part 4-025.  They did not provide a pilot bushing so it was not installed - problem?

Also replaced the master and slave cylinders (kit) V.B. Part CRK310.

Now, my real problem is that everything is back together but the clutch mechanism is not working.  It appears the clutch disk is not releasing when I depress the clutch pedal.  I think this causes the gears to grind going into first or reverse (non-syncro, I know) and I really can't get there without jump starting.  I can't get it to move through the other gears as normal using the clutch.  When I do get it moving (difficult) and in gear - can move through upper gears without clutch but when I'm in gear and push in the clutch pedal the car is still in gear. When the car is at standstill with engine running, I can not move the gear shifter into gear.  With motor off, the gears seem to throw OK.

How messed up am I, and do I have to really open it all up again?  Thanks for your advice & help!

Answer
Hi David,
The Spitfire and the TR-6 suffered from not a lot of travel in the clutch release system so this adds to everyone troubles when a clutch don't work.

Every clutch job does not need a pilot bearing but you should have checked it when you were in there. Now it is in there good or bad and you are out here. There is plenty out here that can be wrong so cover all the items out side before thinking about going in again.

A friend who is a well experienced Triumph mechanic just last week had a clutch not release after a new installation. We opened it up and he had not checked to see if the new disk slid freely on the spline of the first motion shaft. It was tight and thus made the disk stay tight against the flywheel when the clutch pedal was depressed. Thus making the clutch drag.

But first you need to test the hydraulic system. A simple preliminary test is to reach in with your hand and push the clutch pedal. The free play should be about 1 to 2 inches and then the pedal should be hard and when pushed to the floor it should be the same resistance all the way. (be sure there is no carpet up under the pedal as even when the car was new the clutch just barely would release at the floor. If the pedal is soft by hand and slowly gets more resistance as you push you probably didn't get all of the air out. If this is the problem let me know and I will cover different methods of getting air out of the clutch system.

If you find that the pedal is hard as soon as the free play is taken up then the problem is most likely inside. A binding pilot bearing is a possible but the others are "Disk tight on the Spline" and another is a warped disk. (usually cause by rough installation of transmission to engine.)

To test this you need to put the disk on the first motion shaft and put the shifter in first gear and use the tail shaft flange to spin the shaft and watch the disk to see that it spins straight. If it wobbles, it is trash.

Howard