Clutch Adjustment

[Sussex Pete]

Can someone give me an idiots guide to clutch cable setting/adjustment, please. I thought I had followed the instructions in both the BL and Haynes manuals to initially set the clutch cable, by pulling down on the arm and pulling up on the outer cable, then adding the clip behind the adjusting spring. Just tried to drive the car out of the garage, and with clutch pedal fully released, there is no drive!

[Sussex Pete]

This is how my setup looks. Diagrams in the manuals don't show those pads and tube that I have between the clutch arm and the gearbox bracket. Have I got them in the correct position?

[Jeff Turbo]

The clutch cable isn't on correct from what a can see from your pic Pete, from memory and not the correct terminology the cup should be under the arm and the tube should be in the holding bracket

[Sussex Pete]

The clutch cable isn't on correct from what a can see from your pic Pete, from memory and not the correct terminology the cup should be under the arm and the tube should be in the holding bracket

Thanks Jeff. Only issue for me appears to be that the tube is attached to the bottom pad and washer (that is just above the clutch arm in the pic). Does that also mean that the rubber pad that is above the tube in the pic, needs to go topside of the gearbox bracket? I'll have a look tomorrow morning and see if I can get them into those positions.

[Jeff Turbo]

The tube should be in the hole in the bracket Pete as it protects the cable and keeps it central. Push the arm up and release the ball. Push the cable out and put the tube through the hole. Put the cup under the arm and re attach the cable. You should have a clutch now. It's it's working and the car won't move, knock in the driveshafts into the gearbox till they're home

[Doctordiesel77]

this is mine, which I think is right, it is diesel, but same gearbox and cable..photo from above, 'cos there is less stuff under diesel bonnet (less horses too ha ha) they say a picture paints a thousand words, so hope this helps..

[Sussex Pete]

this is mine, which I think is right, it is diesel, but same gearbox and cable..photo from above, 'cos there is less stuff under diesel bonnet (less horses too ha ha) they say a picture paints a thousand words, so hope this helps..

Thanks for that. It certainly clarified things for me. Found that the rubber tube had stuck itself to the rubber sleeve on the bottom pad. A good pull and they seperated, so was then able to fit the top pad and tube to the gearbox bracket and the bottom pad went under the clutch lever, with the sleeve inside. All looking fine now!

Went through the process of pulling down on the clutch lever and up on the outer cable at the gearbox end after fitting the spring retaining clip. Engaged a gear and pulled the car forward. Engine was not turning over, as I expected it should have. (In answer to other suggestions, the drive shafts are fully home in the gearbox, and the speedo did not register anything when the engine was running). One thing I did notice, however, is that I can still pull the clutch arm down to the point that the bottom edge was almost in line with the top of the reverse switch when looking from the front of the car. When released it moved back up a good 25mm.

On the basis that the gearbox was not touched during the renovation except for a casing clean and fitting a new release bearing, and I was able to drive the car when first purchased, I am assuming/hoping that this is nothing more serious than the clutch is not fully engaging when the clutch pedal is released. I don't understand, though, why the clutch spring doesn't have the tension to push the release bearing back, when the pedal is not in operation and is that 25mm lift in the arm, either pulling the bearing back in contact with the clutch springs, or is there too much tension on the clutch cable so that this is what is holding the clutch open all the time? Also just checked if there is drive with the cable disconnected and the clutch arm pulled down - there isn't

Looking like a gearbox off job to check the clutch???

[Doctordiesel77]

Sounds very odd..., is it definately engaging gears? ie gear lever is moving selector rod in gearbox.. only thing that could be wrong in bellhousing would be if release bearing was jammed on shaft (extremely unlikely, as it would have been very difficult to refit gearbox) or clutch centre ripped out, also unlikely, as car has not been anywhere since it was working...might be worth getting a stethoscope, bit of tubing or piece of dowelling and listening to gearbox, while an assistant operates clutch, if you can hear gears churning around when clutch is released then fault must be elsewhere..

[Sussex Pete]

Sounds very odd..., is it definately engaging gears? ie gear lever is moving selector rod in gearbox.. only thing that could be wrong in bellhousing would be if release bearing was jammed on shaft (extremely unlikely, as it would have been very difficult to refit gearbox) or clutch centre ripped out, also unlikely, as car has not been anywhere since it was working...might be worth getting a stethoscope, bit of tubing or piece of dowelling and listening to gearbox, while an assistant operates clutch, if you can hear gears churning around when clutch is released then fault must be elsewhere..

Thanks! Problems with this car never seem to be straightforward! To answer your thoughts/suggestions:
- Gear lever is moving selector, all gears accessible
- Release bearing movement checked after fitting. Action appeared to be OK. Gearbox fitted easily.
- Clutch pressure and driven plates new for rebuild - hope nothing happened to the driven plate!
- Will borrow my neighbour as a second braincell and do the stethescope bit, as well as seeing if he can come up with a brainwave!

[G Force]

Hi Pete, sorry to say I think you will have to remove the gearbox to find the problem. Could you have been supplied the wrong clutch centre plate? I generally check the clutch plate fits & slides nicely on the input shaft Ok when I lubricate the splines, I guess you will be the same. Has to be the clutch components faulty or wrong I'm afraid.

[Jeff Turbo]

As per what Gary pointed out. Could also be the lever bolt not done up on the fork but does point to clutch problem Pete. Bummer I know but a steep learning curve

[Sussex Pete]

I think I have next week planned for me now! Just need to shuffle the car to give myself some room on the LH side in the garage and find a nice clean container for the gearbox oil. Ceratinly after all these steep learning curves, there won't be a lot I won't know when she is eventually on the road!! (Who said "give me a classic mini, anyday"?)

[Jeff Turbo]

Nar turbo is much more fun lol

[Sussex Pete]

As I was thinking about the mechanical simplicity of the classic mini, what is your definition of fun? lol

[G Force]

As per what Gary pointed out. Could also be the lever bolt not done up on the fork but does point to clutch problem Pete. Bummer I know but a steep learning curve

Hi Jeff, I think the bolt that secures the fork to the shaft, actually screws into the shaft rather than it be a pinch bolt from memory. I have come across an instance when that bolt had sheered due to the shaft being partially seized in its bore of the gearbox casing. That resulted in the clutch pedal not disengaging the clutch because the fork was then lose on the arm, but equally the shaft being seized could have finally resulted in no drive eventually if the bolt hadn't sheered. I think we can rule that issue out here because we know the clutch arm is moving freely and the gearbox fitted easily onto the engine, & not to mention Pete's meticulous preparation
Cheers, Gary