Clutch help would be appreciated

[Eric]

While driving the CAV today the clutch pedal felt much stiffer than usual and engaging gears and disengaging gears became quite difficult.
Clutch pedal was always stiff and gears engagement was always a bit notchy but now it is imposible.
Trans now grinds into gear even when clutch is fully depressed.
I bled the system with my vacum pump and lengthed the slave cylinder rod slightly to see if the shifting issue would improve,
Absolutely no improvement. Clutch is also grabbing now.
The trans is an RBT ZF 5 speed.
Appears to me that I need to remove the trans and inspect clutch/
pressure plate etc.

Any advice would be welcome.

Thank You

 

[Phil]

Eric:
It sounds as af your pressure plate has failed. I have had this happen twice with clutches and the symptoms were exactly as you describe. Unfortunately the fix is to replace the unit and that means pulling the gearbox.
I would also check out the face of your flywheel and replace the pilot bearing while in there as it is a cheap item to change out while it is apart.
Good Luck
Phil

 

[Eric]

Thank You Phil,

Linkage and half shaft axles are out.

Just a few more small tems and transaxle is ready to be removed
after rear body comes off.

Looks like the bell housing will not clear the frame if pulled straight out.

Does trans first seperate from the bellhousing for removal and bell
housing can be removed seperately for a CAV car?

Any advice would be helpful.

What is best clutch/pressureplate, throwout assembly best suited
for 351 with ZF.

Engine is stroked and is 427 ci with approx 480 -500 horsepower.

I am not looking for anothe super stiff high effort clutch pedal.

Thank You, Eric

Thank You.

 

[Jim Cowden]

Eric change your master cylinder size (smaller) it will reduce the pedal effort.

Jim

 

[Phil]

Eric:
Most welcome, I have never pulled the gearbox on a CAV so I can't give any advice on the proceedure. I can tell you that your clutch not need be super stiff to work well. I recently drove an original chassis with a 427 motor and the clutch was smooth as silk and very easy to modulate, the box was a ZF and it shifted smoothly and went into gear easily. This car had lots of power and no clutch slippage as far as I could tell.
Jim was correct about changing masters to reduce pedal effort, you could also change the slave cyl. at the gearbox (Larger) and get the same result probably with less effort and mess.
Be careful with swapping cylinders as you may find you don't have enough travel to dis-engage the clutch. I would suspect that you have had a clutch problem for some time, or that possibly you had a pressure plate that was far too strong to begin with.
I would also check with some other CAV owners on this forum, and ask about their experience.
Hope some of this helps
Phil

 

[David Briggs]

The transaxle will come out if you remove the 4 bolts that attach the block to motor mounts. You can then tilt up the back the engine.
Unless you hae modified the bellhousing so that you can reach the nuts on the inside, you will have to sepearte the bellhousing from the engine.
Tha CAV clutch pedal does not hve good mechanical leverage over the m/c.
You can lower the pick up point for the clevis on the pedal (you will need to reposition the M/C slightly) and reduce your pedal effort.
Dave

 

[Eric]

Thank You David

I was looking at the drivetrain and it does appear that the engine can tilt
rear up and slightly to drivers side so that the bell housing will
clear the vertical section of the chassis.

The starter motor area of the bellhousing bulges out and will not clear
the vertical side of the frame unless it is tilted and moved toward drivers side.

In doing so must I remove firewall to loosen hoses, air con compressor,
etc or is movement not that severe.

Any help appreciated.

Thank You, Eric