Clutch

Having got the brake shoes back, I want to finish off a couple of cables that are cluttering up the workshop, before starting on the cylinder head. One of those is the clutch cable, and I would like to do a dry run of the clutch build. It's a dry run, beacause I want to spin the engine on the power drill using the crankshaft shock absorber nut, and I don't have the oil pump or any of the timing gear ready yet - because the head is not fitted.

So today I will fit the clutch temporarily, to have a look. First up is the basket, fitted over the cage & needle rollers. It's retained with new bolts and lock washer I bought from John Budgen.

Next up is the stack of plates and the clutch centre, preceeded by the final thrust washer. First problem appears - the new clutch centre nut is not happy on the gearbox mainshaft thread - though the old one still fits. This is the whole point of a dry build!

Push rod fitted!

The pressure plate comes next, followed by the cups, springs and the nuts. And the first outing for the clutch spring screwdriver I made a couple of years ago. Works fine!

The clutch operates very nicely using the arm on the other end of the gearbox, and the pushrod adjuster is screwed almost right in. Odd I think, the plates are in good shape but not wholly unworn. Most of them came from John Mitchell of the AOMCC. Maybe the pushrod is too short or there is a ball missing? The ball is certainly present in the adjuster cup...

Finishing the clutch

Easy job first - degrease and clean the clutch cover. Chrome plate as suspected, with a nice little ding at the front, presumable from someone's boot. Maybe we can beat that out with a handle planishing hammer and a sandbag... maybe not...

Clutch sprocket, plain and friction plates. All jolly nice; friction plates are worn but not burnt. Plate thickness is 1.6 mm/16 SWG, about 1/16". Cork protrudes anywhere between 1/32" & 1/16", so they will need relining. Since they are easily accessible from the outside, and i have 101 things to do, this job will get put aside for a dark winter night.

An additional plain plate, by the way, kindly provided by AOMCC member  & 'Cheval de Fer' magazine editor John Mitchell. Several other parts provided by John are stashed away to appear in later posts.

Next up, clutch basket, repainted by moi, cleaned original needle roller cage and thrust washer, and original pressure plate. John Budgen (John Budgen) provided a new set of rollers.

Here's the centre, which may need to be replaced. I've recut the threads, but as we've seen the splines are not good, inside or out. John Mitchell has provided another. Spring lengths vary 1.625 - 1.64", but since I'm not sure what the factory limits are we will have to see whether this is OK.

I nice set of new set screws for the basket to sprocket flange, with a tab washer - all from John Budgen.

Clutch, assembled and ready for testing. Clutch nuts all ok, spring cups ok, all assembled using my clutch screwdriver, pictured in an earlier post.

Sheet Metal Shop

Way back when, every engineering student spent time in the workshop with a scriber and square, an engineers hammer and a dot punch, and got his fingers covered in marking blue. The lecturer would be at the front of the shop in his white shop coat, explaining how you had to wash your hands before you went to the loo, because you were a real engineer now and you didn't want any nasty skin infections.


Then you'd spend the day marking out, witnessing, sawing and filing a tack lifter that would spend the next 30 years at the bottom of your toolbox. The enthusiasts would eat that in a couple of hours and move on to a 5" gauge Flying Scotsman or a 1/12th scale Avro Lancaster - such were the days before 'Call of Duty 4'.

Actually, my bias went more towards making myself some mudguard stays for my Matchless or welding up the holes in my Austin Healey Sprite.

However, you don't forget those manual skills, and somehow they are much more valuable than the office skills you learn later in life as your career takes off.

Here's the missing suspension washer and a new clutch screwdriver, copied from the W/NG manual.