Bop-Bop-Bop...

I've now refurbished the clutch slave cylinder; I did the master cylinder several months ago. How it ever changed gear, I don't know, given the amount of fluid loss & general 'gungey' condition it was in!

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Anyway, after a new seal kit & a lot of cleaning:

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Hopefully it will now work; it's certainly bled well. I'll get to try it when I put the front wheel back on. I'm just tidying up the paint on the inner wing before I reassemble everything.
 
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I don't like the body coloured sills, the flat pleat seats, and the NADA front end, none of which would have been original.

I've had a late 1971 registered 3500S, on an *XC plate, factory owned for the first two years of it's life.
 
This is the finished inner wing section, prior to refitting. Now the wing is back on, too.

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I've also changed the radiator & hoses. The previous owner's policy of 'zero maintenance' is slowly being banished to history! This is how free-flowing the inlet manifold water pipe was:

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...and what grot there was in the radiator hoses & thermostat housing:

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Now all fixed with new gaskets, hoses, clips etc :)
 
I have now replaced the radiator for a refurbished 2nd hand one. I put it in & filled it up, only to find that it leaked :( Upon taking it back out, I saw that the drain plug was hardly screwed in, let alone tight! Should have checked first, I suppose. At least it was an 'easy fix' as a certain Mr China would say.

Now onto the interior refit.

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Local member Shaun replaced his entire carpet set in his early TC when the footwell ones were rough. He gave the rest to me, which is super as I now have a good 'woven' original set to fit. BOP's original carpet was grey, so I've had to take out every last bit, as the replacement is Mortlake Brown. It's starting to look good, though. It's always great when everything you're doing is clean & the car is coming back together. Hopefully, its MOT is not that far away!

Whilst I was on, I removed the gearstick & thoroughly cleaned it before regreasing & reassembly. It's bottom bush was in good condition, although white, which I've never seen before o_O

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I also took the handbrake grip off (a firm push fit). It was broken. If anyone out there has a spare one, or complete handbrake, I would be interested in doing a deal!
 
I'm so close to booking an MOT it hurts... then I decide to give the warmed up motor a good rev & get this:

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I'm not a happy bunny at the moment :(. The engine is a high miler (143k without any major work) & suspect it's had no servicing in its past life. However, I did run the car myself for a couple of years & never saw this. After then, it's just been laid up. I think the oil may be rather thin & in need of a change, but it seems a bit more drastic than that!

The smoke is sooty black. Is it likely to be rings or valve guides, or could it just be running very rich? It only emits very light grey/white smoke & steam at lower revs.
 
Black smoke is rich mixture, blue smoke is oil burning and white is water vapour or to a lesser extent brake fluid.
 
I bled the clutch again yesterday to improve the notchy gear changes. No air at all, so I then checked the slave cylinder pushrod & found the distance from the piston to the circlip to be 30mm rather than the 20mm per the manual.

I adjusted this & now can't get any gears at all! Do I need to bleed it again - I can't see how air can have got into the system...
 
Set the clutch pedal height and linkage.

Set the clutch as follows:

Pull back the carpet and underlay and set the brake pedal height between the bottom of the pedal and the floor to 6 & 7/8"
Set the clutch pedal level with the brake. This is done on the threaded rod into the master cylinder.
Push the clutch operating arm rearward until the release bearing touches the pressure plate and make sure the arm is one spline forward from vertical. Remove the arm and move it on the splines if it's not, and take care not to drop the nut in the bellhousing.
Pull back the slave cylinder boot. Adjust the pushrod so that the piston is about 1" away from the circlip. (Pedal at rest)
Wind the stop bolt all the way in. (Thats the one in the footwell.)
Then get someone to slowly depress the pedal as you look at the piston in the slave. What you need to get is the piston just touching the circlip when the pedal is on the stop, and you achieve this by adjusting the pushrod each time just before the pedal is depressed.
Once you get to the point that putting your foot on the clutch down to the stop makes the piston touch the circlip in the slave, lock the nut on the pushrod.
Then wind the stop bolt up one turn, and lock it with the nut.
Depress the pedal again and make sure there is at least 25thou clearance between the piston and the circlip in the slave.
If not wind the stop bolt up some more a turn at a time.
 
I have carefully set the clutch as described, Harvey & unfortunately it doesn't work at all when the engine is running.

The clutch previously didn't work due to a leaking slave cylinder (as posted earlier), but it then worked, albeit the 'bite' was low down & it was a little awkward to drive. I wanted to make the gear change better, but obviously have made it useless :( I know it could be worn, but if I could just get it back to being OK, I wouldn't mind as I have a 5-speed box to go in it in the near future.

From earlier, the push rod was wound out so that there was around 30mm from piston to circlip & the pedal stop was near the bottom of its adjustment. I'll have to revert to this if I can't get it done the correct way...
 
The clutch previously didn't work due to a leaking slave cylinder (as posted earlier), but it then worked, albeit the 'bite' was low down & it was a little awkward to drive.

That kind of excessively low bite point is often a faulty master cylinder.
 
That kind of excessively low bite point is often a faulty master cylinder.
I've checked the master cylinder which seems to be fine; the pedal is the correct height & there is no sign of any leaks - I did service it in the not-too-distant past.
However, having looked over my attempts, I see that my measurements from piston to circlip in the slave cylinder were from the centre of the piston, rather than the back edge. I have now adjusted this & will reset the pedal stop & see if it then works. Fingers crossed!
 
I'm raising my glass to you (and to your MOT inspector) as I type this! Keep BOPping on. Are you a jazz music fan? That's a great number plate if, like me, you're into hard bop sounds.
 
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