11
« on: April 13, 2020, 15:55:06 »
Hi there, how are we all? Cracking on with some projects in the lock down time!
I decided to put a new clutch in my Ace, because the current one slips and I've fully inspected the slave travel etc.. and that appears to be fine. The plan was to leave the gearbox in the car whilst pulling the Bristol engine, and that way gain access to the engine bay for some cosmetic work.
With the gear box mount remaining attached to the chassis, I had the engine disconnected from the bell-housing, and suspended by a hoist, with a jack under the gear box. Everything is in a straight line, and I had an even 1mm gap all around the bell housing. However engine wouldn't pull off the gear box. So I made a puller that pulled from the front suspension frame to the crank damper. I wound that up pretty tight and still nothing gave.
I concluded that the pressure plate must be stuck on the input shaft splines, so decided to remove the clutch diaphragm in-situ. I used a die-grinder to slightly open up the left hand (unused) clutch fork aperture until I had socket clearance to the pressure plate bolts, which I then removed.
Ah-hah! I thought, now the engine will pull straight of ... no it didn't! I put the puller back on.. still no movement. I thought, ok the pressure plate is stuck on the flywheel dowels (in addition to the stuck splines), so I reached in through the starter aperture and tapped the diaphragm and pressure plate car-rewards off the flywheel, but still no further separation. I can physically feel the diaphragm is loose now and the pressure plate is also 8mm car rearwards from the flywheel, so I don't think the plate is stuck on the input splines.
My conclusion is that the only thing left that could be stuck is the input shaft bearing in the flywheel. The Ace owners guide shows a roller bearing in the flywheel, so it might be possible for the outer race to seize to the flywheel, whilst the inner race seizes to the input shaft. The assembly will still rotate courtesy of the ball bearing, but it won't separate.
Please let me know any other checks I might perform. Also let me know if you agree with my conclusions ref the seized flywheel roller bearing.
Many thanks indeed.
James Eastwood, BE475