The Lotus Grand Tourers

Just bled the clutch and as far as I can tell have only 2-3 mm of travel, and the clutch is not disengaging.
I’ve been here before with my 1500 MG Midget, and had all sorts of fun getting it bled, is the excel as problematic? I will admit I have not had a look to see what sort of play there is at the pedal or check it’s adjustment yet

I have just taken the slave cylinder off and check the travel, and I do have about 15-18mm travel in the pushrod and the clutch pedal goes full travel, when the slave is back on the car the pedal travel is nowhere near as much and I only have about 3 mm travel on the slave cylinder. I can only assume something is obstructing the release bearing hub which is a bind as it means the whole lot has to come out again, is it possible I have fitted the friction plate back to front?

Have you tried to push the Clutch-Lever inside the Bellhousing with a Screwdriver or something similar? Maybe you can feel what´s wrong that way before taking the tranny out of the car...

Is the assist spring in place? It should keep the slave cylinder close to the point of engaging the fork with the bearing.

Well the engine is out and the gearbox off.. no sign of anything out of place or incorrectly assembled... I have however fitted a new clutch release bearing, as when I put it together initially the new one had yet to turn up..

This is still an ongoing issue.
I seem to have about 5mm of travel at the slave cylinder. (Service notes states should be 15-18mm)

things done so far:
engine taken out, and clutch inspected, no faults found
Put clutch and gearbox back together operated clutch with a short piece of scaffolding bar on the release arm, found clutch to be disengaged as it should be, and no real difficulty before putting it back in.
Replaced master cylinder.. real pain of a job.. still the same 5mm travel.
Slave cylinder has been stripped and cleaned out, no visible defects, new seals.
This is getting very irritating!

Back to basics on displaced volume in master and slave cylinder I'd say.
Do you know how much travel you have on the master cylinder piston. Assuming no air in the circuit (???) It shouldn't be too hard to find where the lost travel is.
Tony

It’s hard to say, but..
When the master cylinder pushrod is adjusted so there is no thread showing, it’s still nearly a centimetre from the carped, and has about an inch and a half free play, set it to you have the 10mm specified and it’s goes nowhere near the floor. So the travel is not what it should be, I initially thought that someth8 g was up with the clutch itself so took the engine out and took it apart to check it. (The friction plate and release bearing are new) proir to putting it back together i put it in gear and tried turning the gearbox output shaft, and was not able to turn it, then using the short length of a fold bar in the clutch release lever disengaged the clutch and could turn the output shaft, so that much appear to work.

I should also add that while bleeding the pedal reaches the floor when set for the correct free play (which was why I took it all apart to check!)

Closer examination and it looks like the pedal lever is bent, the pushrod is nowhere near the centreline of the master cylinder, and appears to be fouling on the cylinder outer wall… I assum pre it should sit fairly central?

Taking the pedal box out to straighten the bent lever is a right pain, good luck. Done one, hopefully never again.

Bash

But am I right that the pushrod should be sitting straight in relation to the cylinder in at leas one axis? At the moment it’s off to the left and low, when the pedal is pushed it goes even lower and appears to foul on the side of the cylinder..
I think I will be taking the whole dash out.. I have to also move the driver door hinge about 1mm forward, and the passenger side on an equal amount back, and the upper hinge brackets are being very unhelpful and I can see no acces any other way to get to the nuts on the inside.. I will add the windscreen also needs replacing! (And all but one of the dash screws are out.. one on the transmission tunnel is just spinning so this worries me)

You dont need to take the dash out but you do need to take the steering column out. Its also easier if you remove the drivers seat. All of the bolts are accessable but take the instrument panel out and it will give you space with a long flexi to get at the bolts. If you havnt created a hatch to get at the top of the throttle peddle under the bonnet I would also recommend that. If your original throttle cable is ok dont change it, the replacements are crap.
Bash, oh, I also recommend deep heat and ibrufen for your back

bash wrote: ↑

Mon May 09, 2022 17:26

You dont need to take the dash out but you do need to take the steering column out. Its also easier if you remove the drivers seat. All of the bolts are accessable but take the instrument panel out and it will give you space with a long flexi to get at the bolts. If you havnt created a hatch to get at the top of the throttle peddle under the bonnet I would also recommend that. If your original throttle cable is ok dont change it, the replacements are crap.
Bash, oh, I also recommend deep heat and ibrufen for your back

I have a second reason to take the dash out, which is to get at the nuts for the upper door hinge brackets so I can get the door gaps right, and If it also means I can avoid removing the steering column that would be helpful.. as I have yet to put one back on any car straight. Drivers seat is already removed and I need to order new carpets.

The other question is, can it be bent back and if it is will it stay put?

You can get on the top nuts for the door hinge with the dash in place. Has to be done by feal, but is possible.

Tony