Yeah you could say so lol. The weekend didn't go so well I fitted a new slave cylinder but I still couldn't disengage the clutch. Off came the box again, I did some checking to find the clutch plate 8 mm thick but the full clearance of the cover is 6 mm. So I fitted some 2mm spacers between the cover and flywheel. I put the box back on to find that if I wind in the clutch release arm with a threaded bar the clutch disengages hooo woooo Then when I fitted the slave cylinder the arm does not go far enough to disengage the clutch. So I added a 1/2 spacer but the arm travels less but still does go far enough to disengage the clutch. It's like the slave cylinder is not strong enough to push the arm fully out. I thought with the spacer it would. Looks like I have drop the box again and send the cutch back to CA. Damn another month lost
Woooo hoooo i talked to Chris Sneed who suggested the flexi hose was bad, I did a test and the hose expanded a good 2mm in diameter and stretched This is the reason why I can't Get the arm to fully extend I'm going to get a braided line made.
One thing you may have noticed with rally builds is we get creative and budget is always an issue. Faced with having to take off the clutch pipe, take it to Crown Performance( Thanks Dave O) paying, waiting and losing more time. I decided to look in my boxes of stuff collected over the past 40 years, there's stuff in there from Alfa's, Ford, Fiat, MG, Peugeot, Range Rover , Suzuki etc. So I found a Alfa Milano brake pipe nipple(I used to cut up Milano's and sell the parts on Ebay to fund my CA rallying), Suzuki Swift brake line and a bolt for some caliper. I bought this handy little brake pipe flaring tool in the 70's, so I drilled out the brake nipple to 1/4" then cut the clutch pipe close to the brake booster, flared the pipe and connected that to the brake line. Then I took apart the Mini slave cylinder pipe and found the inside was just enough to tap a thread for the banjo bolt. I took the parts to work and the guys turned down the fitting and tapped it in a few minutes. Back at with the Mini I bolted everything together, bled the clutch and bingo the clutch now disengages!
lol. about the same i did for my hydraulic handbrake with that odd outlet tread. there was no way i could find a fitting so i made it out of a safety harness bolt but you went a bit farther lol
Maybe it's me, the Mini or just rallying! This rebuild has been frustrating, what should be straight forward stuff has turned out to be an epic. The clutch plate was to thick, I fixed that, then the flexi pipe was bad so I fixed that too, now the clutch is not working again! It was fine for about 3 or 4 pushes then again the clutch arm does not go far enough to disengage the clutch. I bleed the system about 6 times with zero bubbles. The pedal is firm, I've changed the slave cylinder but still the problem remains. I put spacers at the end of the slave cylinder arm but the arm does not go out any further. I replaced the MC in Feb 15 so I suppose that could be bad. I have another MC on the way but that arrives after I leave on Saturday! Looks like November for another attack. The roll cage is nearly sorted and the final painting will be done next month. Then I just have the fuel tank to replace. I believe this is the newest R50 on the planet! International rallying has a 5 year rule. So 2016 is the end for my nice OMP Champ seats and G-Force 5 point belts! So I have to shell out for new items or no rally! Such a shame but rules are rules.
interesting. i had similar issue with clutch on my GC8 Impreza. changing MC improved it a bit but after a few pushes it would't go all the way again. and i noticed usually it works like this the hotter it gets but it was better than before and in-between shifting if interval was long enough would go back to normal so it didn't bother me much. the other thing i had in mind was to increase MC piston travel by drilling another hole in pedal arm thus increasing the leverage. never got to doing that because as i said it stopped bothering me all that much but i still think it's the MC also another thought i had but You can try: put in stiffer returning spring? i mean if piston springs back faster valve in MC will lock better and fluid might fill in faster? thought i'm not sure what MC in Mini is like. ... don't feel like i want to find out
When I replaced the slave cylinder on my friends car I bled it several times, no air but it would not work correctly. I finally unbolted it from the transition with the compresition tool on it, open the blend valve and tapped on it and wilggeled it in every angel I could with the pressure bleeder pumping the fluid. That finally got the last little bit out.
i've got a pair of super comfy Mirco RS2 FIA seats with wings for $1500 Canadian delivered to my door from UK all taxes paid. in US funds it's like $1150 i think and 12% less if you don't pay taxes in CR =o) harnesses are cheap from racing outlets. you can get a set of two Racequips for $200 good for another 3 years i'm sure you saw that pic but here it is again:
I have my slave cylinder compressed and up so the bleed nipple is at the top. I have to do the bleeding the manual way because I don't have a pressure bleed system. Maybe it is time to invest in one! Regarding the seats I found a new set in Polland the same as I have to avoid bracket changes at $200 less than OMP USA are selling for. I have my old seats up for sale in CR so if all goes well I might ba able to cover most of the cost. The belts I will sell and get some more G-Force Pro belts. I just hope I can check in the seats as baggage on the plane!
yes, Poland it was. I said UK because first i bought (at least i thought i bought lol) seats from UK but got screwed up by Demontweaks. and then i bought Mirco's from Poland. a few years ago i bought Bimarco seats from the same guys in Poland and was happy with them as well.
You will have to get a pressure bleed system. I tried everything manual way a suction hand pimp. I wasted so much time. Chad at DT said use the pressure bleeder and tap on it to help get the air out. It did the trick and fast. I don't think it can be done any other way.
the funny thing is: now i will need to bleed my clutch and i thought it'd be as easy as on any other NORMAL car lol boy was i wrong! ...every day i keep on wondering why the hell everything has to be sooo complicated???
Chris it might be a stupid question but do you unbolt slave and position it vertically while bleeding? i re-connected the line and bled my clutch today and it works fine now also made power bleeder (sort of but works just fine) and piston compressor. check out my tread there's a picture of it: i drilled a hole in bottle cup and inserted vinyl tube in it. it sits very tight and fluid won't leak even if i squeeze it ps. here's a mystery: apparently brake and clutch are separate and not connected anywhere i did bleeding and my brake fluid level dropped! well maybe it was low. i haven't checked it since i bled my brakes a week ago
Yes I had the slave cylinder with the bleed up and fully compressed. The clutch draws the fluid from the brake MC reservoir so the level should go up and down when you press the clutch. Meanwhile my cube looks like a warehouse! stuff is coming in , Metal clutch MC, power bleed, oil cooler and tons of stuff for co-workers in CR(Christmas is close and take stuff for them as a favour) The belts and seats arrive tomorrow. The seats go in checked bags! fun times ahead with customs.
I'm in the airport, 1 seat of 2 is already checked in. I have more parts in my bags to hopefully get the Mini moving again! this is only a 2 week trip so I'm going to be busy.
The seat and parts made it! The customs guy just saw me and waved me on! This week I'm fitted the clutch MC. Having a rally car with no carpets makes jobs like these much easier. I can't wait to try the power bleed system.