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Clutch Replacement, Rover P4. (part 3 finale)
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roverdriver



Joined: 18 Oct 2008
Posts: 1210
Location: 100 miles from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

PostPosted: Sat Jan 27, 2018 11:10 am    Post subject: Clutch Replacement, Rover P4. (part 3 finale) Reply with quote

If you have come to this story from an outside link, this is the third (and final) part of the tale, and I suggest you start at Part 1 found here-
http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/forum/phpbb/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=157788#157788

As mentioned near the end of Part 2, I modified my home-built crane by making and fitting a lifting swivel as shown here-



Note that now the gearbox is supported by two chains instead of just one.
With the clutch assembly now firmly bolted (and double checked) onto the flywheel, it is time to put the gearbox back where it came from. I had carefully poked and prodded an otherwise examined the rear gearbox mount, which is a rubberised mount that doubles as the rear engine mount as well. It passed all my tests so I decided to re-use it.
Now one reason for the swivel is that there is a lot of gearbox and not a lot of hole to lower it through. Here it is going gently into place by a little 'shoehorning'.





To get the front shaft of the gearbox to enter the splines on the clutch driven plate, as well as into the spigot bearing requires everything to line up fairly accurately. After lowering the gearbox into position, I needed to move it forwards and gently ease that shaft into place. As I reached that point, I was called inside for my evening meal, so decided to postpone this tedious and difficult task for the morning.

Rested and refreshed next morning, I carefully examined just how the gearbox was hanging, and it looked very close to the way it should be. I made sure that it was 'in gear' so that turning the output shaft would turn the spigot shaft and, hopefully line up the splines. Bear in mind that at this stage there is no way that one can see if that spigot shaft is going where it should and how it should.

I climbed into the back of the car, gently eased the hanging gearbox forwards, then tuned the output shaft a little. Clunk, Clunk, and the box moved further forwards into position. I have wrestled with much lighter gearboxes for hours trying to subdue them and get their spigot shafts into place, and never before have I had a gearbox go into place so easily. In fact I was convinced that something must be wrong, but I carefully checked and all seemed well.

It was not too difficult, from that point onwards to start bolting the bell housing to the flywheel housing, then get the bolt through the rear mount, followed by refitting the universal joint and connecting up the wiring. Now I slid the clutch actuating shaft into the home-made bearing and was pleased that it sat well and I had proper movement of the pedal. It was a bit tedious getting all of those small bolts into place holding the tunnel that covers the gearbox, then in went the front seat.



I forgot to mention that I had used wood blocks to elevate the front of the car to make crawling under a little easier.



Now I had to remove the jack that I had used to support the rear of the engine, then I carefully lowered the car by removing the blocks.

Now the moment of truth- the car was back to normal on all four wheels, with all parts where I believe that they should be. A careful check to see that no tools and things were where they could cause a problem when the car moved, then climbed aboard. A little choke, on with the ignition, press the starter. The engine fired and ran.



I depressed the clutch pedal- there were no odd noises, all seemed well. I moved the lever into first gear, and then with extreme car slowly started to release the clutch pedal. The car moved forwards just as it should.

I must admit that I had to drive up and down a bit to convince myself that everything was behaving properly, and at that point I started to feel a little pleased with myself.



In my early investigations, I had been quoted up to $2,000 to get the job done. After adding up my accounts- that is, the change-over clutch unit, 'Shaft Fit', bolts to build the crane as well as a few sundries, I still had a little change from $200.
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Dane- roverdriver but not a Viking.


Last edited by roverdriver on Sun May 27, 2018 11:39 am; edited 1 time in total
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Phil - Nottingham



Joined: 01 Jan 2008
Posts: 1252
Location: Nottingham

PostPosted: Sat Jan 27, 2018 11:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Excellent Dane - far easier to follow than the Workshop manual. Those gearboxes are certainly heavy and unweildy especially with the overdrive and extension still on
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Rover P5 & P5B
Land Rover S2 & S3
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jp928



Joined: 07 Jun 2016
Posts: 249
Location: Australia

PostPosted: Tue Jan 30, 2018 6:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dane,
Great to see! Takes me back, having done this several times. Rebuilt a gearbox once with a friend, and made the mistake of running the engine with the tunnel cover off - shouldnt make that much noise should it? Rip it out again, put some more bearings in it, try again. Still noisy, lets ask experts. Yes, with the cover off they are noisy as. Bugger. Reassemble, good as gold.
Good to see an overdrive in use too.
Tried to sell a p4 with the dog leg lever once, to one who didnt know Rovers - Oh, I couldnt drive a gear lever like that! he said, and left.
jp 26 Rover 9
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Phil Lincoln



Joined: 18 Oct 2009
Posts: 26
Location: LINCOLN

PostPosted: Fri Feb 02, 2018 6:57 pm    Post subject: Rover P4 clutch Reply with quote

I remember changing the clutch in my P4 95 . Very heavy and awkward on your own , but with plenty of wooden blocks for support and some forethought , very satisfying when it is complete . The clutch pedal cross shaft bearings were available as a kit from Wearings .
Alas , the P4 and I parted company about 6 months ago when my hankering for an open sporty vehicle got the better of me and I acquired a Mercedes SLK230 which has proved to be as suited to home fetling as the P4.
The P4 went to a very sympathetic chap in Camberley .
Regards to all , Phil .
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Penman



Joined: 23 Nov 2007
Posts: 4750
Location: Swindon, Wilts.

PostPosted: Fri Feb 02, 2018 8:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi
I did the clutch on my father's Sceptre, couldn't find a tight fit dowel for the fly wheel so used a smaller one and then used the brown Butterfly Gum Strip to make up the various steps for the clutch alignment tool.
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