Just replaced my classic motor, the clutch fork and the bearing were connected to the gearbox first then i moved and motor closer and fixed that to the gearbox. I then pressed the fork away from the motor towards the bulkhead a few times trying to push it into the clutch. I thought it was in, after about 15minutes trying it felt like it was in but once i started the car and tried to push the clutch in it just failed and fel to the floor of the car.

Please someone help me, is there some way to get it to connect without removing the motor. It just took me 5hours to install the motor.

 

try bleeding the clutch it might just be that

 

is the clutch fork spring fitted back? cheers bryan

 

did you just unbolt the slave and move it out the way or totally disconnect it ?

 

unbolt the slave cylinder and use a torch to locate it looking through the hole

 

I have just moved the slave cylinder away again to look inside, the bearing has split and has fallen to the bottom. Looks like i am going to have to take the engine out again. What a waste of a day. If i just had the extra cash to buy a new clutch and not try reuse the old one this would have not happened. Cant spend any more on the car as we are 4weeks away from having a baby. I had to do the rebuild myself after a head gasket failure so at least the motor started and ran. ****! Kick in the *****.

Thanks for the reply guys

 

Probably easier to take the gearbox off to be honest. If you take off the downpipe, centre section and prop. Unbolt the slave cylinder, pitch stopper, disconnect the two plugs to the box and the speedo drive. Remove starter and then long bolt that goes through the fork. Support the box on a decent trolley jack and unbolt the H beam mount. You may need to disconnect the linkage to get enough movement. You will then be able to slide the gearbox back on the bottom two studs and probably be able to get in from the top to retreive the release bearing. Refit the release bearing to the clutch and then slide the box back into position making sure you dont trap the fork. Then working from the top locate the fork in the release bearing slots.
If the realease bearing is damaged you will have to replace it. there are plenty available cheap on ebay. Just to confirm if you had the clutch off the engine did you line everything up using a shaft or alignment tool. Hope this helps

 

Might give that a go. I did have the clutch off and used an alignment tool before i put the motor back in.

 

It will only take a couple of hours total to move the gearbox enough to get at the clutch bearing and all fitted back on the worst part is getting it up high enough on axle stands but definately easier than taking the engine out again. You may want to drain the oil tho but catch it in a clean drum and reuse it. When you refit the box fit the release bearing to the clutch pressure plate first, it is a bit of a pain to get the fork into the slots with the box bolted up but you will ensure you dont have this issue again, just make sure when you clamp up the box to the block that the fork is loose and not trapped, then look down through the hole where the fork comes out and slot the fork into the slots on the release bearing - sorted