astraboy

Posted on behalf of paul palmer btw
Paul's 3 Litre capri has not moved for a couple of months. when he tried to move it he found that the clutch has seized to the flywheel and it wont budge. does anyne have any ideas how to unseize the bugger and help paul shift her?
Cheers in advance,
astraboy.

workshy_fopp

Rock it back and forward in 4th?

RON

That might work, but you'll need someone to sit in the car with their foot on the clutch, otherwsie you'll get nowhere, another trick is to run the engine, and get it really nice and warm, this in itself will sometimes work, if that fails, get it all warm, then select first gear, and start the motor, the car will go off down the road, (with somone in it!!!) who puts their foot on the clutch, throttle, and brakes!!! I have had this work, it can be a bit scary to do though, you really need a nice rural area, like round here!!!

Good luck!

LanciaChris

Hit gearbox housing with hammer?

beemerboy

tow it down the road and jam it in gear......

makes a bit of a bang though

BB

RON

Try the getting it warm trick first, it's likely to cause least damage!!!!!

johnfelstead

take the gearbox out and remove/refit the clutch. easy job on a capri.

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

Thanks All for your replies (& Astraboy for posting this me )

Last night I tried towing it forward in first with a friend sat in the car with his foot on the clutch but all it did was turn the engine over I had thought of towing it down the road so I will try that next when I find something with a better clutch than a puma I am unsure of how to re-fit a clutch so I will have to use that as a last resort sadly

Paul

Brendan Hughes

We had to do this loads of times on Dad's Cobra replica (Granada based).

IIRC there are three methods -

Gearbox out, remove clutch plate, scrub a bit, replace. Really easy when a) you know how (probably 4 bolts holding the propshaft and 6 holding the bellhousing to the engine, plus 4 tiddlers to remove gear lever gaiter: rope round engine stops it tipping backwards), b) you have the right equipment to support the gearbox as it comes out (almost dropped on my hand when I was under it, could have been calling me lefty for ever more): and c) you have a clutch centering tool for putting it back together.

Start in gear (need good battery), go down the road, hit the brakes hard and stall it.

Tie chassis (NOT rear bumper!) to immovable object like a tree, jack up rear, start engine, get wheels spinning, drop jack. Again, you stall it (if you don't rip the tree out of the ground!) thus pulling the plates apart.

If I've got any of these wrong - haven't done them for 3 years - PLEASE someone let paul know before he destroys his car and/or garage trying

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

That sounds a bit extreme. I hope I don't have to go that far to free it up

Olly

One solution is to remove the engine from the car, and replace with 24v Cosworth. Hey presto!

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

Olly

Nice idea but I don't want to wreck a mark 2 3.0S because there are not many about.

Paul

POC

Paul, sell me the car instead, job done. (am serious BTW, mail me if interested )

Olly

The Old Man is a 3.0S man, he had a Mk2 many moons ago. Not many left now. Keep it stock mate.

Dug me old 2.8i out at weekend for a howl around, it still goes and sounds well even after all these years.

POC, how about this in today's Trader: Ford Capri RS3100 1973, 76K miles, Diamond white, only 250 made, owned for 11 years, £3500 ono. My wallet has been in spasm all morning.

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

Olly

It still has the original stereo and eveything I sold my 2.8 a few months ago and do miss it That RS3100 is cheap I bet it's sold by now though

Paul

hades

Apply handbrake (maybe footbrake too), put in 1st, foot on clutch, turn starter. Either the clutch will unseize, or something will break!

I've seen this technique work on a few cars. Definitely old shape mini, can't remember the others off hand.

RobinSherwood

OK been there done that already this year with one of my 'oldies'!

Friend of mine whose an ex WRC mechanic helped me and this is what he told me to do.

You do need a bit of clear tarmac in front of the car for this and not gravel.

Firstly start the car and leave it running until the engine reaches normal operating temperature.

Turn the engine off. Put the car in gear and restart the engine with the car in gear. Keep the clutch depressed as apparently this increases the pressure on the clutch plate to disengage. If you have the space (ie a bit of clear road) build up to about 30mph and then brake hard. With a bit of luck the clutch should free off with a bit of a bang. Had to repeat this procedure three of four times for it to work but the car I was trying to sort out has a 'big' clutch plate and the RAC man had already tried and failed and pronounced it a recovery and gearbox out job.

Hope this is of help.

Robin

Hobbsy

I to have been in this situation. Was on a TR7 V* car hand been standing for 2 years. Tried all the above but to no avail, took it out for a drive leaving gear in 4th (lucky for the good low down torque) drove into his yard and up a small ramp and crack the thing realeased itself. I had already resigned myself to splitting the engine and gearbox but did not need to in the end. I now make sure if I am leaving any cars laid up to keep the clutch depressed.

Brendan Hughes

All of these, except gearbox out, work on the principle of starting the engine and then trying to stall it.

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

Hi All

I tried brakes on etc and starting it but the starter hasn't got enough power to turn it over The battery is dead though from standing a long time and I am using a jump start pack thing. The brakes had seized up too so I freed the back ones last night and took the fronts off to soak. I will try again next week when I get the brakes back on it.

Thanks for the suggestions and keep them coming please

Paul