Ok I'm at wits end...I've bled my system so many times I'm tasting brake fluid. I am having issues with the clutch disengaging completely. Here is what it is doing....I can put it in gears 1-4 but not 5n6. If I hold the brakes and push in the clutch it feels like the pressure is fighting itself and it will not go into gear. I know its a hydrolic issue but its eluding me.

Here is what I've done...replaced the slave with a new one....no go
Replaced the slave with a custom one..(this is where I am at now)
Replaced the entire clutch flywheel pressureplate and throwout bearing...no change..
Bled the system via brake style...pump hold then crack open slave.(only way it works for me)
Tried pulling the master line off the resivour and putting vacuum on the line while having the slave open and a tube in fluid. It sucked just fine but did not get any air out and had to resort to manual bleeding as stated above.

My question to those of you tht have had these issues....wht did u do to resolve this? I am contimplating replacing the master cylinder but I have the feeling nothing will change.
Ideas? I have waaay to much time and money in the mini project for something this trivial to keep me down.

Tia

UPDATE: It is now disengauging. The resolution was to replace the throwout bearing slide, update to the new revision throwout bearing, replace both upper and lower bushings for the arm as well as the arm and bearing fork.

 

Anyone? I tried pressure bleeding the master by pulling the slave off and clamping it compressed and put a rod between the seat and the clutch pedal overnite. I noticed a few air bubbles when I tapped the corregated line to the resivour this afternoon, but alas it still wont disengauge. I even put a spacer in between the end of the slave cylinder and the arm to give it more distance, but still the same. I gave up and decided to weld up an aluminum bracket to hold my overflow tank instead.

 

Good looking overflow tank brackets Cole!

How were your clutch release shaft bushings? Did you replace your guide tube? Is the release bearing the correct dimension. Does the car shift ok into 5-6 with the motor off?

I bled my system fine with pressure bleeder and slave pushrod seated in fully. Maybe you did get air in the master.

Maybe remove it bench bleed it then pop it back in. Get that beast moving!!!!

Jeremy

 

Hey Jeremy...thx for posting, I was going to PM you lol.
I think that is all still stock. I just got all the part numbers and I am going to replace everything, guide tube, seals, release fork...and so on. I still have the metal guide tube. Everything worked just fine with the spec stage 3 stuff in there, but since I put in the fx600 it wont disengage. I replaced it all with ACT and same deal. With the engine off, it shifts into each gear no problem, so I know its not a cable issue, just the shift forks dont like it because its not disengaging. I know that if I dropped the car on the ground it wouldnt allow me to go into gear. This has all been up in the air. I honestly dont think its disengaging at all. The slave clyinder moves a good 2 inches or so and so does the arm. Not sure how far it is to go though for sure.

 

The only other thing I would suggest would be to double check your shift cables and input housing into gearbox as you have a lot going on right above it. It's strange that you can shift 1-4 but not 5-6. Maybe with the motor running there's some interference because of NVH. If you can compare the push travel of slaves(just swap them out bleed and compare stroke). Good luck!

Jeremy

 

Yeah there is quite a bit going on around the shift linkage, but it is clear. I do have one plug I cant find anywhere for it to go...there can be only one. It is near the transmission and under the fuse box. I need to get my hands on another MINI so I can scope it out as its not labeled in the Bentley manual as to what it is. I do have the reverse connector hooked up to the tranny and that works fine.

I ordered everything today including a new master cylinder and everything inside the bell housing. I am going to replace the master 1st and see if anything changes, if not, then time to pull the engine again....oi vei..

need to dress up the hoses yet...but what you see when you open the hood.

 

Gotta ask. What is that intake manifold off of?

 

It sounds like a bad pilot bearing. You must have replaced it - most clutch kits come with 1. For sure the main shaft is hanging in 5 & 6. Can you get it in 5 or 6 standing still?

 

MINI clutch kits don't come with mainshaft/flywheel housing bearings. Our laygear/input shaft has no pilot bearing. Maybe the mainshaft bearings are going or perhaps it's a 5/6 shift fork problem???

Jeremy

 

Forgot all about the pilot. ^^

Main shaft bearings or 5-6 fork, What else is there? If it feels like it's working aganst presure, shifter your end, won't go into gear, clutch dissengaged, the main shaft is moving ....... Is it possible the transmission is not in straight, maybe a little off

 

That's the OEM manifold. I ported it to match the RMW head and powdercoated it in a hightemp black and used a nylon gasket that I ported to match. I also made an adapter plate for the throttle body to mate up to. My plan is to go back and make a custom manifold, & fueling setup, but I didnt want to introduce additional problems with so much that has changed...the only thing that resembles a mini when opening the hood is the coil pak and the MINI logo on the valve cover...

 

Yes I can put it in any gear when the engine isnt running. When up in the air, I can put it an any gear but 5th & 6th. The clutch isnt disengaging at all it seems, but when under no load it drops right into gear no problem. hold the brakes or have it on the ground it will not go into gear. Yes its similar in feeling like when the pilot bearing needs replaced, as I have had that happen in my truck. The transmission is in straight, as I put it together on the ground as I pull the engine and tranny as a unit. This is the 5th time i've had it apart & 2 completely different setups, both being new with the same issue.

The wheels do spin in gear when up in the air, so the shaft is in correctly. The slave cylinder moves good and pushed the arm at least 2 inches although I havent measured it for sure and nobody knows how far it is to move. When apart I can easily move the release fork and throwout bearing . I did order the entire setup , new fork, arm, seals, guide tube, and a new master cylinder. If this doesnt fix it, I dont know what is causing it and may look for a new tranny. It functioned perfectly fine when I pulled it with a spec stage 3 setup. The only thing different is the flywheel and clutchsetup as well as it is a new engine as well. The engine starts and runs smooth, so I wouldnt think it would be the issue. Its an 05 engine, I was told that I rebuilt, however it did not have the new crank dampner on it, so it could be a late 04. The tranny is an 02 with a Quaife LSD installed and functioned perfect before all of this. The car has not seen .01 mile other than pushing it since and that has been over 2.5 years. The tranny has always been mated to the engine other then to pull it to replace the clutchsetup.

I think that is all ...maybe some more lingering...oooh I did sandblast the casing and paint it black, but I did it all by hand and was extremely careful not to shoot where I shouldn't.

and another pic to show the front mount setup...there is over 100+ hours of fab work just in the turbo setup, not including making the manifold or engine builds and subsequent teardowns. So there is a ton of my sweat and hard work that is chapping my tail because of this. I just want to drive the freqn thing! lol

 

Man: THAT IS SO SO NICE !! It must be just wreckin you cause of this b.s. thing & I REALLY "feel" for you.The ONLY thing "I" can think of (as you've tried EVERYTHING) IS the most likely--a mismatch of the axles themselves as the ONLY time this is occuring is "under load" . If the builds "were" far enough apart (o2 ? 05) then I've been told there are very slight diffs in mfg--they'll "fit" but WON'T work !! Something to do w/ the internals (splines /lgth) Part #s & interchangeability WOULD be a path to take if you can identify All the players. They "may" be wearing the wrong jerseys!! It would be a really easy fix IF this were the case and I sure hope it is something simple---- (yet a brainwrecker)

 

Nice work. I can see a lot of thought went into that project. The clutch issue would make me nuts. It worked fine before & not now.
What I'm thinking is the clutch is working fine. Fishead is on to something - the output shaft is driving 5-6 so when the clutch is in the cog won't stall. Something's too tight or out of allignment.

 

OK I understand the up in the air thing now with 5-6 engagement. It's like your diff crown wheel and 5/6 mainshaft pinion is shifting with axle load. I would look at your diff races/bearings and inspect the housing where they seat. I would also check that your flywheel/pressure plate was bolted together straight and true. Other thing that may cause end float issues would be crank thrust bearings...how was the crank end float when you rebuilt the motor Cole?

Jeremy

 

Honestly Jeremy...I didnt remove the crank...it had only 11k miles on the motor and the crank spun fine. I kept the stock bearings and rods and swapped out the pistons and head.

What if there was too much slop on the throwout bearing/fork/guide tube? Would it redirect the pressure laterally instead of directly onto the pressure plate fingers? It feels like the clutch is not disengaging at all. I know the tranny worked fine before with a completely different setup. I installed the dual clutch plate fx600 and it never felt rite, thats why i aborted the plan of running it and switch to something that was closer to a normal feeling clutch, none of this half pedal crap. The axels are running into the exact same transmission, so little chance its in there, I mean it spins up just fine. Its in the clutch setup somewhere somehow.

I could compare the two engines crank as i still have the bone stock engine. I mean if I tear it all down again, then I could at least to that. Its kind of hard to miss-align the pressure plate, now the clutch disk is quite possible to be miss-aligned, but even if its close, and the input shaft goes in, (proven as the wheels spin) it should self align the 1st time the pedal is pushed in.

When I mated the transmission to the engine, it went together perfect, no gap, as I must of nailed the spline on the 1st go. This wasnt the case with the fx600. That setup is completely different than a normal clutch. It has two clutch discs that are seperated by plates, similar to a wet motorcycle or F1 clutch.(smaller diameter) The last time I re-installed the fx600 (after getting it back from clutchmasters for examination) the clutch disc against the flywheel somehow did not slide onto the spline correctly and the plate was damaged. I didnt know this until I just pulled it the last time when installing the ACT setup. I am not sure if it was my fault or a defect in that disc's splines, as I didnt actually slide each onto the shaft (which I do now to be safe) The clutch alignment tool went in ok and was a little sticky at the very end, I understand that would of def caused it to not disengage, but alas it never did, even the 2 other times before the last time i sent it back to CM. I dont think the shaft was damaged, as it appear straight and the splines were all good as I was able to slide the new clutch disc on the shaft just fine.

 

Yeah my bet is too much slop in the throw out bearing, release fork and their bushings coupled maybe with not enough slave pushrod throw. Good luck with the fixing Cole!

Jeremy

 

8 - no mater how you look at it, upside down or backwards, it's the same.....
Visited the Bentley yesterday..... Could not see any solution

Have you found the problem?

 

I have been a little pre-occupied with recent events(see link), and I am waiting for the rest of the parts to get to me to replace the entire interior bell housing mechanics.

http://cfc.whtm.com/forums/viewmessa...srow=1&erow=10

 

Understood....... Perfecty.

Keep us posted on the clutch issue.

 

Geeesh...finally...finally FIXED!

I replaced the guide bearing, new revised throw out bearing, new bushings, new throw out arm and fork, and a little welding to fix a poorly designed support ring in the bell housing, slap it back together and what do you know...it now goes into gear!

It took me forever mainly because I got discouraged when the support ring for the lower plastic bushing broke off and I was putting off welding it because of it being so thin and a casting. I managed to weld it up without it melting into a molten mess of alum.

Needless to say, I feel that anyone that is running into the issue with the clutch not wanting to disengauge, replacing these parts should solve your issue.

 

FIXED. Now I'm movativated. Good news is great news these days.............

 

This is not your case, but recently encountered a similar problem only it would not disengage in any gear. All hydraulic possibilities were eliminated. I had heard a piece of clutch material can break off and wedge in the pressure plate; removed the gearbox and discovered the OE flywheel was wasted. No elastomer remaining and the outer shell had traveled away from the hub just a bit. Since the pressure plate is attached to the outer section I don't see how it would effect clutch release, but replacing it fixed the problem; except the second gear synchro is now shot.

 

Here is a pic of inside the beell housing. You can see the new parts and what I had to weld.