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PM sent Don.
And thank you Lenny for the kind words recorded by your trusted keeper 😀
Julian.
Throwing in my three ha’pence for what it’s worth – I fitted Julian’s clutch to my 14/60 after I had one or two embarrassing experiences with temporary loss of drive in dense traffic. OK, I shouldn’t have slipped the clutch at all but it can be hard to avoid in some conditions. I don’t find the new clutch diminishes my enjoyment of the car and there’s still plenty left to worry about in a vintage way…
Happy New Year to all,
John
Hello every body.
My thoughts about the 2 Litre clutch…bloody thing…wouldn’t change it for the world…
Make sure the lining is a good modern material and renew the pins so that everything slides nicely. Lubricate every now and then according to the manual.
The OH box is a delight. When I am in the mood, I don’t bother with the clutch – just match the revs and snick it in..lovely. On the other hand, the clutch stop is great when properly adjusted. ‘Late and hard’ (as the actress said to the vicar), so that for fast changes up you push the pedal right down and for a really good down shift, just dab it when you double de-clutch.
IMHO the problem with the 2 Litre clutch is that the friction material is on the pressure plate and flywheel and the centre plate is not. Heat builds up in the centre plate, especialy in reverse up a hill (yes I had problems as a Prescot spectator as well), and you have to stop and let it cool down. If the flywheel and pressure plate were bare, they would conduct the heat way. Mine is still original.
By the way, my new lining seems to cope with heat better and now in dificult manouvers I just get a very offensive smell of rotting fish but still some traction .
Alan Brown has modified my M45 clutch with a lined centre plate but I have not yet had a chance to use it yet.Thank you Julian for details etc of your conversion. Very tempting, but a new problem – crack in head between spark plug and exhaust valve is now taking up my attention and the spare(?) housekeeping.
Thank you also, Colin, for your observations which are encoraging and point up what I know is a weakness on mine. As also is a large amount of wear between the splines on the output shaft and the coupling.
regards to all correspondents and thank you.
Don CourtneyWell, Ive taken the brute out (not that brute – the clutch unit) and the driving plate had whole chunks missing from two of the segments. A huge amount of carbon dust in bottom of the cover. Will be having a standard re-build but with everything in full working order.
Thanks again for all your comments.
donI am a new Forum member, so probably all the clutch problems are now resolved. However, I believe in keeping my 2 litre as original as possible – including the clutch! Make sure new clutch linings have plenty of metallic loading. I once fitted so-called resin-bonded linings. These were no good, slipped at the slightest provocation, would not dissipate the heat, and smelt awful. I also discovered the six clutch springs were too short – I think someone had fitted old motor cycle valve springs. Fit the correct type, backed with florins to make them a bit longer! Adjustment of the Clutch Ejector Stop is most important. Grease the driving pins. The Clutch Stop may be a primitive piece of ironmongery, but it seems to work well enough and certainly speeds-up gear chaging. With the clutch set-up correctly, I have made the fastest ever climb by a standard 2 litre at Prescott hill climb. I recommend keeping your car standard! Best wishes, Alan Elliott
Thank you for these useful tips – I will certainly take them to heart. Why are the clutch springs from the club too short? Florins? That’s two shillings if I’m not mistaken – I seldom get these as change in tesco’s 🙂 . There must be a more contemporary method?
As for the clutch-stop; even after trying 15.000 settings I did not notice any change in gearing down, and very little in gearing up. On my car at least it certainly does not “speed-up gear changing” at all and it wasn’t until I disconnected the clutch-stop alltoghether that I could really change gear pleasantly and without nasty noises. I agree with Arnold Davey on this one.I think you will find the club springs are as Lagonda designed. If you are prepared to use a little more left foot some spacers under the springs will give more bite. You can get the same effect by using 3.5 litre springs.
As for the clutch stop, they can work and they do make a big difference. Maybe you should try adjustment 15001Hello Everybody,
The late Phil Ridout was very knowledgeable on 2 Litres – Alan Elliot and I have undoubtedly supped ale together with Phil whilst he explained how important adjustment of the Clutch Ejector Stop is. Its importance is based on the fact that when the clutch pedal is depressed, it pushes the centre plate away from the driving plates and thus quickly removes any clutch drag which will slow down the change.
A properly adjusted clutch stop, should not be used on down changes ? with double de-clutching the pedal should be pushed down just far enough to disconnect the clutch so the jack shaft is still spinning,. While this is happening, the gearbox is dabbed into neutral, up with the clutch, rev the engine to spin up the layshaft, then down halfway on the clutch pedal and push in the lower gear, hopefully with the two shafts synchronised. The key point is that the layshaft is not forced to slow down by the clutch stop.
Colin
I’m afraid I’ll have to insist that for me no clutch-stop is best. And I have really tried. But, as it is, I love my car without it and I have no trouble whatsoever changing gears . You’re all welcome to drive my car (when it’s put back together, that is) and see for yourself! Interesting about the replacement of clutch springs with 3.5L types – what difference will it make? I did quite allright with the old ones (original 2L) but am very interested in any improvements.
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