Not as much achieved today as I would have liked with covid hitting me again.
Separated the bell housing from the gearbox a good while back and gave it yet another de-greaser bath today and finally got it to the stage you can touch it without having oily fingers afterwards. Time to set about removing the knackered clutch slave cylinder.
With the car being converted to run a 5sp ZF transmission it goes without saying, it’s not standard Lotus. However, it’s not entirely left field, you can still buy them from Burton Power, in exchange for £500+. I would rather not shell out that kind of money, so care will be needed on this operation.
It was obvious the slave cylinder was gubbed as soon as we moved the car out my parents’ garage back in 2018, the clutch pedal was non-existent.
Using a small flathead screwdriver I removed the retaining circlip several months ago. Then using a fine pick, I cleared the bits of corrosion out of the ring groove and applied all manner of release agents periodically for a few weeks. This was all to no avail, it was still solid and even using big grips, it wouldn’t budge.
Before getting stuck in, I gave it one more dose of 3-in-1 then used a spanner and spring punch to give it some light impacts, hoping to help the penetrant get in to the corrosion.
Amazon Prime Time: 2 leg Sealey puller delivered yesterday. The 3 leg pullers I already had just didn’t seat properly on the flange and really didn’t want to risk point loading the casting.
Big penny washer to give the puller something to push on, cranked a few turns on it, feels like it’s moving. Few more turns, bugger, it’s just bending the washer.
Paused for inspiration and decided to give it a mild heating with the small blowtorch (then gave it some tender percussive persuasion with the spanner…)
Immediately started pushing out as soon as I put another turn on the puller! Plenty more turns and it was pushing in freely now, so removed the puller and put a big set of grips back on and shoved it back up to where it started.
Used the centre aisle rotary to clean up the corrosion around the open end of the slave cylinder just in case it tried to pick up when passing through the casting. Popped out clean and easy after that.
Pretty sure the slave cylinder is a lost cause but decided to strip it down and have a look to see if it’s worth rebuilding.
First up, 50/50 degreaser/water mix in a jar, popped it in then gave it ten minutes in the ultrasonic cleaner.
Came out surprisingly well and with a mild heating, the bleed nipple cracked off fairly easily.
That’s where the good part ends. Despite cleaning up the bore with a softish rotary brush you can feel the corrosion on the cylinder wall with your finger nail. One of the many engineering rules of thumb I’ve happened across is if you can feel it with your nail, oil will leak out of it.
Also tried using compressed air down the clutch line port and the cylinder is not up for budging at all.