Mini clutch problem, don’t BELIEVE what we found…

[@garyfinch1025]

As soon as you said what the issue was I knew it was going to be the end of the arm worn and bent. When I was changing clutches regularly on Minis, I had an old one in my tool box that I had heated up and re-bent/straightened that I used to swap for the one that the car had when it came in. That would then get repaired ready for the next one. Cant believe that a mini gearbox expert has never seen that before.

[@stevesales4263]

I thought it was common knowledge. I remember from 45-50 years ago. It was possible to change a clutch in 30 minutes.

[@rogernewnham9162]

Such an old problem. Back in the 70's i used to add a blob of weld to the ball and file the weld for a snug fit

[@VauxhallViva1975]

Seen this quite a lot on the Austin/Morris 1100/1300 series of cars also. ESPECIALLY if you replace the clutch slave-cylinder with an after-market generic spare unit. The new replacement slave-cylinders very often have - for some reason - a piston with a very deep recess which is deeper then the original slave cylinder has. I have no idea why. But that allows the clutch arm actuating rod to move about 10mm further into the slave cylinder then normal(even when bled up correctly), and when you press the clutch pedal, you don't get enough travel to disengage the clutch. The fix is to swap the actuating rod for a longer one, or to simply heat the clutch arm up with gas and bend it as the arm in this video shows. It's a real head-scratcher if you have not seen this problem before, cos you replace the slave cylinder, bleed the clutch, but then can't get the damn clutch to let go correctly despite doing everything right with the replacement! 😛

[@stuart9202]

I had this on my Mini back in 88. took me some time to work it out. But did the same, blob of weld solved the problem!

[@bill8by5]

Cool find on the actuator arm. The times they are a changin. Always look forward to your vids - something interesting every time. Keep 'em coming!!

[@woodrimcars2324]

Excellent to see how busy you are and what an interesting find on the Mini. Probably had 30 over they years and never that problem. Back in 2017 drove the whole of New Zealand in a Classic Cooper 5,500 kilometres trouble free. Everyday is a school day.

[@johnmehaffey9953]

Can’t believe how many of you guys know about this problem, I’m certainly no mechanic but I love hearing about your problem solving and one thought struck me if you mechanics and transmission guys know about this fault why didn’t the manufacturers not pick up on it or did they know about it but did nothing about it, great post again

[@blinddiver63]

I served my time on Austin Rover that used to.be a common fault caused by incorrect adjustment of the locking nuts on the actuating shaft Nuts must be backed right off after fitting a new clutch The press the clutch pedal wind first nut till it touches and then back off 1/8 of a turn & lock with the other nut If the nuts are to far down the shaft they bottom out & bend the arm

[@royjennison3916]

i used to be a British Leyland mechanic , its was a known fault back in the day on the mini

[@scotspie501douglas7]

great post roy can beat experience I tried to get my 19yr old son to buy as his first car but he told me they were ugly ..lol cant beat good old fashioned engineering

[@Woodsieone]

As a quick bodge we used to place a nut between the slave cyl. and the push rod - no problems after ;)

[@seriksson9721]

It was a tricky one. Good that you found the probable error.

[@richardholdway9335]

Well you did not no those arms bent ,this was a Sunday morning job in the 70 s just hit it with a hammer and off you go and what about those rubber drive shaft coupler that fell a part on the early mini when they got oil on them bloody crap ,luckily they were made at the Avon rubber in Bradford on Avon so you could get them for pennies if you new someone how worked there ,oh that takes me back ,good show 👍👍

[@kimkeam2094]

I was watching the video and heard the voices in the background. Made me jump as I had earbuds in, sitting alone and hearing them unexpectedly as if they had entered my darkened room!

[@howardgoold5774]

Great video,reminded me of the old days as an apprentice mechanic back in the 70s we used to heat up the clutch arm and bend them back into shape, quite a common problem.

[@adriancoppola3729]

Had that in my Mk 1 1275 Cooper S almost 50 years ago - not helped by the extra load competition clutch spring either!

[@deanage1983]

My new favourite channel keep it up

[@peterknight4692]

Hopefully the bearing actuator shaft pushed by the ball was also changed, or at least fairly new, since that wears inside as badly as the ball. The bent arm was the giveaway from the start.

[@johniksushibar165]

and that he put,s it the right way round or the ball on the release lever wont have enough movement to release the clutch🚂

[@fivedotsdave9723]

Back when I raced Minis sometimes we bent the lever in the opposite direction to the way that lever was bent, which gave us a great clutch pedal.....

[@robertsawyer1633]

I also.simple,cheep solution to a common problem.

[@Anatoli50]

The bore on the pivot point on the old actuating arm is also worn, taking up needed travel at the ball. It could use a proper bushing.

[@Anatoli50]

While Minis are venerated today, one must remember that they were cheap automobiles built to a price. This meant lots of corner cutting and lower spec materials. No one building Minis back in the day expected them to last 50 years.

[@theteadrinker-143]

Well found ! I can’t ever remember that problem 40 odd years ago 👍🏻

[@Badgertronix]

good spot. The joys of old cars

[@Clubman-gt]

The mini arm not bent on the ball end it’s worn out that why they bent the arm to compensate for the Wear. Very common on mini’s

[@johniksushibar165]

also the arm is bent upstream, another bodge to get over wear n tear, oh and he is showing it,s operation with the push rod on the wrong side

[@petesmith2234]

@@johniksushibar165 I noticed that…. Slave cylinder bolted onto… fresh air!

[@tsheritageengineering]

Common Mini problem, lost count how many I have changed.

[@roberttill3787]

Its got to be more than 30 years since i did any real work on a Mini, and the first thing i said to myself as you put the arm down was, "its bent!". This was quite common in the day, some smart arses even got the gas axe on them and put the bend in! Their claim was it would improve the clutch action. What a load of twaddle.

[@stewart9723]

Remember that problem well, use to weld up the ball and heat up the arm and bend it back into shape. Clutch had the letter A stamped on the cover and the pressure plate, you line them up with the timing marks on the flywheel.

[@Eddiecurrent2000]

My god this reminds me of my MG Metro's clutch, I used to be able to change it at the side of the road! I bought a cheap verto replacement after the original was slipping. I used to be able to do it in an hour and a half in the end ( I carried around a second cheap spare in case!). Eventually gave up on the cheap one and refitted the old pressure plate and it never missed a beat!

[@stevenfalconer5797]

I’m a bit surprised you think inside calipers are vernier calipers if I’m honest.

[@chrisclarke6344]

Yup no vernier scale on those, makes you wonder.

[@kevlark]

I remember it being common bending the arm the other way to get the last bit of use out of the clutch when the pressure plate was weak I did it in my youth when money was short, I have never seen one bent back the way that one is though. I put the bottom end down inside a pipe and used another pipe on the top end to bend it, I reckon that's how the ball got bent on that one.

[@rabk5702]

I served my apprenticeship on bmc /leyland cars retired now that's the first time I seen that very good catch 👌👍

[@pauljeffries]

Clutch arms are a common problem on the classic mini, I changed mine to the MED upgrade set up, it works perfectly

[@chrisclarke6344]

Isnt it a 50yr old problem many treated to the gas torch cure!

[@bloodreighn]

that is very interesting regarding the mini, I might have to get myself a new arm too, ive been battling hard to find 1st and 2nd gears in a freshened up gearbox recently!

[@MiniPerformance]

as 90% of the other comments are saying its such a normal issue it should have been picked up at inspection and highlighted to the customer, not sure if you had that bit though?. The whole lot is bin fodder, metal to metal wear often caused by poor maintenance, if the ball is worn the plunger most likely is as well. I've just done one for a customer the whole lot was seized, pins worn away, ball worn the whole shebang. Even the replacement arms can bend, best mod is the h beam ones.

[@palstrat3857]

Hi, was a common problem with all a series mini, s, all ways bent the arm if bottom ball pinnotjamming up in throw out stop, know loads of people trying to get flywheel off crank and 180 degrees out and c washer wouldrop into crank and stop removal, great video, s Lee, how's your mate James doin at chops garage, like his video, s as well, keep up good work.

[@waynep343]

Shaun dawson gave some great advice. I was going to have you measure the distance above the rivet heads. How much it can wear away to the rivet heads and set the disc and cover on and the doubled over the rivet head should be close to the clamp down distance. I totally agree with compressing it till the diaphragm is flat but I have found you need to go just a little farther to compensate for eventual wear of the disc. The last countach clutch I did the flywheel was so bowl shaped when on the flywheel grinder the outside of the flywheel ground before the raised center for the friction. Ended up with a 0.010" step as nobody would share the factory spec. I should have had the flywheel ground for a 0.015 or 0.020" raised center step. But it will take years perhaps a decade before the clutch has to be done again. Carefully setting the clutch input shaft and the thru the pan shaft allowed me to mate the trans to the engine in about 10 minutes of wiggling. Instead of hours like others have complained of.

[@keiththompson8997]

I had identical symptom's, it however turned out to be the thrust shim washer behind the primary gear was assembled back to front. It looks the same but for a very subtle shampher on it's inner circumference. one more for the memory box, happy days.

[@thomashopkins2609]

The hole near the ball looks to be larger than the new part as well as maybe off center. The lever has been optimized to the point where it does not work at all. I do it all the time.

[@andrewstuart3821]

Back in the 1970's bending the clutch arm was the quick fix. This fix was to get enough travel (because of the wear) so you got oxy out. Yours was bent at both ends so it was never going to work 😃😅😃

[@NotSure723]

OH MY GOD!!!!! I'M SHOCKED!!!!! I AM IN COMPLETE DISBELIEF!!!!!! I'M GOING TO HAVE TROUBLE SLEEPING TONIGHT, OVER HOW UNBELIEVABLE THE PROBLEM YOU FOUND IS!!!!!

[@Disinterested1]

done a lot with minis and that ball can also break off that arm :)

[@tuckersmotorservices7742]

I wasn’t surprised to find Bob (dad) in the workshop the other day routing through his boxes of mini spares! He was upset when he couldn’t find a spare release arm. He has found about half a dozen clutch covers and release bearings though lol

[@robert1016]

Great bit of detective work, problem solved.Good job.

[@alanmurcer6440]

Really interesting video, keep up the good work 👍

[@abzzeus]

Reminds me of the English Mobile Mechanics (The Garage) from years ago where a Porsche had a clutch that won't engage properly, turned out that the forks were oh so slightly bent.

[@gregghoulihan8837]

Another bodge I was told about years ago was to fit the push rod off a moggie minor as they were apparently 1/4 inch longer. Never tried it myself.

[@TheMentalblockrock]

Moggie Minor doesn't have a push rod like that on the clutch, it has a mechanical linkage all the way from clutch pedal to the clutch release bearing arm, and an adjusting and lock nut. No push rods.

[@leeedwards3933]

Cut my 14 year old teeth on Minis and had this problem twice [HEAD SCRATCHING] But It was ALWYS THOSE BLOODY ARMS BENT, Just a fraction OFF and No Gears so that;s one lesson i;ll NEVER FORGET. Good for you pointing this out Buddy [South wales].

[@WestfieldFreshAir]

Brought back memories of very expensive failure on my first car, a Metro. Previous owner had clutch replaced but lock washer not properly installed so flywheel came lose stopping clutch disengaging. Lose flywheel on crank meant new crank needed. Yikes.

[@jscoulter61]

I have been having this issue with my mini. I have always had my suspicions about the clutch arm. might spend some $$ and get a new one. :-)

[@MrFunkia]

That bent pin is a new one to me.

[@ShaunieDale]

Looks like the socket should have a nylon cup in it. Used to have a lot to do with minis thirty odd years ago, there is a great deal I’ve forgotten.

[@jamesmather9990]

Those are not vernier calipers at 2.09. They are normal internal calipers

[@steve0680657]

Do you ever work with petrol Ford duratecs (the 1.8 Duratec HE, which is mostly the Mazda L8 engine)?

[@shaundadson8302]

Before you refit the flywheel make sure the diaphragm spring is compressed level when the clutch is bolted together. If not put it in your press with a dti on the head of one of the bolts and çompress it until the spring is level. Take a note of this amount and machine it off the backplate horns and then reassemble. Adjust the height of the drive straps, (if necessary), to make them level and with your new parts you should have a decent clutch. The idea of this is the spring is fully compressed and giving maximum clamping load when level and depressing the clutch tips it beyond this point releases it rather than continuing to compress it when the clutch is pressed.

[@paulmuff9883]

Nice bit of Sherlock Holmes work on the mini clutch arm certainly makes sense to me please don’t forget to let us know how you get on👍👍

[@terencehawkes3933]

I am surprised you are pressing out those old liners. You were talking about only boring those out. Why the switch? I bent one the ball end of one of those arms, just like that in 1972. God, I'm old! PS. You absolutely must change te actuator to prevent a recurrence.

[@teamidris]

To be honest, if you know a bit about casting you are instantly suspicious of the part number. They are always straight. (Maybe someone has seen a half moon, but I’ve never seen one change halfway along). And I’m doing the same head scratching because the two pins on the tig welder foot pedal plug are supposed to be crossed with solder because that is the jump-pin to tell it that it isn’t on the gun switch. Now if it had been a jumper wire I wouldn’t have thought it had melted like that :D 3 days trying to figure that one out :P

[@oldgitsknowstuff]

Aha ! The old Mini clutch lever trick......takes me back to my Mini days in 1966. Poor clutch clearance.. Bend the lever ! Only I don't know how, usually it was a bodge to get a clutch without changing the Master and Slave cylinders. And yo think they took the whole clutch apart.....!

[@tractorhead971]

Bending the arm must be the fancy version of putting a nut inside the slave cylinder or lengthening the rod by adding a snot of weld.

[@alasdairmunro1953]

I remember having much the same problem with an Allegro, which had much the same system. Just couldn’t seem to get the travel.

[@welditmick]

You can see the arm is knackered without comparing it to a new one - Yet it was still fitted?

[@bullitautorepairsmobile4989]

Just as a matter of interest , do you get any 1.0 ecoboost engines. They don’t strike me as being reliable,

[@MrBowsmith]

Ah! A pleasant walk down memory lane.

[@Mind2kill]

Hello, first of all thanks for all the good content and keep it up the good work. Also, few videos ago you show us a f20c s2000 engine been sleeved, how was the outcome of that one? Everything went in smoothly? Thanks.

[@thomastaylor1283]

There are many problems that cause the prob it first starts with the ball on the arm wearing this is increased dramatically if the slave cylinder leeks runs down the arm and creates a grinding past also this can partly seize the release bearing arm thus needing more pressure on the pedal and bending the bottom of the arm. The other culprit is a miss adjustment of the locking nut etc on the release bearing shaft. On my hill climb mini they adjusted themselves and into bottom s at Shelley Walsh I snapped the gear lever and bent the rod since then I didn’t fit them on my competition car. Hope this fills in some gaps.

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

Thrust bearings on old Minis were narrower than on later Minis, less depth. Hard to tell which way around that arm should be fitted. Oh yes of course, the landing for the adjustment bolt, so correct way. Strange one. It's years since my old 1970s/80s mini days, but there was a fair few jumble of variations of parts on A-series, pre A+. Spring then diaphragm change, and so on. Oldest minis worked on was a 1960 Seven, and a van about the same age with the tank inside, back of loading bay next to wheel arch.

[@spannerasaspoon]

I still have one of those Traveller/van tanks on a shelf in my garage!!! 👍

[@10rGreenninja]

Just from looking at the arm it's clear that the ball on the end is very badly worn which is probably why it's ended up with th bend.

[@jostouw4366]

Common problem in the day it was also the easiest to bleed just put the pipe into the master cylinder to top itself up.

[@fredsbloggs656]

I used to work for Mike's Minis in Colchester....... the clutch arm ball and clutch release bearing shaft hole are subject to wear over the years ...... and the clutch pedal has to pressed to the floor to release the clutch..... the "common cure" is to heat the clutch arm and bend it as per your example .... after further time and wear ...... sometimes but not always, the large nut on the shaft with the end of the clutch release bearing butts up against the end case and of course prevents the clutch releasing anew, this time forcing on the "ball and short shaft" on the clutch arm to bend to the point where often a crack develops next to the pivot hole, sometimes difficult to see ..... sometimes it's not the nut and it just cracks after years of use anyway ..... Check yours arm for a crack!! but maybe it is just bent ? Of course the quick answer is to replace the clutch arm as you will be doing ..... the large nut should be left with a decent amount of play just in case ..... really that nut does nothing anyway ....... Finding bent clutch arms is very common .... finding cracks next to the ball is less common but it does happen ....... Often a car would arrive with the problem of the clutch pedal hitting the floor before releasing ...... after a re-adjustment of the clutch and a test drive, by the time I had returned to the garage ...... the clutch pedal is hitting the floor again ..... that crack was quickly getting bigger ..... just as you had found ! we would replace the arm with a S/H arm straight away (no clutch removal) of which we had many !! Funny that I knew well before you showed the clutch arm exactly what the issue was ....... that's 40 years ago that I last repaired minis ....... btw I still remember that the clutch arm travel at the slave cylinder should be 9/16 ths of an inch when the clutch pedal is depressed!! Also you are super patient with your difficult customers ........ more than I was !! Have fun!! Dave

[@spannerasaspoon]

The large throw out stop nut with the locknut is extremely important... unless you want to f*ck your thrust bearings on the sides of the centre mains. Set it up as the proper spec - the lever (which should be in good condition beforehand anyway) is pulled to its furthest point of travel and the first nut (the throw-out stop with the conical flange) is tightened to contact the external clutch housing face. The lever is then released and a further turn of one flat of the nut is applied before tightening the locking nut against it using two spanners (15/16" AF). After having done perhaps hundreds of 'A' Series transverse clutches before retiring in the 1990s I can tell you that bending the lever isn't a good idea. Replacing the 3/8" clevis pin that the arm pivots on every clutch renewal is a cheap and good expedient - I've seen them worn to half their original cross section. Also, fit the pin from the opposite side of the clutch housing boss from the way they did it at the factory - this makes it really easy to remove the split pin and clevis pin should there be a problem down the line when the clutch hasn't actually worn out. Plenty of good grease on the pin, in the hole of the bearing spigot, bore and contact faces will slow the wear rate, but not so much grease that one risks it migrating beyond the area and possibly onto the friction surfaces. Another worthwhile tip is always renew the primary gear oil seal while the flywheel's off. Use the correct removal tool to avoid damage to the flywheel housing bore, as well as the correct fitting tool. Prying it out with a screwdriver is likely to gouge the alloy. Also use a warding file to remove the frazing from the two almost tangential grooves on the crank where the 'C' shaped retainer for the plate holding the primary gear from sliding back and forth, before pulling the primary gear from the crank otherwise it gouges into the phosphor-bronze and oilite bushes inside the gear and damages that, too. Sadly I've seen instances where so many 'experts', both self-proclaimed and professional have done all these things wrongly and had to rectify their work. Engineering isn't just being able to swing on the end of a spanner or socket wrench.... One final adjustment on earlier models is to adjust the return stop-bolt and it's locknut to the correct setting of approximately 1/16", 0.060" or just over half mm from the small boss on the operating lever when the clutch is not pressed. Easiest before fitting the return spring in place above the slave cylinder. I frequently came across clutch operating levers with the ball end that weren't just worn away - sometimes they even snapped off! I was quite well practised at recovering Minis and variants for customers and driving without a clutch OR crunching gears during clutchless changes. Happy days...

[@tda2806]

I have seen just wear on that bottom ball joint give issues, sorry I didn't spot the bent arm in the original video, Looking back I could have spotted the return spring arm was at a strange angle. The rally guys used to bend the clutch arms.

[@chrisbarnes2823]

Do they still use Duckhams Q oil in the UK?

[@Missed_Apex_GT]

No mate duckhams disappeared years ago

[@philtucker1224]

So how did the mini clutch turn out?

[@186scott]

Looking at the ball on the clutch arm not only is it bent it is also rather warn

[@johndoornaert1127]

Don't understand why it wasn't change when the gearbox was rebuilt? It is a must in pre verto clutch, it is a well known problem.They are so great but each pieces need to be in very good condition. Even the eye in the clutch pedal can cause the throw to be not big enough. The plunger need also to be carefully checked because the ball of the lever arm then to dig in to it.

[@toddavies1326]

Yep - common on minis

[@chrisclarke6344]

Ring those YB blocks it will stop 99% of returns due to gasket blowing. Plus bore down one side of those liners they will then fall out and prevent anymore block damage or needless distortion.

[@LMSILVIA]

Would love to see the work done on the s13 engine...

[@mikefricker3603]

Windy, was it?

[@rogerfenton5210]

Used to be a common problem as well as the ball end wearing as have welded them up for quick fix

[@davidkane8660]

Pleasure to see you on here.....long time mini fan here and your name rings a huge bell to me 😁

[@mrbridger5]

Common issue them arms bending ( and then people bend the to part to try and rectify, making it even worse in the long run). Swap it out for the later system with the shorter arm and angled slave cylinder.

[@dodgydruid]

Those poor old arms don't half have to carry some force over the years, I remember a machining shop used to stamp out new pattern ones that were case hardened making them tougher than a tory's heart.

[@JakobusVdL]

Tory's have hearts????

[@GARDENER42]

Bottom of the ball on the arm also appears to have either been worn down or ground away .

[@theondebray]

After a lifetime of Minis, I have never before this seen a bent actuator arm. What on earth do people do to bend them?!

[@johnharris5028]

That was such a common problem when l worked on them

[@michaelpagliarini4785]

Shouldn't the crack,s be stored standing on the flywheel end . Or is that a myth?

[@robertboykin1828]

The weather can cause that. The clutch disc can freeze to the flywheel. Ice or rust can doit. So, what I did was to shut engine OFF. Put the tranny in FIRST GEAR, depress clutch, crank engine & WA-LA.

[@alex79buckland]

Hiya been watching your videos for a couple of months now and I enjoy the way you tell it as it is, question do you do offset grinding on crankshafts?

[@cozydram1]

great problem solving neat

[@Thatguy-nw4od]

Buy yourselves some Bowers 3 point internal micrometres, expensive but with the time they will save you will get ROI in no time.

[@garypeatling7927]

Changed loads welded them bent em cut v out welded back together , especially on 1100 genius motors lasted forever

[@Mrflash222006]

The Porsche 924/944 suffer with bending clutch forks they bend at the piviot causing the bearing to go on the p155 - not seen it on a mini tho

[@mmark8394]

I have a mini clutch in my triumph trident motorbike from new, it uses 3balls on a ramp to engage, little lift, but never slips 58bhp, must balance it and align

[@marksntl7632]

My next door neighbour had that issue with his Mini clutch, back in around 1994.

[@angelsone-five7912]

circa 11.00 you got the actuating arm back to front, that does not help.

[@02shredder]

How did you deal with customer on this issue? The engine and gearbox rebuilds were not the cause of the issue but an ancillary component so I would have charged the customer for parts and labour.....My dad was an engine builder and all the returns back to the shop was always, carbs, distributors, injectors, coils, turbos etc etc....which is no way was part of the rebuild process and this was always clearly communicated in writing o the customer. I am sure you have the same problems

[@gj91471]

Did not look like vernier calipers from here

[@alanblackford2962]

I had this problem on one of my mini's. I first tried bleeding the hydraulics with the aid of a girlfriend, who was pumping the brake pedal instead. I then changed the master cylinder, girlfriend still pumping the brake pedal until I sussed out what she was doing. This did not fix the problem but had wasted cash on a new master cylinder. Sold the car to my brother who took it too a guy that was building a fake cooper s , who told him that some people used to ram a nut onto the end of the shaft that is pushed by the slave cylinder, which will sometimes give a little more movement.

[@samrodian919]

Arse backwards clutch on the mini. Weird design because of the way the drive goes downwards into the underslung gearbox. Same on the Maxi's. I have to say that the old lever arm looks suspiciously crap compared with the new one, the new one appears to be thicker too and the way the old ones part number goes around the corner like a banana! No wonder you had disengagement problems!

[@kelvinrf]

Hell, what's that huge crank in the corner.

[@Jim_M_75]

That Mini clutch is the kind of problem that has you pulling your hair out, really good spot.

[@teamidris]

At 9:12 it suddenly became a very different channel :o :D

[@lunkydog]

Nothing vernier about those calipers. Just regular inside calipers.

[@mikal8343]

I hope you didn't install that rooted clutch arm..

[@TheGranty1739]

Another over looked fault was wear in the crankshaft thrust washers .