Car shaking setting off

[Willem]

As the title says, COA550, 1936 12 tourer shakes when setting off, very difficult to prevent it happening, doesn't happen at any other time. The suspension bushes on the front of the engine seem fine (the bolts have a bit of play), the gearbox bush is tight, my question is: there are 2 holes in the bottom casing of the clutch housing, do these go all the way through to the flywheel? If they are going to the flywheel area would spraying brake cleaner be an option to wash any potential contaminants down and out or is splitting the gearbox fron the engine the only realistic option to see what is happening?
Will

[SHyslop]

Universal joints, any brakes grabbing a bit, clutch cable sticking ? Unlikely I know but I think you're wanting to eliminate anything possible before biting the gearbox out bullet. I'll confess, I'm struggling with the two holes in the bottom casing bit. I'm not seeing them in the bellhousing nor in a clutch cover but I accept that's probably denseness on my part. As a solitary opinion, I don't think there's much chance of any cleaner reaching the clutch plate itself, particularly the engine side. The clutch cover is pretty much all enveloping as far as the driven plate goes and I would have hazarded a guess that access through the inspection cover in the top of the bellhousing would have been the best bet. Something could have been sprayed through it with the engine running and engagement/disengagement taking place at the same time. However, the quantity of whatever you would use to try and reach the driven plate and what actually did reach it would be very disproportionate - at a guess.

In October, my 35 12 Sports Saloon had a noticeable slip on hills in top and I set about taking the gearbox out. From start to finish was four days of about 7 hours each for me alone. Along the way anything else that was needed to the items I was working with or near were attended to as well so it could have been done a bit quicker if time was really an issue, maybe reducing the time by a day. The plate was needing replaced, fortunately I had some new ones to hand (although outwardly similar, only one was "right" for this car) and I also took apart the release bearing and made sure it was well oiled. On this car it would have all been apart in about 2008 following a comprehensive and expensive engine rebuild. Unfortunately, the previous owner had not been a freewheel user and I am finding that a car driven without using the freewheel can be expected to have more clutch issues so I have learned to take another £1000 off the offer price to cover my time and parts , but I've bought my lot anyway !

I'm hoping that another owner may have a more cheering story to tell you that would help your situation along but the up side is that once the work is done, it should alleviate worry for some considerable time. Apart from a back wheel off the ground briefly to turn the propshaft, the car stays on its wheels. Carpets and front floors out, loosen the exhaust pipe, remove the pedals, propshaft off, jack under the sump (piece of wood too), trolley jack under the gearbox and remove gearbox into the car. Fix. Reassemble. I know, that omits a fair amount of detail but none of it is difficult. The only thing I'd add is to make sure that the freewheel cable is fully pulled through and is just disengaged when secured with its locking screw, then engages the freewheel fully when the knob is turned.

[Willem]

Just to clarify, the bottom of the gearbox housing does have 2 holes in it, with a screwdriver you can push from the back towards the front aout 2 1/2 inches in so I assume to the front of the casing.
Attached is a photo with a screwdriver in one of the holes, looking towards the front of the car.

[SHyslop]

I see, I had ruled those out but have had a look just to confirm. I've taken a couple of photos of a bellhousing and also the back of an engine and you'll see they give no access to the flywheel. I'm sorry the news on that front isn't better. In case you wonder what I was maybe looking for, on a 1934 Austin 12/4, the bellhousing at the bottom is almost skeletal. You could do quite a bit to a clutch through the two holes in it which are like two pie slice shaped pieces about 4 inches at the curved end 3 inches long. The first time I saw one I thought someone had cut chunks out until I realised they were meant to be, so I didn't want to entirely rule out that you had something similar !

bellhousing.jpg (69.06 KiB) Viewed 5296 times

engine end.jpg (78.64 KiB) Viewed 5296 times

[Willem]

Ah well, clutch repair it is then... what could possibly go wrong..