Remove and check clutch and flywheel, Slave cylinder and Release bearing swap. Refit camcovers and ancillaries.

Once the old engine is out, I have to remove the flywheel and clutch which will need to be refitted to the new rebuilt motor. Before I can do this I need to remove the rebuilt motor from the engine stand (which currently blocks access to the rear) to the hoist. I can then remove and insert a new spigot bearing into the crankshaft end before mounting the flywheel and the clutch. I am hoping to use the existing flywheel since the one that came attached to my rebuilt engine was in poor condition. However there is a question mark over the ring gear on the existing flywheel since this could have suffered some strain turning the motor on the starter whilst the valves we're jamming piston movement.

I have a choice of clutches since I have bought a replacement part-used one and also the clutch in the car is I believe in good condition anyway.  I will fit whichever  one seems best.

Removing and renovating the clutch release bearing

The clutch release bearing is held on the clutch arm by 2 clips.

Clutch operating arm, release bearing clipped in position. Note sleeve on the end of the gearbox shaft is slightly longer than the shaft itself- this is the pattern "C" in the manual, earlier motors were apparently altered to fit this pattern so mine apparently is correct

It unclipped easily and detached as a composite of hub, bearing and thrust face washer which are all pressed together. According to the parts list the outer end of the arm should attach to a spring- but there was nothing in my car so I will need to investigate further.

Inside bellhousing, 1 clip and release bearing removed. The second clip remains on the clutch operating arm

Release bearing

The bearing did feel a little rough and there was some axial play. When fully opened this allowed a 16 thou gauge to fit between hub and bearing. I decided to fit a new bearing to be safe.

There was some play in the bearing and when pushed down one side, the opposite side opened up a gap that would accept a 16 thou feeler.

The hub was released using a 28mm socket to tap the hub down and out of the bearing whilst the bearing rested for support between the jaws of a vice  (ie not held in the vice).

The thrust face washer was removed using a screwdriver to ease the washer out of the bearing.

New bearings are

NSK 40TKD07 Metal Shielded Clutch Thrust Bearing 40x67x19.7mm

 and available from bearing suppliers at a few pounds less than specialist Lotus suppliers. Well worth it if its the only part you need in which case the mailing costs are much lower if not absent.

The thrust washer fits into the recessed face of the bearing, position...

... and press. I found the washer fitted with only hand pressure.

The thrust face washer clips into the bearing (recessed face) using hand pressure.

The hub is pressed in using a vice or bench press.

Pressing the hub into the bearing

Finished CRB assembly

Removing and inspecting the clutch and Flywheel
The clutch plate was removed from the flywheel by unscrewing the peripheral nuts. The components were also inspected, the friction plate appeared brand new, virtually no wear and surface printing still legible. Its not easy to see if the pressure plate has been changed. Both these components were very similar to the condition of the newer used parts I had bought.

Clutch friction plate from the car- seems nearly new, writing still clearly visible and plates at virtually full thickness

Pressure plate from car- seems OK but there's no obvious way to test this.

Flywheel on motor removed from car

The flywheel left on the motor after removing the clutch was in reasonable condition but not excellent. There was some surface rust and marking but I don't think anything too drastic.

I detached the flywheel from the motor using a ratchet gun  noting the position of the indicated edge line when the motor was at tdc on cylinder no 1. The flywheel was compared with that removed from the rebuilt motor. There were minor differences in rust but both were soaked in DeoxC and cleaned up well. There is a side mark on the edge of the flywheel- I am assuming that this is a balance mark but I don't know. I believed the crank and flywheel are balanced separately- otherwise you couldn't change just one. However if possible I will use the flywheel original to the rebuilt motor just in case and I did make a similar note of striation position when I stripped.

Just to check ... no 1 piston at TDC and...

Position of side mark on flywheel

Finger indicates position of side mark with motor at TDC no 1 piston.

Slave cylinder replacement
I replaced the clutch slave cylinder. Removal is simple (2 bolts) but it wasn't as straight forward to replace with the new cylinder because the pipe union was seized onto the pipe. This meant I couldn't swivel the attachment to get a good hose run and so prevented positioning.

Old slave cylinder in position

New clutch slave in positon

Pipe seems to exit closer to chassis now than previously. I need to check how the gearbox is positioned when the motor is attached to be sure this pipe isn't damaged. Renovated arm  installed.

The clutch hose  terminals were eventually freed using penetrating oil, a vice, heat and a lot of patient wiggling. I worked some antiseize grease up under the union nut to stop this happening again.The slave could then be fitted easily but the pipe run was still a problem- it seemed to be a bit too close to the chassis- although the gearbox will obviously move when the motor is refitted. This will need checking once the motor is back in as the gearbox might crush it against the chassis. I cleaned inside the bell housing and checked there was no sign of gearbox seal leakage and then was then able to refit the cleaned and repainted clutch arm but I put off re-fitting the CRB itself until I was ready to replace the motor as it will simply rust if left exposed.


Installation Alternator PAS pump and cam covers.
 In preparation for refitting the motor I test fitted the alternator, pas pump and water pump pulley plus any adjustment brackets. I will need to detach some of these now the mountings are sorted so that I can Loctite the aux pump pulley. Refit and retension the cambelt and finally hard-fit the ancillaries and their belts.

I also fitted the cam covers using the rubber gaskets I had bought years ago for my old Elite. These are fitted dry. Stretch the centres over the retention pips in the centre of the cam housing arches. There are holes in the gasket to locate here.

Reusable rubber gasket (Kemp autoparts)

Camhouse centre arch central pips locate into rubber gasket which can then be smoothed down both sides as the cover is fitted.

The gasket then folds down under the cover and is positioned carefully to make sure it was positioned evenly and not disturbed as the cover was tightened. I fitted standard washers with new SELOCS beneath them.

tuck edges of the rubber up as the cover is lowered

... including the ends

Tighten evenly checking for smooth and even fit- don't let the rubber sag out of the join.

Both covers installed

However I didn't tighten these down at this stage as I am aware that there are several clips etc that need to be attached to them and I don't want to over compress the selocs too early if I will need to unscrew them again. I will tighten them later- I did check with the supplier who didn't have a torque setting for the screws with this gasket- just tighten until it "feels right"!! Great for old hands- little more problematic for me I think!!

Everything looked OK at this stage so I went ahead and removed the belt and reattached the distributor/oil pump pulley with loctite retaining compound before refitting the belt. I then fitted and tensioned both drive belts to ancillaries and tightened all bolts.

All ancillaries fitted, tightened and tensioned

I am however concerned that the alternator drive belt does seem to pass very close to the tensioner fastenings on the block and I may need to file a bit more clearance here or re-position washers.

Very little clearance in alternator belt run