Not as young as I was - Inspection hole

[triang]

Sorry about the strange title!

My excellent Dolly 1300 has been with me a week and sure enough, the expected signs that she's been laid up or some time are beginning to show.

To cut a long story - the clutch slave cylinder lost all it's fluid necessitating a repair kit.

"No problem", thinks I , I'll jack her up (as per Haynes instructions) "and whip off the slave to refurbish."

Bloody hell - what fiendish sadist put the slave there? I'm a real bodger mechanic and couldn't work out how any spanner would be both small enough to fit on the fluid line AND be able to be turned... as for the clamp bolt how on earth can you hold one bolt whilst you turn the bottom one???

Finally whilst crawling in and out trying every spanner I have I put my back out...great...I must remember the last time I worked under a car was 30 years ago!

So i read on this forum of an "Inspection Cover" to access the slave

Some questions

1) Did BL ever get round to fitting one as standard as I have seen some very neat, round ones on some members photographs.

2) To do one myself, would you recommend drilling a number of holes to form a circle the diameter of which is just bigger than a fist, snipping that out and using suitable hardboard as a blanking plug? I take it the tunnel is mild steel all over?

3) Maybe a bigger oblong hole would be better?

Otherwise with my back the way it is this slave cylinder job could last until Christmas!

[cleverusername]

I wouldn't cut a hole, I have a 1500 which I think is a very similar setup, and I managed to get it off. First jack the car, with axel stands, as high as you can get it. The extra room really helps. You can actually unbolt the bracket the cylinder is held in, it is only fixed with two bolts top and bottom. It can be done with a spanner, but I will admit an extensive bar for a ratchet spanner can be a life saver in these situations.

One thing I would do is lift the carpet on the drivers side, and check to see if any fluid has leaked from the master cylinder into the footwell. I found when one went, the other was on its way out as well.

[triang]

Hi Cleverusername - thanks for the tip -- you're right they do tend to fail in unison (stronger seals in the slave blows the seals in the master etc).

I'll try to jack her higher but my back is causing real gyp - so I would prefer to get in from the transmission tunnel if possible . Of course I can take the whole tunnel out but i saw an opportunity to cut a huge corner in making an inspection hole.

Anyone done it before or could recommend?

Thanks

Ross

[straylight]

I cut a hole, but haven't needed to access it yet. Mine was far from neat and I made a covering plate out of scrap body panel metal, held in by self tapping screws into those screw retainer plates, commonly used for installing speakers. Cheap and easy to do while the tunnel was out. I also stuck some sound deadening rubber foam to the cover which seals up the gap.

not sure how useful this will turn out to be though, I've always been able to sort the clutch slave from under the car, but here are the pics anyway:

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sDSCN0489.jpg (137.33 KiB) Viewed 513 times

[Jon Tilson]

As "cleverusername" says you need a 3/8 drive and extension bar to easilly remove the 2 bolts securing the bracket to the bell housing.

You can do the to one from under the bonnet but the bottom one will require a dive underneath.

Before you do this its worth cracking the bleed screw open while its all held securely. It may be a little tight first time.

You can then lift the whole thing up under the bonnet. I dont normally bother undoing the pipes these days.

Bleed it solid under the bonnet - you can just have a short rubber pipe from bleed screw to master reservoir.
Pump away and all the bubbles will vent out.

Worth doing master seals at the same time.

Its worth freeing the slave from its bracket with the through bolt for future easy removal. Refit with copper grease.

Jonners

[triang]

Thanks all .... going to try the hi - life and then the underneath method another go then - must be getting soft in my old age ........