anglia clutch

[fordfan]

Hello all, I recently fitted a replacement gearbox plus new clutch disc and pressure plate to my ford Anglia, one of the reasons for the clutch swap was the really heavy clutch pedal , I was assuming that this may have been due to a fault with the pressure plate springs being knackered but its still quite hard to push the pedal down. This in my opinion leaves the hydraulics as being the only thing that could cause such a problem. I replaced the master cylinder with one of the cheap pattern replacements about a year ago as the old one was leaking and too worn for a seal kit to fix it properly, could these cheap master cylinders have a smaller bore than the standard ones thus needing more effort to depress the clutch or could it be something else?

[JPB]

A smaller master with the same slave would give a lighter pedal action but it might then struggle to clear properly which would be noticed as drag. Did you fit a coil spring cover, if so was it a six or a nine spring type, the nine spring ones are very heavy and the Laycock equivalent with the enclosed hub springs and the diaphragm cover (pictured below) is much lighter in its action as well as more positive and unlike the coil spring B&B ones, won't slip under load when hot. If the master were too large on the I/D, then the clutch action would be heavier but that would allow the fork to move too far and would be a potential cause of a damaged receiver and/or thrust pad as well as breaking the ends off the levers if used for long like that.

If it's one of this type and all is well with the hydraulics:



Then I have n/o/s ones in both 6.25 and the larger size which I forget but can measure.

[fordfan]

thanks for that John, I don't know whether mine is a 6 or 9 spring type but its a borg and beck as supplied by the owners club and short of taking it out and counting the springs that's about all I know for sure but I'm guessing by the pain in the sole of my left foot its a 9 springer, I always preferred the diaphragm type anyway so maybe I'll keep an eye out on ebay or at the summer auto jumbles for one and give that a try, failing that I think I have one from a 1500 consul classic somewhere in the shed which can't be much different .

[fordfan]

I have just had a look on ebay at the master cylinder I bought and its listed as a ford Anglia alternative master cylinder , it looks exactly like a girling but it obviously isn't at only £ 19.95 , the diameter is listed as 3/4 inch is this the right size or is it too big?

[JPB]

It could well be genuine Girling, but at that size it's probably intended as a Series Land Rover clutch master and those can be had for a shade under a tenner from MM 4x4, genuine Girling CV they are and a real bargain. I could be wrong but as far as I remember from the last one I worked on (we're talking mid 1990s here ), the Anglia should use an 11/16" one, possibly even a 5/8" one (confirmation needed and will be provided later unless someone beats me to it) but the difference between 3/4" and 5/8" would make the pedal travel and the biting point all wrong though the difference, even though the correct master will ensure that the travel on the release fork is correct, would be unlikely to be the sole cause of massively heavy clutch operation, I strongly suspect that at least some of the blame for that is with the coil spring cover.

I just checked the MM4x4 site and they do a 2A clutch master at £10.46 but a brake master for the same vehicle is £9.19, one of these is 3/4" and the other is 11/16" but their site doesn't provide information as to which is which. Both are standard Girling CVs with the "six o' clock" mounting flange orientation, one might be the correct master for the Anglia.


Edited: I just received confirmation that the master cylinder you require should be the 5/8" version of the Girling CV so that 3/4" will possibly have overstressed the springs in the cover and/or broken the ends of the levers that carry the receiver/thrust plate. This in turn would accentuate any difference detectable in pedal feel, which would certainly be present with 1/8" difference between the bores when compared to the 3/4" one that you have. My approach would be to change that cylinder in the first instance and see whether this alone makes pedal feel as it should be once again then, and only if something still isn't as it ought to be, consider removing the gearbox and taking the clutch out for closer examination.

[fordfan]

Thanks John as usual you are a mine of information, I will change the master cylinder in the next few weeks to see if it makes a difference

[fordfan]

just swapped the 3/4 master cylinder for the 5/8 one and its now feather light. Problem solved.

[JPB]

Excellent news! I always find it satisfying when the least complex solution turns out to be the one that gets the job done.