The only thing that let the Mayflower down was the juddery clutch. Most old cars are a bit juddery but there was something definitely wrong with this one as it was a) getting worse and b) all the rubber mountings have been recently replaced.
I ordered a clutch from Mark at the highly-recommended MEV Spares. He is very good for parts for postwar British stuff and the prices are very reasonable.
Went to drain the oil out of the gearbox and found the first problem, the sump plug was completely rounded off and also seized. It’s a steel plug screwed into an aluminium casing so not really surprising. I heated the casing around the plug and tried my new big molegrips (being new they actually have some teeth left) but I just couldn’t get enough heat into it with my blowlamp.
Plan B. I got a suitably big nut and with the welder on max power, welded it over the remains of what I think was originally a male square drive fitting.
With a big bar on that it cracked off nicely. Lovely.
The oil that came out was gear oil, EP90 or similar. A very common mistake, most of these old cars including the Mayflower originally specified SAE 30 in the engine and gearbox. Whoever owned the A30 made the same mistake. I use 20w50 in all of them. A much lighter oil than EP90 which gives a better gearchange. They tend to be quite sticky with the wrong oil in.
It isn’t too difficult to drop the gearbox on these. Couple of bolts on the gearbox crossmember, clutch rod (mechanical) the column gear linkage, starter motor and all the bellhousing bolts; the three at the top are studs.
I used my birthday present from my GF, a transmission jack, for the first time. It worked very well.
With the clutch out the fault was obvious. The drive plate was loose and coming apart. The springs had been rattling around so much they’d almost worn their way out of the retaining plate. There were several holes. The splined centre section was loose too. Shame really as the linings had plenty of life left in them and it was a genuine Borg and Beck plate.
The cover and bearing didn’t look too bad.
Got all that put back together again and I’m pleased to say it’s a lot better. Yes there is still a small amount of judder but it’s really not that bad and it’s easily avoided.
The gears, especially second are improved for having the correct oil too. Second would never engage from low revs before, now it happily does which is a relief.
Sorry, I didn’t take many pictures because I forgot. I might see if I can take a picture of the drive plate damage tomorrow.
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