Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Clutch pedal flopped very far forward

Cheers - big enough to rest the left edge of my boot on, but small enough not to interfere with clutch use.

1) I like the footrest as well! - may fab up something similar!

2) I did play around with the clutch linkage under the car - specifically by both shortening and then lengthening the threaded rod. I found that did nothing to change the position of the pedal itself when slack, all it did was change the position where the clutch would disengage during a pedal push...however the linkage was pretty worn with lost of play where the clevis pens insert...perhaps that's the problem - but I doubt it would result in that much "forward flop".

Probably need to get her back up on the lift and play around a bit more - seems the consensus is that addition return springs won't help...

Maybe put the pedal in the position you want and then see where the slack is ... might give you a clue ... might prove to be a lot of small clearances combining if nothing jumps out at you.

K

Mentioned before elsewhere but MMC fitted their standard return spring to the clutch pedal on early 3.7 Roadsters at least until 2014, which includes all the Brookland models. I've sat in two of them and the pedal pressure is brutal although I guess owners who have known no different accept it.

The good news is that removing or just unhooking this external spring from the pedal leaves plenty of return action from the master cylinders own return spring. Indeed the clutch action still errs towards heavy. At some point after 2014 and certainly before 2018, the factory ceased including this spring although the handed brake pedal one remained.

While it seems logical that the human interface with the operation of the clutch pedal is that which seems to be generating the primary interest, ultimately it is the more mechanical aspects of the RELEASE BEARING that are of interest to me, in that if you get the priorities wrong, you seem to risk having to remove the engine and gearbox to replace the release bearing when it fails....!

As I typed earlier it would seem that clutch disengagement systems may have altered with the passage of time and increase of traffic on the roads, equating to more time with a foot hovering over or resting on the clutch pedal...

As best I can remember some years ago I owned a 90`s Ford P100 (Sierra based) pickup truck, which had a gearbox that Morgan may also have used in a 4/4...? It was the first gearbox I ever saw that had no oil drainplug...Sealed for life..? The poor old thing had a hard life before I owned it, and it had a very noisy release bearing which obviously required replacement. It seemed that the clutch pedal assembly had a spring designed to take any play out of the linkage and thus maintain contact between the release bearing and the clutch pressure plate which was entirely at odds with my understanding of normal clutch operation and adjustment of either cable of hydraulic clutch release systems...?

At the time, I was in semi regular contact with Spanner Juggler either through the MSCC DG, or eMog and asked Colin if he understood the set up, Colin`s thoughts seemed to mirror my own, and ultimately I put the change in design down to an evolution in release bearing design which had come about relative to the already described increase in slow moving traffic situations and thus more time "riding" the clutch..?
To this day, I have had no real answer to the question, and as ever it seems Morgan may have adjusted and adapted clutch operating systems to suit the usual mix and match set of components they put together to build their wonderful sports cars.... (-:

Given the generally narrow area of the footwell in some Morgans I would tend to caution those intent on creating a footrest, it is just possible that in an emergency braking situation it may just inhibit things to some degree...? Modifying Morgans was ever the way things were, so much so that it was expected by the MMC that owners would do so, though in today`s world....hmm...?

As ever just thinking in type and more than happy to be corrected wherever my thinking is flawed....as it has been, and more than once....

On mine, I have adjustment in both rods, so can take any slack out of the linkage, and also control the position of the pedal.

Dependant upon the design of your release bearing..... taking slack out of the system of clutch disengagement may in time cause a release bearing to fail prematurely ?

Clutch footrest for the more recent trads. Aluminium plate, 2mm thick, fabricated to an L shape and bolted through the plywood floor pan beneath the carpet. Plastic trim round the edges.

I struggled with adjustment on my car until I bought the correct return spring (No 14 on the parts diagram provided by Hillclimber)

Although the pedal still flops forward a little it did adjust using the linkage under the car.

The Moss box clutch operating mechanism is an awful piece of engineering but does seem to work!

At least 8 pivot (wear) points in the linkage multiply wear until the pedal travels a long distance and that's before the motion finds its way to the clutch operating sleeve and carbon release bearing.

The whole pedal assembly pivots in two alloy blocks which wear oval. The pedal assembly is based on a piece of 1' diameter CDS tubing and the really bad ones I have seen have the ends worn down to paper thickness.

Retubing them is a right pain in the arse though I did build a fixture to hold the pedals onto the tube before pinning and brazing.

Two strips of 4" long 1/2" x 1/8" steel strip transmit motion to another bit of 1/2" x 1/4" steel strip then onto a clevis then onto another clevis which is attached to the bottom of an alloy clutch operating sleeve through which a short propshaft runs. Unfortunately the steel peg runs in a slot machines in a soft magnesium alloy known as Elektron as result the slots tends wear! Curing it is a machine shop job and usually involves boring out the slot to take a 01/2" i.d. needle roller bearing which is slipped over the operating peg.

Incidentally, there should a stop on the pedal bar which stops the pedal travelling to far forward. Is a piece of 1 1/4" steel round with a small steel tab welded to it - the end of the tab bears against the toeboard/front crossmember which limits the pedal movement.

Hope this helps

Arwyn