Clutch repair and manifold update

Well the engine went back in again at the weekend and there was a lot of fiddling about before it happened.

I ordered a replacement clutch release bearing shaft only for it to have the slot for the internal circlip set about 1.5cm further inboard from the clutch cable arm end; no supplier seemed to be able to supply the one I needed. I then remembered that Pete at Cogbox mentioned that there were heavy duty shafts available and a quick search for these turned up a pack by BugPack with the shaft, bearing and fittings. This also has the slot for the internal circlip in both places. These heavy duty shafts are far sturdier and offer a better solution for retention of the release bearing clips so hopefully I wont have a repeat episode with the clutch assembly.

The shaft bearing supplied is a neoprene one and needs to be cut to size through various attempts at inserting, marking and cutting. All this was carried out and the engine went back in effortlessly.

I now just need to adjust the clutch and cure a small leak on the fuel inlet into the carb; the brass fitting has come looses and even gentle tapping back into place hasn't cured it. I will dig out the locktight at the weekend and see if that cures it.

I also obtained a replacement 62 only manifold for the engine from Bert3 in Belgium. It turned out to be distorted where heat had been applied in an attempt to remove carbon deposits in the preheater pipe. A local engineering workshop got it back into line but I think it is still slightly out of true as when the engine is warm it seems to 'hunt' rather than idle smoothly. I might need to remove and tweak slightly.