Time for a service, clutch and fuel tank repair

[8407jeff]

Exedy is the OEM clutch supplier--I have been told that the OEM unit is good for about 300hp.  Exedy makes both the standard and stage 1.5(I have this ) and a stage 2.  Once you get above stage 2 you get a lot of judder/chatter that makes daily driving difficult.  Regarding the flywheel: as quickly as the Atom goes through the gears, I don't see much benefit of the lighter flywheel(ever drive a Carrera GT? They are very, very, very easy to stall and dificult to drive in traffic due to the very small/light flywheel.)

[benyeats]

[quote="8407jeff"]
Exedy is the OEM clutch supplier--I have been told that the OEM unit is good for about 300hp.  Exedy makes both the standard and stage 1.5(I have this ) and a stage 2.  Once you get above stage 2 you get a lot of judder/chatter that makes daily driving difficult.  Regarding the flywheel: as quickly as the Atom goes through the gears, I don't see much benefit of the lighter flywheel(ever drive a Carrera GT? They are very, very, very easy to stall and dificult to drive in traffic due to the very small/light flywheel.)
[/quote]

I would think a lighter flywheel would make a difference without much detriment to drive-ability.  Remember the current unit is sized to prevent a Civic from stalling rather than an Atom so there is plenty of scope. 

I would have made the change but I am thinking of selling the car soon so was not worth it.

Ben

[Toilet Duck]

This is a great guide, thanks again for posting 

I've mentioned it before on here, but can't we have a "workshop" section where all these "how to" guides etc can go? There have been lots of idiot guides etc posted on here, but they soon drop off and get lost as new threads are made. Having a dedicated repository where all the diy knowledge from forum members can be found would benefit everyone.

Also, with regards to lighter flywheels, why are they likely to make the car stall?

[MonsieurX]

[quote="benyeats"]
OK some progress today:

TIP one, don't drain petrol, no matter how diluted on your lawn.  Denying knowledge will only get you so far with the mrs and I am not sure if it will grow back:



The fuel tank is now with a specialist welder so should be back next week sometime

[/quote]

Hi Ben,

From my personal experience, welding the tank will only make it crack elsewhere. The guy who did my tank was pretty sure it was solid after the weld but then the panels started to crack... If the metal is weak, it will most likely keep cracking or shearing were it's weakest.

[benyeats]

Fuel tank back in.  Not much to write about here other than it went in much easier than it came out.

The adhesive used to hold the tank to its cradle is called 'tiger stick' and is the same as that which is used to secure the mudguards.  It is a flexible adhesive so should have some anti vibration characteristics.



Next I finally managed to re-mate the engine and gearbox.  Was a bit of a sod but worked after some jiggling around.  When I lifted the engine to re-fit I noticed I had securely sandwiched some of the lifting rope between the bell housing and the block.  Oh how I laughed / swore.



Yesterday evening I got the engine back in the car.  My advice for this bit of the job is to use a jack, with load spreader, on the base of the engine to make fine adjustments and align the engine mounts with the points on the chassis.

This evening I connected up the final engine mounts and the tricky to get to earth connections to the chassis bulk head.  Also re-connected the throttle cable and some other electrical connections.

My scheme to bleed the clutch slave whilst it was detached from the engine has proved to be a stupid one and I think I have buggered it.  New one will be with me tomorrow.

Feel like I am on the home straight now.........

Ben

[AtomMadStew]

My scheme to bleed the clutch slave whilst it was detached from the engine has proved to be a stupid one and I think I have buggered it.  New one will be with me tomorrow.

Sorry to hear that Ben,  I nearly did put in my earlier post "don't pump the pedal while the slave is off"
a suction bleeder is probably the only way when it's off other than gravity bleeding.
It's coming back together nicely. Glad it was only a piece of rope & not a wiring loom trapped Ben!!

Stew

[benyeats]

[quote="Stew Bartley"]
Sorry to hear that Ben,  I nearly did put in my earlier post "don't pump the pedal while the slave is off"
[/quote]

The annoying thing is I knew that, don't know what I was thinking.

Still not the end of the world I suppose.

Ben