A little maintenance...

G

guysmontess

Well-Known Member
Back on Mothers Day the wife,the dog & myself had gone out for a cruise in the Monte.We had a mechanical breakdown when the clutch fork pushrod poked a hole through the clutch fork.A good samaritan who just happened to live across the road was able to patch the hole with a peice of metal and his MIG welder.Heres a link to my blog on this story;
http://guysmontess-goodsamaritaninnovas ... cotia.html
Shortly after this I had the Monte up on my buddy's hoist to have a look at the patch.We peened the back of the hole and welded it up and the patch looked fine.
Anyhow,I jacked the car up today to check the clutch fork for wear.I screwed the pushrod out of the way and had a close look at it again.Still looks fine,although its a difficult place to see real good.I took a file to the tip of the pushrod to make sure it wasnt too pointy and put some grease in the patch and on the tip of the pushrod.Should be good for the rest of the season,which usually ends in October here.I may plan on putting a new clutch fork in next year.
Guy
 
I don,t see how anyone in this hobby gets by without a welder of some kind, I doubt I go more than a week or two between uses.
but welders are not all the same, Ive got four different welder, ARC,MIG,TIG, and an oxyacetylene torch , and each is much better at some applications than others, the torch amd TIG are probably the most frequently used, the ARC seldom gets used unless Im welding heavier steel, and the MIGs very versatile, but thats not saying its best for everything.
 
Paul,next year I am either going to replace the clutch fork,but I would rather keep this one as it is custom fitted to my car,can I have it welded with stronger material so it would last a long time ???
Guy
 
one of my friends had a clutch fork wear thru like that, he took a NICKLE, placed it on socket, heated it up with a torch, and whacked it with a 3/8" extension , bending it into a 1/4: deep, bowl shape, he then BRAZED the bowl shaped nickle into the worn spot in the shift fork, hes been driving the car like that for at least 20 years and thru several clutch replacements so it not like you can,t get away with doing custom repairs
clutchforka.jpg


don,t forget to drill the mini hole for the return spring

clutch_linkage_labeled.gif
 
Paul,thats pretty similar to what Jim Rogers did when he patched my clutch fork,but he used a peice of metal instead of nickel.What I am wondering is if there is welding material that could be used that would be harder than the metal that is in there now ??? I had asked my buddy Mark about putting some MIG weld in there but he thought that would be softer than what was already in there.
Guy
 
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