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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - How to remove the clutch slave cylinder

Sorry for the basic question, but my slave cylinder has failed and is leaking hydraulic fluid. I have a replacement and spent yesterday evening trying to get the old slave off. Essentially I can only get access to one the lower bolt from under the car. The upper bolt seems fully obscured. Do I have to take out the starter motor to get to it?

Best regards,
Ian
I Milton

Ian, is it as A series car?
Check inside the driver's footwell, there should be a square rubber access grommet next to the clutch pedal which will allow you to get a socket onto the top bolt.

One can also reach it by lying under the car and reaching up from near to the gearbox mount and sliding your forearm along above the chassis rail until your fingers can get a small open ended spanner onto the top bolt. But you will be working by feel so its not easy!
Guy W

Thanks for the speedy response.

The car is a 1972 1275 RWA midget.

I will pull the carpets out tonight or tomorrow morning to see if there is an access hatch (it would certainly be very helpful if there is!)

I was trying to get a socket wrench onto the bolt, but this seemed impossible.

Best regards,
Ian
I Milton

Ian
When you come to replace the slave. Cut the top fixing hole into a vertical slot. Replace the top bolt so that it just allows the slot to slide in. Slide the slave into position and you then only have to "nip" that bolt tight. Fit the lower bolt as the norm. If you are interested in a remote bleed fixture then e-mail me via www.masckent.org and I will send you details of how.
Alan
Alan Anstead

Ian, there *is* an access hole and rubber bung. No need to remove carpets or mats - it's on the vertical side of the inner footwell, to the left of the clutch pedal, down in the corner. IIRC a cranked ring spanner is best fit.
David Smith

"Access" is a questionable term. It certainly isn't easy access. Access is better if you are slightly built and supple not 6' plus and 60 plus in years.
You may find a mirror useful.
Alan
Alan Anstead

I did this job last night from underneath, I jacked the car up and used axle stands so i could get underneath.

Using a stepped ring spanner I then undid both bolts from underneath.

Hope that helps.
shaun
Shaun

Thanks for all the advice. I have now got the new slave fitted.

I am now having fun and games trying to bleed the hydraulics. Having messed on forever I can now get the slave to move slightly but not enough to disengage the clutch.

Are there any clever tricks to this?

Thanks
Ian
I Milton

I think there are other threads on this. Its quite hard to purge the air out of the line. If you have an eazibleed it makes it easier as that pushes all the air out. A method I have used is to connect the bleed tube to the slave nipple, open the bleed nipple, push the clutch pedal down and when it has reached the end of the stroke tighten the nipple and let the pedal come up. Do this until you cannot see any more bubbles in the bleeder tube. You have to get into the footwell and access the nipple from the hole in the inner footwell.

Another method is to connect up a the bleeder tube open the nipple and let gravity purge the air. This can take time (possibly overnight!).
Bob Beaumont

They can be a tricky thing without a pressure bleeder.

Have your assistant pump the pedal with the nipple open till the fluid runs clear, then using your free hand squeeze the pushrod into the slave and you should see a further stream of bubbles that get lodged in the slave.

With the pedal down and your hands squeezing the rod in, tighten the nipple and see how that feels. It may take a few tries of this.
RoadWarrior

This is the only method which I have found repeatably successful (but I have not tried any form of pressure bleeder): http://spriteparts.com.au/tech/bleeding.html When I first put my car together I spent days trying to get a clutch. With this method I always get a clutch in 10-15 minutes.
Andrew F

My left hand is bu66ered so I took the easy route and cut a chuffin' great big hole in the footwell so I could access the slave cylinder and starter,then self-tappered a steel plate over the hole with some fire resistant silicone sealant.

I saved the old rubber bung and used it to get easier access to the propshaft flange on the A-series gearbox.
http://www.spritespot.com/gallery/toomanyspridgets/panhardb

You do sometimes wonder why BMC designed the slave access that way. Friday afternoon job before a weekend away?
r thomas

Got it sorted this evening and took the car out fro a spin and the clutch feeld better than it has for years. so a big thanks for the help.

with regard to bleeding the clutch I have to say I spent hours with my daughter sat in the car pushing the clutch in whilst I loosened and tightened the bleed nipple. I couldnt get that to work.

For me the only thing that did it was to open the bleed nipple until there was a steady stream of hydraulic fluid pouring into a tray on the floor. I kept filling up the master cylinder until I had put about 100-200ml of fluid through the system. I then climbed under the car and squeezed the slave cylinder together to push out any air and fluid from within it and tightened the bleed nipple. This worked first time perfectly. Much less hassle and less grazing of knuckles than the other methods.

Best regards
Ian
I Milton

This thread was discussed between 05/06/2013 and 07/06/2013

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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