Clutch won't disengage

[Geoffers71]

I think I may regret this. I've never shown these to anyone outside of close family and here I am posting on a Elan forum for everyone to share my most stupid moment. Oh well...............!

[pharriso]

I think that's one of the most horrific things I've seen... talk about needing a " do over"..

[john.p.clegg]

Geoffers
That has made me feel a lot better,after forgetting to re-fit the sump plug after an oil change.....half a gallon of 20/50SAE on the floor....

John

[Hawksfield]

ALL

there for the grace of god go I. I have done plenty of risky things but been lucky

[Grizzly]

I've seen someone spend a day trying to free a clutch off (took about 3000 miles off the tires / drive assembly and ruined the clutch plate smacking it with a bar) only to find a split Clutch Hose

what do they say about Assumption........

[billwill]

I drilled a 1/2" hole through the bottom of the bellhousing in line with the face of the flywheel. I prop the clutch pedal to the floor with a lump of wood between pedal and seat. through the hole you can access the plate with a thin screwdriver or similar [ You may need to rotate the flywheel to see the plate ] The plate comes away with no effort. This method sounds messy but works every time. PS I had one stuck years ago and after driving around for 15 minutes with foot on clutch in 2nd powering on and off it didn't release, after pulling the engine the plate just needed a light tap to fall away. A friend of mine told me of this method and after a period of doubting it I tried; it works.

I have used that method too, a long time ago.

[billwill]

Geoffers
That has made me feel a lot better,after forgetting to re-fit the sump plug after an oil change.....half a gallon of 20/50SAE on the floor....

John

Not as catastropic as when I assembled my engine the first time with no knowledge of the timing sprockets line up marks. The valve timing was way wrong.

Yet the engine fired, lumpily, a valve snapped and thrashed around in the firing chamber intil finally it was upside down as the piston came up. The stem punctured the top of the piston and then was hammered down until the wide part of the valve was only about a half inch above the piston top. I kept the piston & broken valve (to remind me of my foolishness) and I have shown it on this forum before.

All happend in just a few seconds before I could cut off the ignition...

[collins_dan]

Someone needs to start a post for these. The damage done to our bodies or cars due to stupidity. Then I can relate the story of almost cutting my finger off instead of scratching the paint paint Dan

[Geoffers71]

Someone needs to start a post for these. The damage done to our bodies or cars due to stupidity. Then I can relate the story of almost cutting my finger off instead of scratching the paint paint Dan

Now that would be a good idea, might make me feel a bit better. Something along the lines of " the most stupid thing I've done with my Elan". Photos, of course, and maybe we could run a competition

[The Veg]

Not as catastropic as when I assembled my engine the first time with no knowledge of the timing sprockets line up marks. The valve timing was way wrong...(snip)

Wow, that's actually worse than this one from a BMW motorbike I used to have:



It happened while accelerating gently through about 35-40 mph, fourth vehicle back in line after a light went green. It's a two-piece valve and it only had 67K miles on it, so I guess it was just its time to fail rather than succumbing to anything unusual.

[reb53]

"I think I may regret this. I've never shown these to anyone outside of close family and here I am posting on a Elan forum for everyone to share my most stupid moment. Oh well...............!"

Good on you for entering into the spirit of this forum !
In return we shall only give you grief for 10 years rather than 20...

Ralph.

[Robbie693]

Here you go Geoff - some company for you (including myself )

http://www.lotuselan.net/forums/lotus-elan-f19/monumental-screw-ups-t19242.html?hilit=mercury