Dibnah

Thanks Pete, I've locked the Stag away in frustration for now, perhaps get back to it at a later date.

The butchered Britool spanner did the job, solenoid removed. New seals fitted, the old seals on the inner piston looked a bit square. All fairly clean. However, I only have about 1.5mm of stroke on the inner piston when actuated by putting 12V across the solenoid terminals. There is something clunking around inside the solenoid, possibly the coil, so I'll need to knock the roll pins out to get the cover off. A vendor was selling recon J-type solenoids for about GBP72 delivered, this would have been fine for me but no more in stock. Now most are over GBP100 where available

Thanks again for the replies. I bought one of the bespoke spanners for the solenoid hexagon, the spanner opened up at the first attempt so it's hopefully going back to the seller. I've subsequently bought a 1" x 15/16" open-ended spanner (used) for butchery into something that should work. It's a Britool spanner but it will be sacrificed in a worthy cause. Had the sump off the O/D, the high pressure filter was filthy, the suction filter was a bit cleaner. Pressure relief and pump were clean. Reassembled but didn't have the correct pin wrench for the caps. Used long nose pliers and then a tap with a punch, probably not tight enough though, some oil seeping past the cap for the high pressure filter at zero pressure. The correct pin wrenches are apparently not available, adjustable pin wrenches for angle grinders are available. I'll also need to change the aluminium crush washer for the high pressure filter I'm assuming it's a crush washer for sealing, there are no "O" rings present for the HP filter cap and none shown on drawings I've seen.

Thanks for the replies. I am uneasy about trusting the Stag to the tyre fitters, I've never found a tyre fitting place that I trust, but it's a pain to have to remove wheels, put them in another vehicle drive to the tyre place etc. I'm planning to fit Uniroyal Rainexperts

The saga continues, I now have a slipping clutch, almost certainly the O/D clutch rather than the "main" clutch on the flywheel. Doesn't slip when cold, but starts to slip and then grip as the engine / gearbox warms up. Slips whether O/D is in or not, O/D change previously was harsh and needed "main" clutch to smooth, now doesn't need clutch. Above 70(ish)mph and the slipping stops, I assume because pressure increases. I've changed the synthetic EP75/90 to mineral EP80/90, no real difference, the synthetic oil was fairly grubby when drained, so it's probably been cleaning. I've ordered a J-type solenoid spanner to get the solenoid off. I'll need to check the roll pins when I work out where they are.   

Evening All It's time for some new rear tyres, I'll probably need to point out to the tyre fitters where to jack the rear of the Stag. My understanding is that the rear of the diff is ok (with some wood to protect the diff from the jack), I have previously jacked on the ends of the vertical stud for the bush on the rear subframe in front of and adjacent to the road wheel. I've been told that jacking up the rear subframe risks shearing the bushes. Expert comment please! (I've tried the search function but not much in the way of results).

I've made no changes to the O/D or gearbox but the O/D is now working flawlessly following resurrection of the clutch. Cr@p in the solenoid that has now passed through? More reason for an oil change.

7/8" slave cylinder and clevis pin closest to the centreline of the gearbox input shaft works, bleeding was a bleeding pain, several useful threads on this forum, thanks. There is some lost motion on the pedal, possibly trapped air, so I'll need to revisit at some stage. An unknown is "it worked, and then it stopped working", which is nagging me. More road testing required!

Thanks again for the replies, of course it's a 7/8" slave cylinder not 7/16"! Can't seem to edit the title though. I have 16mm of movement on the slave piston with the standard 1" slave cylinder, which suggests that external linkages are OK and that further bleeding is unlikely to achieve improvement. I'll try the 7/8" slave cylinder, if that fails then I'll probably drill a hole in the bellhousing to have a look.

Thanks for the replies, my error re: hole position, I've spent too long laying under the car looking up at the slave cylinder! I moved the clevis pin towards the centreline of the gearbox input shaft, so greater movement of the clutch release fork for the same movement of the pushrod. Unfortunately, the symptoms do indeed fit a broken bolt for the clutch fork, although would this not cause the operating arm to sit at a different angle? It is possible that the adapter plate to match the RV8 with the Triumph box has created dimensional issues, first thing I need to do is to measure the movement of the pushrod. Overdrive is on my wish list, but an LT77 is an option.

Hi all, Stag with RV8 and Stag MOD. New clutch, 1" slave (FTC5071) and master (AEU1644) fitted before the RV8 engine was installed, clevis pin was fitted to the middle of three holes on the clutch operating arm. It worked but the action was low, it's now got worse and can't engage gears with the engine running. Moved the clevis pin to the lowest hole of three, improved but still problematic.  There is immediate movement of the slave pushrod when operating the clutch pedal, pumping the clutch pedal doesn't seem to help. Clutch operating arm moves from about plus 5 degrees to minus 5 degrees from the vertical, I'll need to measure the  travel distance of the pushrod, my understanding is that 16mm is apparently the minimum. An option used by others is to fit a 7/16" slave cylinder (591231) for greater travel, albeit at the price of greater effort. If this means that I can put some summer miles on the car without splitting the engine and gearbox then that's fine by me. A question: will I need to change the slave pushrod to match the 7/16" slave cylinder?

Thanks again for the replies, the car has overwhelmed me with other issues, including losing half the electrics (possibly the ignition switch) and a dragging clutch. I'll resolve both, go for yet another test run and then change the gearbox oil. If that doesn't fix the O/D problem then I'll remove the solenoid I'll post a separate thread about the clutch.

Thanks Nick Possibly a combination of issues, the OD switch wiring inside the gearstick was damaged, also the switch was not crisp in operation. I have a new toggleswitch strapped temporarily to the side of the gearstick and wiring temporarily run outside the gearstick. The OD now pulls in very quickly, perhaps with too much of a bang (have to use clutch to smooth the change). The OD is still slow to release when cold / warm, also pulls in when cold / warm with the toggle switch set for out. This improves when the engine / gearbox is hot. This comparison borrowed from the TR register website compares viscosity of engine oils and gear oils at 100'C. It's possible that the 75W element of the 75W90 oil I'm using isn't viscous enough when cold/warm I'll change the oil to 80W90 gear oil.

Afternoon All, I've used Triple QX EP 75w90 Transmission Fluid Fully Synthetic in the Stag MOD gearbox, which is shared with the J-type overdrive. Overdrive was OK for first 200 miles or so, now engaging by itself with the fuse pulled. I suspect that the solenoid is stuck, so at low speed there is not enough pressure to engage the OD, but as speed increases so does pressure, thus engaging the OD. Another possibility is that the oil is creating the issue, even though the solenoid may be free. Lots of different views on OD oils, has anyone had problems with Triple QX EP 75w90 oil, or problems with other synthetic transmission oil?