Here goes nothing - don't judge....... The Bowden tube isn't exactly in the S shape that people talk about, but it comes out of the tube at the correct point and locates in a new bracket that has fixed holes. I've removed the washers in this photo
Looks ok-ish. Is your solid clutch cable conduit supported by a bracket on the rear torsion bar tube? What does your pedal feel like if you puah it down by hand, as @Zed suggested?
I also had this photo- shows the joint between the 'clutch tube' and Bowden tube (with a rather perished rubber boot)
The clutch arm (the 'lever' with the eye that the cable passes through) is on the wrong way round isn't it?
Firstly, Happy New Year to all! Should this make much of a difference? I will have a look at the cable length, play in the pedal and the clutch arm, but I'm resigned to the fact its got to come out. I remember when I paired the old engine with the new gearbox from eBay, it was very difficult to marry together. Maybe this is the issue........now I have no idea how to separate them it was so stiff.
Only in that if that's not right, it's possible there's something odd going on further inside. Edit, inside the bell housing, not the box itself, is what I meant. It's all designed to work synchronously together If the box and engine aren't carefully aligned then damage can occur. They should take care and patience to assemble but shouldn't be stiff
I wasnt spreading doom, just pointing put the clutch is outside the gearbox. And misassembly is more likely than a knackered gearbox. If the wheel spins freely when its up in the air AND IN GEAR then that is a concern because at rest the clutch should be locking the gearbox to the flywheel. Trying to turn the wheel with the other one on the ground you should see the wheel try to turn the engine. Or you can turn the nut on the rear pulley and the wheel in the air should go round. If that happens then issues are with clutch release. Getting the engine onto the gearbox can be difficult but you shouldnt need a lot of force. Just wiggle and patience.. Like they say, dont use the fixing nuts to pull it into place..
He only has one drive shaft connected. I'm thinking back to gninnam's thread which was pretty much identical to this. After taking his engine back out at least twice to try and identify a clutch problem it turned out his clutch cable simply was not tight enough.
Indeed, satisfy yourself that the clutch cable is correctly adjusted is numero uno. Without doing that first any other conjecture else is pointless.
Remove the cable from the arm. Stick a bar or massive screwdriver in it and operate the clutch with the bar so it is fully disengaged. Will it now go into gear nicely? If so it’s a cable issue. Isolate the issue first then fix it.
Ok - I didn't manage to do anything today (not hangover related ) I'll be on it tomorrow once the Christmas decorations are down and away! A quick question - the mating of gearbox to engine was super stiff and I made the mistake of forcing it by cranking down on the bolts to bring them together. Does the centre hole on the clutch vary in diameter? I'm trying to understand why it was so difficult.
possible mismatch of flywheel / clutch plate or type / gearbox /throw-out bearing if that stiff..... my old 78 1600 panel van engine had a 215 mm flywheel which was fun trying to fit to my 67 1500 bug gearbox till I realised ! also possible for gearbox thrust bearing shaft to wear out or snap one fork or even bush to migrate ! had to re weld the lugs on my 2.0 type 4 when i pulled engine to replace the clutch, feels so much better now!
SITREP: I have checked the clutch pedal travel, and there is approximately 20mm of movement before the clutch arm (on the gearbox) starts to move. I'm planning on ripping the engine and gearbox out tomorrow assuming there are no further suggestions. The next pig of a job will be separating the gearbox from the engine. I am not looking forward to this given the difficulty of getting them together.