As far as I can work out from various books, it appears that on the RHD setup the clutch pedal sits directly against the spring that passes through the chassis. Is this correct? I’d have expected a washer between them…
I’m thinking about getting the pedal bent to move it a bit closer to the brake pedal. Has anyone done this? Any problems with fouling anything? I’m having to do all thin now because I’m trying to work out the pedal holes in the bulkhead whilst converting from LHD to RHD.
There is a washer between the spring and pedal but it is located a few centimetres away from the pedal and prevented from moving towards the pedal by a heavy washer and split pin through the shaft. Assuming you have the correct RHD shaft, then the hole in the shaft for the split pin will show you where the washer is locate on the shaft.
Equally important is the washer located between the spring and the inside face of the chassis – the following passage will explain:
Pushing the clutch pedal on my 140 would often but not always produce a light clicking noise which could be felt through the pedal. As it came and went, I was never too concerned. Last winter I decided to investigate and removed the whole clutch shaft assembly, cleaned it, replaced the bearings, “O” rings etc. and re-assembled it. The result was a satisfying silence. The noise had gone, for about a week, then it re-appeared. With assistance and a listening tube, I established that the noise emanated from inside the chassis. The end of the spring had worn and worked its way into the chassis side, sometimes catching and winding up then twanging free with the shaft motion. It seemed strange that nothing was fitted to the shaft to stop this happening. About this time I bought Bernard Viarts amazing book - Jaguar XK140 Explored.
The superb drawing of the clutch shaft assembly, although for a left hand drive car, shows a washer (C3295) between the spring and the chassis. Definitely not present on my car and very unhelpfully not shown on plate F of my Jaguar parts manual. I found a suitable washer and did a trial fit. Removing the shaft to fit the woodruff keys, the washer fell off the end and into the chassis. My ‘magnet on a stick’ fished around inside the chassis and was carefully removed with not one, but two washers attached! It doesn’t matter which way you remove the shaft, the washer will most likely fall off into the chassis. Consequently, you would never know it was ever there, and the parts manual nicely confirms its non existence.
Bob, Just looked at your book (p.118) and you have a photo of the clutch shaft parts for 120. There are two very different washers shown at the bottom of the photo, but none above the spring near the pedal. The Viart diagram you reproduce also doesn’t show a washer here, or a second split pin. The photo you have of the installed clutch shaft also doesn’t seem to have a washer between spring and pedal. My copy of Viart (140 book) shows two washers, but says only one required - presumably the outboard one, hidden within the chassis and held against the sealing ring C3257. You mention another washer and split pin stopping the spring touching the pedal, but that means there are two needed, not one - unless it’s the one inside the chassis that isn’t needed for RHD? Viart states (140, p.146) that the one near the pedal is not needed for RHD. Confused… are you sure there should be a second washer and split pin between the long spring and the pedal for RHD? I can’t check the shaft because this is on order from the supplier and is made to order.
This second washer and split cotter pin might be only on LHD cars.
On either LHD or RHD the spring should be compressed enough to prevent end motion in the shaft.
You certainly want to ensure that the spring always rotates with the pedal and shaft, that the end does not wear a nick and start catching on a stationary part. That’s what the flat washer does for you, rotates against the stationary ring welded inside the chassis.
I’m guessing on RHD your spring is against the pedal.
I too once dropped one inside the chassis.
Thanks Rob, I think it must be. I’m hoping the pedal will be around 1" away from the inner wall of the RH chassis as sits on the shaft, because that’s where I’ve made the hole for the pedal to fit through. I dummy-rigged both pedal uprights onto their shafts and moved them up to the bulkhead to get exact lateral positions for the pedals I have, then drilled a pilot hole through which I inserted the pedal stem which I then fixed to the pedal shaft. For both of these, the height needed to be above the centreline of the hole the stem fits into as there is a straight length in the stem before the curve begins. Doing this let me get the holes exactly centred for the pedals I have.
I’m actually making this car ambidextrous! I’m leaving as much as I can of the LHD bracketry and holes so it can easily be switched from one to the other. Taking a leaf from the Healey 3000 book, I’m making up simple rectangular plates to screw over the unused holes on the LH side. If I end up driving it around Europe all the time, like I do my Mustang, I’ll switch it back to LHD. Just a couple of dash panels should be all I need as I’ve still got all the LHD parts.
Here’s a pic of the shaft, pedal, spring and washers Roger. The spring is normally compressed against the washer and inside cheek of the chassis. You can just see the hole for the split pin around the middle of the spring, so the spring would be compressed past this hole then held in place with the washer and a split pin. Hope this makes sense. The rubber ring and bronze bush are on the outside of the chassis between it and the pedal.
Thanks Bob, but something doesn’t quite tie in here. Which 140 do you have? Is it a FHC? From talking to Jim, it seems the FHC has the clutch pedal outboard of the chassis. My car’s a DHC, and photos Nick Green has sent me of his OTS and his friend’s DHC show the pedal inboard of the chassis. If I tried to mount my clutch pedal outboard, it would need a hefty crank to the left of about 5-6". This is an original RHD DHC, showing outboard brake pedal and inboard clutch pedal:
All is clear (ish) Roger. I had assumed yours was also a FHC probably because of our discussion on another thread regarding my FHC windscreen problem.
Exactly why the DHC and FHC cars have the clutch pedal on different sides of the chassis rail is a bit of a puzzle – anyone out there with a good explanation? I can also see why you might want to bend the pedal to the right a bit.
Going back to your original question, I would concur with Rob (a washer is not really necessary) as the spring moves with the shaft and pedal.
Thanks Bob. I should have made it clear that mine is a DHC - but I when I asked the initial question, I assumed the pedal was the same side of the chassis for all variants so didn’t think it mattered. It seems a major change for what is basically an open or closed version of the same car!
It just goes to show how different the FHC can be from the open cars, I guess.