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kimber
United Kingdom
1529 Posts |
 Posted - 25/08/2016 : 17:24:28
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I remember hearing a (true) story about someone working on a Triple M car who reached into the space between the back of the block and the firewall. Unfortunately he was wearing an expanding metal watch band which made contact with both the live side of the starter switch and the rear oil drain pipe. Ouch.
I always disconnet the battery when adjusting the clutch toggles. All to easy to depress the starter button with the back of your hand.
Safety First! |
Edited by - kimber on 25/08/2016 17:26:53 |
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JMH
United Kingdom
911 Posts |
Posted - 26/08/2016 : 07:04:41
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| As it is to drop the spanner down the hole! |
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Simon Johnston
United Kingdom
6141 Posts |
Posted - 31/08/2016 : 08:08:44
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Having had a stud fall into the gearbox (don't ask!) I can vouch for the usefulness of one of the USB cameras that are readily available on fleaBay, etc. They have LEDs to illuminate things and magnetic attachments to pick things up. Well worth the ten or fifteen quid they cost.
Simon J
J3437 |
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Colin Butchers
United Kingdom
1487 Posts |
Posted - 31/08/2016 : 10:38:21
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I know that I am old fashioned, but I prefer the "Steve Dear" method. Obtain a car wash sponge (don't pay more than a pound for it ) and poke it in the inspection hole. Turn the engine over on the starting handle, and hey presto, the spanner/stud or whatever appears when the sponge has been rotated once.
Colin B. |
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Ray Masters
United Kingdom
568 Posts |
Posted - 31/08/2016 : 11:46:05
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| To save further on costs, Colin, if you tie a longish piece of string (cost virtually nil) to each tool/spanner you are working with it won't fall down the hole in the first place & if it does you can easily pull it out !!. |
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Simon Johnston
United Kingdom
6141 Posts |
Posted - 31/08/2016 : 16:45:00
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While prevention is always better than the cure, the camera with LEDs and a magnetic probe is a pretty handy fallback. I doubt if the 'sponge' method would work for a stud dropped into a gearbox
Simon J
J3437 |
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Colin Butchers
United Kingdom
1487 Posts |
Posted - 01/09/2016 : 10:47:53
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Yes Ray, I do tie a longish string to the spanners and screw-drivers. It is the little bits - such as a new clutch finger operating screw and locking nut that was a real pig to manoeuvre into place without it ending up at the bottom of the clutch housing. When one "got away" last month the sponge worked beautifully - just as Steve Dear promised it would fifty years ago. The new operating screws need to be adjusted by Allen Key, which in itself needs to be securely taped to a 9" cable tie, to prevent it going down the hole after the screw and nut.
Colin B. |
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Simon
United Kingdom
451 Posts |
Posted - 01/09/2016 : 12:15:05
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Had similar problems trying to remove remains of broken clutch lever clip. There's really no room to put a little tv thing down and magnetic pick ups just stick to all the other ferrous bits! Also, a sponge isn't going to get into the tight space between flywheel/clutch and housing.I devised a kind of sweep from a piece of foam glued to a piece of ally with 2 bent down lugs to engage with the starter ring and introduced through the starter motor aperture. Rotating engine the wrong way should bring anything up that was between housing and flywheel which can be removed when it emerges again at the starter motor pinion extension housing (where I had already found a piece of clip thrown up by the ring gear)Anything else will just have to stay hoping it can't get thrown about by the flywheel.
Simon (J4199) |
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Ray Masters
United Kingdom
568 Posts |
Posted - 01/09/2016 : 16:46:18
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Yes ,Colin, the fitting of those little parts in situ is very difficult.
I once used the sponge method to recover parts from the starter pinion which hadn't had the split pin fitted !. The three guys watching were open mouthed & delighted when the parts appeared in the aperture. They thought the only solution was to remove the gearbox. |
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