[alfa] Follow-up: Spider Veloce Clutch issue and castor arm bushings

[Tarus Balog <alfa@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Gang:

A few weeks ago I asked for some advice on the clutch and the castor 
arm bushings for my '86 Spider Veloce. Just thought I'd post our 
findings here, in case it would help anyone else.

The Clutch:

The problem I was having with the clutch is that it would sometimes, 
very rarely, stick when depressed. There was enough give in it that 
quickly pressing the clutch again would cause it to come back up just 
fine.

I received a lot of suggestions which came down to bad MC, bad SC or 
bad clutch pivot pin.

Since the pivot pin was a known failure point, I ordered a replacement 
from John Ortakales (also a suggestion on the list). It arrived with a 
very nice, heavy weld between the arm and the pin itself.

When we removed the old pin (using instructions, also from the list, 
available here: 
http://www.geocities.com/motorcity/downs/3837/clutarm1.html) and found 
that it was extremely hard to remove. It took a lot of force just to 
rotate the pin the slightest bit. Once the pin was out, it looked fine 
and in one piece, but a gauge showed that it was 2/1000th's thicker 
than the replacement pin. I didn't think it would make that much 
difference, but it did. The clutch is real smooth now and doesn't stick 
at all. When we replaced it you could move it with one finger.

Has this ever happened to anyone else?

The Caster Arm Bushings:

Based upon suggestions from this list, I ordered polyurethane bushing 
from Performatek. The old bushings were rubber and had two hollow 
chambers on each side. We pushed them out and then used a propane torch 
to burn away the remaining rubber.

However, the new bushings looked just a little too big for the housing. 
We measured and they were about 1/8th inch larger than the hole they 
were to fit into. Looking at the housing, there was a metal sleeve in 
there that was about 1/8th of an inch thick. Since there didn't seem to 
be an easy way to remove it, we just slightly trimmed the new bushings 
to fit.

Does anyone have an easy way to insert the new bushings? The way that 
finally worked for us was to take a long, threaded bolt and to place 
some large, heavy washers on each end. Thus the final assembly was to 
place a couple of washers on the bolt, then the bushing, insert the 
bolt into the housing, add a couple more washers on the other side and 
a nut. By carefully tightening the nut we were able to get it into the 
housing. Repeat the procedure for the metal sleeve that goes into the 
center of the bushing.

The Spider now handles great, and holds a line much better than before.

Anyway, sorry to take up so much space, but I wanted to put it out 
there in case it helps anyone else.

-T
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