Dilema, serious advice needed

mx5v8 · Post by **mx5v8** » Mon Apr 28, 2014 4:16 pm

Sorry a bit of a long story. My car, MX5 V8, has been off the road for a year but I've been working on it recently and got it MOT'd ( no advisories) and taxed so took it to a show on Sunday where as usual it pulled in the crowds. However on the way there and back I noticed a very slight clutch slip, which wasn't there were I took the car off the road. During the time off road I replaced both clutch cylinders so decided that possibly the slave cylinder wasn't giving enough travel so causing the slip (clutch has only done about 9000 miles). So just now thought I'd just put a couple of washers in between cylinder and bell housing to see if it would make a difference, unfortunatley during this I managed to get the pushrod unhooked from the release lever which now means gearbox out. Here's the dilema I was in the process of selling the car and hoped to get at least £4500. The thing is I just don't have the inlcination to work on it anymore, rather than doing the gearbox it would be easier for me to take the engine out and sell the car for parts. what I need to know is a rough price I would get for the engine. It was built by JRV8 in 2009 and done about 9000 miles, would cost new today about £3600. I know what I can get for the rest of the car just not sure about the engine. Hope this isn't infringing any forum rules but really pissed off at the moment
Cheers Andy

unstable load · Post by **unstable load** » Tue Apr 29, 2014 7:16 am

If you can't be bothered to work on the car, why are you going to do all the work of parting it out?
At the end of it all, you will most likely have a few bits left over that nobody wants and you will need to haul off to the dump or get rid of at your expense, surely it would be a lot less effort to simply pull the engine and fix the release lever and sell the car as a going concern?

mx5v8 · Post by **mx5v8** » Tue Apr 29, 2014 3:39 pm

Thats a good question, the thing is I've had the car for seven years spent a small fortune on it and many hours working on it. I decided that once I got it MOT'd this time that would be the last time I'd work on it and the last bit of money to spend on it, just sell it in other words. The odd thing is it's easy to get the engine out but for some reason bloody hard to get it back in, took three of us last time. And I just don't have the energy or enthusiasm to do the gearbox, I'm certainly not going to pay to have it done as that won't be viable. I've started on another project that needs the garage space and money.

topcatcustom · Post by **topcatcustom** » Tue Apr 29, 2014 3:59 pm

If it's just getting the clutch arm back on, cut a 3-4" hole through the bottom of the ally bell housing, get your hand in and get it back on that way, then screw the/a plate over the hole to cover it up. I can't see it breaking if the engine and box are mounted well, and it would be quick and easy to do for you.

mx5v8 · Post by **mx5v8** » Tue Apr 29, 2014 4:44 pm

topcatcustom wrote:If it's just getting the clutch arm back on, cut a 3-4" hole through the bottom of the ally bell housing, get your hand in and get it back on that way, then screw the/a plate over the hole to cover it up. I can't see it breaking if the engine and box are mounted well, and it would be quick and easy to do for you.

That's a solution I certainly hadn't thought about, maybe worth a go over the weekend. Cheers for the idea
Andy

unstable load · Post by **unstable load** » Wed Apr 30, 2014 5:20 am

Instead of pulling the motor wouldn't it be better/easier/less effort to drop the 'box?
If you have another project and need the space, it would definitely be better to sell it as a going concern because it won't sell overnight if you part it out and the space will still be occupied, but by an effectively useless wreck instead of your project.

mx5v8 · Post by **mx5v8** » Wed Apr 30, 2014 8:18 pm

unstable load wrote:Instead of pulling the motor wouldn't it be better/easier/less effort to drop the 'box?
If you have another project and need the space, it would definitely be better to sell it as a going concern because it won't sell overnight if you part it out and the space will still be occupied, but by an effectively useless wreck instead of your project.

Ok my way of thinking is, as it reasonably easy to get the engine and gearbox out , the hard bit is putting it back in, if I do that. I now have four seperate packages to sell. The gearbox with remote will sell within the week on ebay. The car which will have an MOT/TAX on will also sell quickly as for a weekends work you could stick a cheaper engine/gearbox in and have a V8 MX5 for half the price. The engine should also go quite quick large market, low mileage really nice engine. And finally a one off roll bar which would go with a phone call.
But I'll now be trying Topcatcustom solution first

richardpope50 · Post by **richardpope50** » Thu May 01, 2014 6:25 pm

Out of interest ....
So if you do cut a hole and get it back, will the washers cure the slip? If not, what will you do and what is actually the real problem?

Just wondering!

mx5v8 · Post by **mx5v8** » Thu May 01, 2014 9:18 pm

richardpope50 wrote:Out of interest ....
So if you do cut a hole and get it back, will the washers cure the slip? If not, what will you do and what is actually the real problem?

Just wondering!

I'll probably swear a lot because that'll mean the clutch has been damaged or contaminated with oil somehow. However it will be driveable so I'll put it on ebay stating it has clutch slip and hope for the best, but there will be a reserve so in worse case scenario I'll end up taking it apart.

mx5v8 · Post by **mx5v8** » Sun May 18, 2014 6:24 pm

topcatcustom wrote:If it's just getting the clutch arm back on, cut a 3-4" hole through the bottom of the ally bell housing, get your hand in and get it back on that way, then screw the/a plate over the hole to cover it up. I can't see it breaking if the engine and box are mounted well, and it would be quick and easy to do for you.

Thank you for suggestion, did just that and got it working. Just got to make a plate up to cover the hole and have a couple of test runs and I'll then put it on ebay.
Saved me a lot of time and hassle many thanks
Andy