How to fashion a fix for the "clutch bulkhead breach"

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MisterH
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How to fashion a fix for the "clutch bulkhead breach"

Post by MisterH » Sun Jul 25, 2021 7:19 pm

It was a hot sunny day last saturday when I drove down to Amberley to meet with some fellow AutoShite forum members. The drive across the south downs there and back was amazing, but just as I finished the journey, and turned onto my road, I suddenly noticed my clutch no longer worked. I quickly messaged Jeff and it turned out it was the "classic bulkhead split" - something had to be done.

We knew off the bat that we had to make a new part to specially fit the hole that was now breaching the bulkhead
Image

Here is how we did it (for the purposes of this guide, I am omitting the clutch cable removal and refit, which can be found Courtesy of our Lord and Tormentor, St. Haynes)

Step 1: Work out the measurements of the hole needed to thread the cable through.
In this case, it was around 19mm. Observe our technical* drawing of how the problem looks:
Image

In order to mend this you will not only need a new hole, but also bracing around it to affix to the rest of the bulkhead

Step 2: Fashion the part
We used a lathe for this, turning some mild steel, however I reckon a similarly decent fix could be achieved using a 3D printer or Resin casting, provided the plastic is hard enough to take the strain
Image

The end result should look something like this:
Image
(this image is of an alternative design we didn't use, we used one with a slightly longer tunnel, the one pictured is available for less extreme cases)

Step 3: The fitting
This can be done using an Epoxy Resin, no welding needed. make sure you get a good coverage of resin to fill in any imperfections from the breach. make sure the area is clean (contact cleaner is very good) and dry, and leave to cure for about 4 hours before attempting to refit the clutch
Image

Once this is all done, you can then refit and adjust the clutch as you so desire. We found it actually wasn't that difficult compared to some of the other innovative solutions found on this car

I hope this guide is sufficient for people to be able to confidently make a replica of this piece for their own car in either metal or hard plastic
Current Jobs to do (23/1/22):
Fix Central Locking
Fix drivers side speaker
Annoying Scratching Squeak
Water leaks
Complete Front O/S rebuild

Alan 480
480 Is my middle name
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Location: Aberdeen

Re: How to fashion a fix for the "clutch bulkhead breach"

Post by Alan 480 » Wed Jul 28, 2021 8:17 pm

I thought it had merely 'cracked' not cracked in every direction feasible :shock:

Neat solution where the bulkhead has 'gone AWOL'!!

if any consolation the diff mount on the early SS1 suffered a similar fate, Reliant supplied 'large steel plates' as patches :wink:
Alan

480 ES 2litre 'Celebration' ? , C30 1.8ES, SS1

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jamescarruthers
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Re: How to fashion a fix for the "clutch bulkhead breach"

Post by jamescarruthers » Mon Oct 23, 2023 10:54 am

Bollocks, just as I need the 480 for daily duties and decide to adjust the clutch, I realise my bulkhead is also cracked. Joining you in early-car nightmare club again! Sending you a PM.

When you say "you need a new hole", did you open the bulkhead hole up to remove the damage, or did you just slide your repair pieces into the remains of the bulkhead hole? If opened up, did you just file it out or something nicer to get a perfectly round hole again?
1987 Volvo 480 ES, 507274, 217 - Red (Ness)
2006 Citroen C6 Exclusive 3.0 petrol/LPG
2008 Mini Cooper convertible (Mau)

Previous 480's:
J123 CFU -- ES
J449 MNL -- ES auto
D864 CPV -- ES
L691 JFC -- Turbo
F70 MNR -- ES
H858 FGV -- Turbo auto
E981 KHM -- ES (509849)

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