1961 Midget Engine Removal For A New Release Bearing And Clutch Parts

To begin, I think a brief history of the 1961 Midget GAN1/L8489 is in order to best understand where this journal is going. Last summer I bought the car sight un seen but for a half dozen pictures. I was looking for a retirement project that I could drive and work on. The car arrived to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan from Los Angles California. It was missing several key OEM parts. Seats were not original, wiper arms were missing, etc. It looked like someone took off the good stuff. I knew about the seats but was surprised to see a lot of the smaller parts were missing. It took me the better part of the year to locate original seat components and get the leather upholstery kits installed. Finally most of the missing OEM parts were found and assembled on the car. A leaking slave cylinder drained the common clutch and brake reservoir. I replaced the slave and master cylinders then bled the two systems. I couldn't get the clutch to release. After bleeding the systems three times to be sure there wasn't an air lock in either cylinder I still didn't have a clutch. Thanks to Rick and others on this forum I was able to determine the release bearing was the problem and not the pressure plate or clutch lining. Adding a 3/8' spacer to the clutch rod gave me a little more engagement on the release bearing. Now I need to remove the engine with the gearbox and replace the clutch components. So far I have removed the hood, drained the radiator, engine and tranny oils. Removed the radiator, gear shift, exhaust clamp, distributor cap and all electrical connections to the starter and distributor. Also removed the four tranny tunnel mounting bolts. Removed the fuel lines from the fuel pump and carbs. I have yet to separate the drive shaft and motor mounts. I've been taking pics of the items so I can put them back in their original locations. The pit I insisted on when the ex wife and I built the house 38 years ago is really paying off. She's long gone but the pit and I are still here! So easy to get at all the under belly items. I have borrowed an engine stand so when I pull the engine out I'll mount it to the stand and then separate the tranny from the engine. Tomorrow I'll begin to remove the engine. I'll be using a one ton chain hoist mounted to my garage rafters. Thinking now about the best way to rig the slings around the engine. The Haynes manual says it must come out at a 70 degree angle up. Removed the carbs today and took off the fittings to the fuel pump. I ordered a load leveler today from Harbor Freight thanks to Rick for the info. This tool will help me get to the right angle to lift the engine and tranny out. Should be here in a few days. Removed the driveshaft today. Pushed the car out of the garage and backed it in over the pit to make it easier to remove the driveshaft. That's the last thing to do prior to pulling the engine and tranny. I'll be removing the engine and tranny together. Seems like the best thing to do from the replies I've gotten from the forum guys. Load leveler will be here Saturday. Got the load leveler and started to rig the engine. After getting some help from you guys I have the leveler all set to go. Got the engine and tranny on the floor and the bell housing separated. Clutch plate is out and the release bearing is out as well. There's about .070" or a little more than 1/16" of carbon graphite left on it. This engine is a gold seal exchange. An 850 block that was totally rebuild and blue printed for a warranty exchange program back in the 50's and 60's. I have Robert kirk confirming what kind of clutch I have and if he can provide one. The clutch lining diameter is 6.312" or 3 5/16". The pressure plate machined surface diameter is 6.375' or 6 3/8". I'm not sure what the standard 949 clutch and pressure plate diameters are. Hopefully Robert can help out. Stand by. Talked to Colon from Moss Motors. He checked on the compatibility of the 850 and 948 clutch components. He said the 850 and 948 are the same parts numbers. I measured the lever bushing and bolt finding the bushing was oversize and out of round and the bolt diameter was worn. Replacing them as well. So now I'm just waiting for the new parts to get here. Got the new parts this afternoon. I replaced the clutch lever pivot bolt and bushing as the others were over and under sized and out of round. The new release bearing has .160 of material on it. Only about .100 more than the old one. The new pressure plate has .020 more material on the wear ring than the old one. So, there's about .120 more materials than before. The clutch discs looked about the same thickness from looking at the rivets. What's bothering me is, I had to add a 3/8" spacer to the slave rod to get the bearing to release before. I've asked the opinion of the forum on this. I don't want to have to pull the engine again because the bearing won't release! The tranny went into the engine with out a hitch thanks to the cheap alignment tool I got with the clutch kit. Now just have to put the engine back in and see if it's right?? Got the engine and tranny back in in less than an hour thanks to the load leveler. It allowed me to adjust the angle so the tranny would just slip in and down the tunnel. Got everything bolted back up with no problems. Refitted the carbs and fuel lines and electrical. One thing I did that I'm glad about is taking a lot of pics of how things looked prior to removal. Especially the carbs as they come apart in many pieces. I'll be pushing the car out of the garage today and putting it in backwards over the pit so I can connect up the drive shaft. Then all I need is my radiator back from the guy who's soldering up a couple brackets that popped loose. He's flushing it also. I think I'll flush the engine block as long as I have the time. I used a long piece of heavy flexible wire to raise the stub shaft on the drive shaft up in line with the engine. With the help of a buddy pushing the drive shaft from behind the stub end slid right on and the two flanges of the drive shaft and differential were in line and bolted right up. Be sure the matched marks line up with the holes. Or your drive shaft won't be balanced. Finally got the radiator back and installed. All new fluids replaced and the engine was started. A slight adjustment to the clutch adjusting rod at the master cylinder and we are road worthy again!! Glad to have this project done! Definitely was a learning experience. Moving on to a new project next. I have a rear tire rub after putting a wire rim conversion kit on. I'll be putting in a 2 degree wedge kit under the rear leaf springs on both sides. This should lift the body about 3/8"-1/2" I'm told. Stand by for the results.