My bloody clutch has gone!

[ReganAndCarter]

These days, more people are cursing chains and pining for the good old days when a £25 belt would do the job!

Which chains are those? BMW 1 series?

Overall, rubber belts have the potential to cause more problems. Especially the ones running in oil. Probably get worse as these cars enter the used market in numbers and no longer get regular main dealer servicing on schedule.

 

[Mottie]

I can respect that. It's a tough way to earn a living! Many years ago, I was due to go walking in the Lakes with a couple of school friends on the Saturday, but to my horror, the clutch in my Reliant started slipping on the way home on the Friday night. I spent much of that night on my back in the gutter, changing the bloody clutch!

My dad bought my mum a Reliant once to drive - when you could drive them with L plates on a provisional licence as long as you blocked off the reverse gear (we never did and the police never checked). We had to replace the clutch on that. We took the seats out, unscrewed the floor and did it from inside the car. We only changed the centre plate and I remember going up the shop to buy it - it was in the early seventies and it cost ten bob in old money, that’s 50p in today’s money. It was the size of a saucer!

 

[Avocet]

My dad bought my mum a Reliant once to drive - when you could drive them with L plates on a provisional licence as long as you blocked off the reverse gear (we never did and the police never checked). We had to replace the clutch on that. We took the seats out, unscrewed the floor and did it from inside the car. We only changed the centre plate and I remember going up the shop to buy it - it was in the early seventies and it cost ten bob in old money, that’s 50p in today’s money. It was the size of a saucer!

Mine was the "deluxe" model with the extra wheel! (A Reliant Rebel - predecessor to the Kitten). A much more conventional layout than the three-leggers, so the gearbox had to come out from underneath.

 

[Avocet]

Which chains are those? BMW 1 series?

Overall, rubber belts have the potential to cause more problems. Especially the ones running in oil. Probably get worse as these cars enter the used market in numbers and no longer get regular main dealer servicing on schedule.

Lots of them. I had a miserable time with my wife's old Nissan X-Trail timing chain, some years ago. Bloody horrible engine! But in general, chains are not as trouble-free as they once were. BMW, Jaguar, Stellantis... All have models with timing chain problems. The problem, (I think), is that back in the day when a timing chain lasted forever, the chains wee very short. They typically drove a single camshaft, low down in the block, and were fitted to slow-revving engines. These days, the chain runs are much longer, driving multiple, overhead cams, each operating twice as many valves, at much higher revs and with amounts of valve lift that you would only see on racing cars 50 years ago. (And all that's before you then start offering variable valve timing)!