More clutch woes

[GTVeloce]

The clutch on my 75 has been slowly dying for over two years and finally gave up a month ago. When I pulled it out it was exactly as I suspected; the 'fingers' were almost all broken except two that were ground down. The thrust bearing was also kaput. Even on its deathbed the hydraulics felt good however.

I had a spare clutch in good condition so I gave it a refresh (clean and new bearings) plus a new thrust bearing and rebuilt slave cylinder and have put the car back together. However, the pedal felt a bit soft and wouldn't quite return on its own. Thought I'd try it and no surprises that I couldn't select a gear. Bled again and now the pedal feels good. However, I still can't select a gear. Since bled again but nothing: no air and no improvement. The fluid is a little murky and so I'm thinking maybe the master cylinder has died but if that is the case would the pedal feel good? And why would it fail if it was working perfectly well before it came off the road? I was careful and don't believe I have allowed air to get into the master cylinder and REALLY don't want to change the master cylinder again if I can help it.

Any thoughts?

[bazzbazz]

We either the spare clutch wasn't in as good condition as you suspected or there is a problem with the gear selection.

Could the gear selector cables/linkage be caught up or twisted somewhere/out of adjustment due to the gearbox being removed?

[GTVeloce]

The spare clutch was working fine when I removed it except that the bearings had gone and it rattled. That doesn't mean that my rebuild efforts haven't gone wrong... There was plenty of meat left on all surfaces with no signs of cracking or heat stress when I opened it up.

I haven't investigated the gear selector but I don't think that is the issue. Perhaps I haven't explained myself well enough. When I try to select a gear it graunches badly, just as if I was trying to select a gear without using the clutch at all. This implies the gear selector is working (plus I can feel it going into gear when the engine is off).

I am fairly certain the issue is either hydraulic or perhaps inside the clutch unit as you mentioned. I think the next thing for me to do is try and see how far the fork (that the slave cylinder actuates) moves and that should tell me if I am getting enough hydraulic movement or not.