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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Midget 1275 Master cylinder pushrod

I recently tried to tackle a dragging clutch problem on my wife’s 1973 midget as follows:

Remove the master cylinders and the pedal box, weld up the oval hole in the top of the clutch pedal and re drill. Order a new clutch master cylinder from MGOC Spares to replace the one with oval holes at the end of the pushrod. This is where the problems start. I find that the holes for the clevis pin at the end of the new pushrod are 5mm nearer to the master cylinder flange than the original. This is extremely frustrating as all my efforts to correct the height of the pedal due to oval holes have been undermined. MGOC suggested that the dragging clutch would have been due to problems downstream and denied that there would be any problems with a shorter pushrod, but would send another pushrod on its own for comparison. This turned out to be shorter as well. So I fitted the new master cylinder, checked that there was no wear at the slave cylinder end and thoroughly bled the fluid. Result? The clutch pedal is now an inch lower than the brake pedal and the clutch barely disengages with the pedal hard into the carpet. I am now going to swap the brake and clutch push rods, as I can live with a lower brake pedal. I am less than happy, however, about having to remove both master cylinders again as well as re-bleeding. I am also saddened at the increasing lack of properly specified spares.

P.S. There was no wear at the slave clevis pin and the release bearing is a roller bearing fitted twenty years ago. (The car has done 180,000 miles without encountering this problem before)

Malcolm Willgress.
Malcolm Willgress

Three options come to mind.

Find a good, used pushrod.

Cut and weld the new pushrod to lengthen it.

Weld up the hole in the pedal again and re-drill it in a different position.
Dave O'Neill 2

Or something like this - only to create a longer rather than shorter rod.


Daniel Stapleton

This thread was discussed on 04/01/2015

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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