JowettTalk

It is not the first time that after a long lay up the friction plate was stuck on a Jowett, but this time was particularly troublesome. Luckily the Javelin had been reversed into the garage. I managed to start the car after application of extra battery and Easystart. This was not the clutch's fault but old petrol. Once started the engine ran well but of course I could not engage gear when it was. So with a warm engine I put it into first and then pressed the starter. There is a bit of a hill inside the garage and a steep one outside. Luckily I was able to creep along with the starter and then the engine fired and took me up the hill to a flat bit where I could jack up the car. I now never fit the clutch cover plate so as to get at the clutch pressure plate set screws easily. I jammed a screwdriver between the heater and the clutch pedal to disengage the clutch then jacked up the car. A trusty sheath knife between the pressure plate and the flywheel failed to move the friction plate so all set screws were loosened about 4 mm. Then a screwdriver was inserted to hold the pressure plate off the flywheel and the sheath knife reinserted. The friction plate had not seized onto the flywheel but the friction plate. So putting the sheath knife at an angle I tried to engage it with the friction plate and hit it lightly with a hammer. That did the job and the plate was free to rotate as the gearbox was in neutral.

Now to fix the gear selector as it will not go into reverse. Just need a straight run onto the lift in the bottom garage!