Bristol 400 Flywheel - clutch

[Geoff Dowdle]

Mauricio ,
The 400 clutch is quite a common 8 inch Borg & Beck unit that was fitted to many other English cars of the late 40's - late 50's . Some Austin, Morris , MG A , Riley 1.5 were fitted with similar clutch and pressure plates.

In Australia (and I assume UK & USA and probably Sao Paulo )you can simply take the original parts to a Brake & Clutch specialist and they will recondition the pressure plate , supply a new clutch plate and carbon thrust .
The flywheel would not need replacement but only machining the face.
If the starter ring gear on the flywheel needs replacement I can supply one.
I suggest you balance the whole assembly before refitting it to the car.

Note the pressure plate springs fitted to different cars have different tensions and are colour coded . If you fit a pressure plate from say a Austin A40 it might not have enough clamping pressure to handle the power from the Bristol engine .

Some Bristol owners with more powerful modified engines have fitted 8.5 inch diaphragm pressure plates from MGB & TR7 but the flywheel and carbon thrust need modification . This is not necessary/recommended for a standard 400.
Regards
Geoff