Clutch adjustment miraculously cures suspension ills?
Curiouser and curiouser...
Fourteen months after it was last done, my clutch got adjusted again last night. I went to do it at the weekend, then remembered why Steve had made his whizzy tools - it's just way too cramped in there for ordinary spanners to be a realistic proposition. Job done, I'd forgotten how slick a gear-change can be when the clutch is properly disengaged. The drawback is that now the biting point is higher, I'm back to getting black stains on my left knee where it rubs against the suede steering wheel.
A most peculiar thing happened on the way home from Steve's. I had fun. I had the most fun driving my Seven that I've had for quite some time. It all started when I had to follow a diversion because the A322 north into Bracknell was closed. Then the route I was going to take north of Bracknell, through Winkfield, was closed too so I had no choice but to make my own diversion, taking in some of my favourite local roads.
It was only when I arrived home, buzzing with adrenalin after a drive where everything just felt right that I realised that my handling problems had gone. Perhaps not gone entirely, but so much better that I hadn't even noticed them.
Now I might be a mechanical moron, but I know that adjusting the clutch cable doesn't alter the compliance of the suspension. We were yanking on the spanners pretty hard - maybe the engine mounts have broken again and we jostled the lump back into place? No, checked at lunch time, and there's no movement.
The only other thing I could think of is that Steve and I were discussing springs and dampers, and he'd given the front suspension a hefty push in order to feel how stiff it was. Could that have moved something important, perchance? Don't know, but I will keep an eye on things. At least I now know that my memory wasn't playing tricks, and my car really can feel a lot better than it has been recently.
This page is http://www.strangely.org/diary/200208/Clutchadjustmentmiraculou.html. It was first published on Wednesday 7 August, 2002 and last updated on Wednesday 7 August, 2002.
