Advice re clutch lever removal

[John Clarke]

Think John Bunin has got the Right Idea. It all looks Very Scabby.
Cut it Completely Out And Replace !
Could be the Easy Option.
JIMHO
Jay

[Robert Moglia]

Jon, the car was last driven in the mid 1960’s.
Alway in the Northeast so that explains the body rust.
Odometer had about 70k with seems about right given the time on the road. Transaxle is matching number.
When I drained the oil it was pretty clean but I have no idea how it ran. I’m hesitant to do a rebuild just because.
Sprucing up means new seals and other cosmetics.
After wasting a couple of hours on the clutch lever I surrendered.
Plan C it is.

I did find replacements on eBay.

[Don Gale]

I totally agree. The fork sleeve is probably permanently rust-welded to the shaft. Slice it on either side of the fork sleeve with a sawsall or die grinder with a 1/32" cut-off disk and call it done. Even if you do moose the old one out, it's going to be trouble. A new shaft with bushings and fork is not overly expensive (not sure if yours is a 716 or 741 or whether they are interchangeable):

[Jon Bunin]

Bob's clutch shaft is a '59-only item. The Stoddard parts shown are not correct. A later shaft can be modified to work, but I'd suggest getting the correct part if possible.
The clutch fork is a '57-'59 item, but the original fork might be reusable if the remaining piece of shaft and pins can be carefully removed.

Don't assume that eBay sellers know what they're selling, they often don't, and make sure you'll receive the exact item pictured, not one of several others the seller has.
In this case, buy from a seller with a return policy, to prevent being stuck with a part having undisclosed damage or wear.

[Robert Moglia]

Thanks for the advice Jon.
Parts are ordered, they look correct and I trust and know the vendor.
The story continues…

[Dave Erickson]

Bob's clutch shaft is a '59-only item. The Stoddard parts shown are not correct. A later shaft can be modified to work, but I'd suggest getting the correct part if possible.
The clutch fork is a '57-'59 item, but the original fork might be reusable if the remaining piece of shaft and pins can be carefully removed.

Jon, how is the '59 clutch shaft different from those currently available? When I repaired the clutch shaft on my 716, I had nothing to go on. The transmission had been installed in a VW Bus, and everything was wrong and messed up. I bought this lever, made new bushings and it worked fine:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/165995181893

[Jon Bunin]

Dave, that shaft is correct for a '59 716 transmission. I didn't find it on a quick eBay search, because the title didn't include my search words.
Their "Item Description" is incorrect, it will not work on a 644 transmission as they claim.

[Dave Erickson]

Thanks Jon. I think it's funny that the only U.S. supplier for that part seems to be mrfiat.com (Everything Alfa). Stoddards and Sierra Madre don't carry it. I did not do an exhaustive search, but still...

[Robert Moglia]

Dave you are right, I did do a pretty thorough search of all the vendors, mrfiat was the only one, maybe because of some cross compatibility with Mercedes?
Regardless, I found a really nice used one on eBay.
I preferred to stick with OEM.

[Dave Erickson]

Robert, I suspect the MrFiat parts are sourced in Europe, so maybe they are OEM.

[Robert Moglia]

I don’t think so, the description says “ Compares with original parts. It is CNC machined, laser cut and zinc plated” sounds like a repop. Looks nice though.

[Robert Moglia]

The new lever and fork arrived today.
They look very nice.
Thanks to all for advice.
This site and it people are great!
Back to the body work.