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A couple months back I posted about a strange squeak it seemed to be coming from the clutch but after finally getting under the car while the clutch being depressed I noticed that the flywheel is being pushed into the oil pan gasket. I then checked the front crank pulley and sure enough I'm getting about 1mm movement. So my question is can I get to the thrust bearing washers from under the car? Has anyone attempted it?

If you can remove the sump from below the car you might be able to do it this way.
But you'll have to support the engine from above because you have to remove the lower engine support in order to remove the sump.
And you probably need to remove the steering rack to create more working space.

We removed the sump off the TR8 in the car, when we were trying to find how coolant was getting into the oil. This was a good choice, as we found it was a timing cover gasket, so avoided pulling the heads off a recently built engine.

We supported the engine from a shed rafter, to avoid the engine crane legs getting in the way, lowered the subframe, & could easily remove the sump. Should work the same way on a 7. I have heard of people fitting new thrust bearings from below, but have not looked to see how hard it would be.

Hasbeen

You can get a tool that straddles the engine bay to sopport the motor,then remove the subframe and steering.

sonscar wrote:You can get a tool that straddles the engine bay to sopport the motor,then remove the subframe and steering.

Yes, or use a decent length of 4"x2" across the wings with cloth pads and a rope around the engine!

Okay I'm going to give it a try, I'll update if successful, thanks!

Well I was successful in removing the sump it wasn't that bad except for lying on your back. It involved removing sump bolts, oil filter, and clutch slave. Disconnect left engine mount and hoist engine as high as it would go, at that point loosen right engine mount and swing it out of the way. After that point you have to turn sump and there's just enough room to get it out.

As I expected one of the thrust washers was put in backwards and wore down it probably scored the crank. I will try to put in over sized washers, it should be okay for a while, the only place I found online with over size washers was rimmers but delivery to Canada is pretty slow. Anyone know a Canadian supplier?

You could try PartsAvatar
Or Rock Autos, although they are in the States