On December 17, 2018, we gassed up the car and drove it out of the yard and onto the street to see if we could get it to go through the gears. It did. And we were very pleased. We note that the car still does not seem to like reverse very much and makes some growling noises, but first gear through third gear (that’s all of them) worked fine. And there wasn’t half the grinding I thought there might be. The clutch seems to work very nicely, without either grabbing or slipping.
Our short little drive, convinced me that when finished, this car will be a very solid vehicle for touring. It does NOT drive like a Model T Ford.
I’ve found your site while doing a search on cone clutches. It’s great to see the progress and overcoming all the challenges!
I’m working on rebuilding a ca. 1905 two-cylinder Renault engine and hope to install it into something eventually.:-)
Dave