I hope this helps someone else in a "sticky" situation ... My 87 Mondial 3.2 had been sitting under protective covers in the garage for about 3 months while we (me & son #2) have been working on the body shell of his 71 Twin Cam Escort, parked beside the Ferrari. (Note: Need bigger garage!) Finally got the covers off and fired the Mondial up - all was good except that the clutch plate was well & truly "stuck" & wouldn't disengage even though normal pedal action was available. The clutch driven plate was most likely bonded to the flywheel face, which I understand can happen when left unused for a fair while in conditions of prolonged humidity. I tried the "usual" technique of: Turning it off / chocking the wheels / applying handbrake / put in 5th gear / depress clutch pedal / stand hard on brakes / turn key to start. This would normally "break" the unwanted friction bond between flywheel & driven plate, as the starter torque tried to drive the (chocked) rear wheels. Has worked for me in the past, but this time unfortunately it just wouldn't let go, no matter what I tried. Called the local roadside assistance firm (NRMA in our state), and we tried extra battery capacity for more starter torque, then tried pushing/rocking the car in-gear with clutch depressed. No joy. The outcome was looking like getting it flat-topped to my Ferrari mech and have the whole clutch disassembled so that the driven plate could be unbonded. Yikes! Especially as it was in a garage right at the bottom of a steep/curved driveway, and I was told I'd have to get it onto the street for towing. This meant reversing it up a steel hill & around obstacles all without a clutch (!) Luckily the mech shop was closed over Christmas, which gave me time for more thinking. I needed a way to apply more torque across the clutch, and decided to jack the rear up and drive it against the brakes. This is the technique I used: Jack up rear end and put it onto sturdy stands on both sides Chock front wheels F+R Start engine in neutral & let run for ~ 10 mins to get it warmed Switch off Get a piece of wood or similar ~ 0.65m long (2+ feet) Trim wood so that it just fits between the fully-depressed clutch pedal and the base of the seat frame Depress clutch fully, and fit the wood piece to hold the pedal down Select SECOND gear Start engine - it will start jerkily as the wheels/diff spin up, but will smooth out Bring revs up to 3000 - 4000 With left foot, give a quick HARD stab on the brake pedal This will try to stall the engine, so open throttle as you hit the brake Note: Don't brake for more than ~ 1/2 sec. Keep it quick and let brakes cool for a few secs after each try Repeat the rev+brake "double-act" until the clutch plate frees. You will notice the moment it unsticks by the engine becoming free-reving again, as it's not burdened by the inertia of the rear wheels & trans. You will also be able to press on the brake without the engine speed dropping, plus you can select gears again! Switch off, remove the wooden pedal-brace and drop car back down. It's now time to go driving! Give the clutch a few gentle slips to "reface" it and to remind it not to do that again Note: I initially tried the "jack up & brake" technique using 5th gear (which seems best for the starter-motor-freeing method), but found that it just kept stalling the engine. I was just about to give up (& arrange the tow-truck) when I tried using 2nd gear. This has less braking effect, but allows you to bang on the brake harder/sharper without killing the engine. Did the job in just a couple of big stabs (thank goodness).
Congrats, with the complicated driveway it sounds like the other method would not have worked. That being to warm it up, then put in 1st gear and start engine and drive car and do a bit of accel/decel with clutch fully depressed.
I had the same problem in my 330 GT. Tried the driving/brake solution, but the driveway is gravel, so it didn't work. Didn't have insurance, so didn't want to risk the paved road. Put it away with the clutch stick still in place. 2 weeks later (now w/insurance), went to try again. The clutch had come free just from the pressure of the internal springs during that time. So to start, I recommend just using a stick to hold the clutch in for a while and see if the problem goes away.
Have done that a hundred times and it works well. Even with dual discs. An entire car lot of Ferrari being washed every couple of days produces several rusted together clutches a month.
I wonder how they will be freeing the clutches of the f1 Gearbox cars like the 430 etc in 20 years time. ?
