Cable Clutch

[6Stang7]

Mustangs Plus wants $259.95 for a cable clutch conversion kit. I looked at Mustang Steve’s kit, and while it's cheaper, I still think it's too much for what you're getting. I mean, the cable clutch itself is $43, so the rest is for some parts which look fairly easy to machine out. Has anyone made there own cable clutch kit before? Does anyone know of a write up I can read? The first step is for me to understand everything that is involved in a cable clutch system and how it works. Anything relating to this would be of much help.

-Shaun

 

[TurboDoctor]

To bad i wasnt living in livermore anymore or i wouild give you my old setup. I built my own. I took a stock adjustable clutch cable for a fox body from auto zone. Went down to the junk yard and got a stcok clutch quadrent from a fox body. I took the pedal support out from the car. I took the shaft out of the pedal support and tossed it in the garbage. I took a 1 1/2 piece of thick wall pipe and and centered them over the holes for the pedal shaft that ran through the support. Drilled the holes out to i bealive a 1/2 hole. and pressed a bearing in each side of the support for the shaft to ride on. Put the pedals back in with a new shaft that I made from some steel stock that i machined down on each end and threaded. To make the cluth work I drilled a 3/8 hole into the pedal support about 3 inches down from the pedal shaft. I went to a bolt store and bought a shoulder bolt that would extend through the quad.Put it in the hole i drilled and welded the head to the support. Bolted the quad to the support and drilled another 3/8 in the lower end of the quad to accept a 3/8 hiem rod that ran from the og clutch rod hole. Sounds complicated and hard to picture. I have pictures somewhere around here and my diagram i will post it tonight after work for you to see, its easy to build and alot cheaper.

 

[Glen's 1965 5.0]

You can check out my Tech page for a cheap way to do it also.

Keep in mind that there is a lot of time that is spent in figuring, making a prototype, test fitting and going through that process 3-4 times and machining is not cheap unless you make a run of several hundred/thousand. These all factor into a price that a guy’s time is “worth”.

Depending on how much aggravation you want to save will dictate mow much you want to spend on a kit. Just make sure you don’t spend a dollar trying to save a dime.

 

[6Stang7]

To bad i wasnt living in livermore anymore or i wouild give you my old setup. I built my own. I took a stock adjustable clutch cable for a fox body from auto zone. Went down to the junk yard and got a stcok clutch quadrent from a fox body. I took the pedal support out from the car. I took the shaft out of the pedal support and tossed it in the garbage. I took a 1 1/2 piece of thick wall pipe and and centered them over the holes for the pedal shaft that ran through the support. Drilled the holes out to i bealive a 1/2 hole. and pressed a bearing in each side of the support for the shaft to ride on. Put the pedals back in with a new shaft that I made from some steel stock that i machined down on each end and threaded. To make the cluth work I drilled a 3/8 hole into the pedal support about 3 inches down from the pedal shaft. I went to a bolt store and bought a shoulder bolt that would extend through the quad.Put it in the hole i drilled and welded the head to the support. Bolted the quad to the support and drilled another 3/8 in the lower end of the quad to accept a 3/8 hiem rod that ran from the og clutch rod hole. Sounds complicated and hard to picture. I have pictures somewhere around here and my diagram i will post it tonight after work for you to see, its easy to build and alot cheaper.

Sounds good, can't wait to see your pics and diagram. BTW, you use to live in Livermore???

-Shaun

 

[6Stang7]

You can check out my Tech page for a cheap way to do it also.

Keep in mind that there is a lot of time that is spent in figuring, making a prototype, test fitting and going through that process 3-4 times and machining is not cheap unless you make a run of several hundred/thousand. These all factor into a price that a guy’s time is “worth”.

Depending on how much aggravation you want to save will dictate mow much you want to spend on a kit. Just make sure you don’t spend a dollar trying to save a dime.

Your tech page was a big help. You're right though, sometimes it's not worth all the work and aggravation that I will have to deal with, but a cable clutch kit and crossmember will cost around $400, which is more aggravating to me then making one. Edit: I have Tri-Y's on my car, and they make it impossiable to get a straight shot to the clutch fork. Will it be like this when I have the T-5's fork on there, and if so, what do I do?

-Shaun

 

[302 coupe]

I'm using a setup like Glen's, I'm also running tri-y's. I have the cable routed up in front of the first primary header tube, then down by the motor mount. To keep it off the headers, I made a little bracket that goes under one of the oil pan bolts, this keeps it pulled closer to the engine and away from the header. After that, it bends outward a little to the cast in holder in the late model bellhousing. It's been over 2 years and I haven't had any problems.

 

[6Stang7]

I'm using a setup like Glen's, I'm also running tri-y's. I have the cable routed up in front of the first primary header tube, then down by the motor mount. To keep it off the headers, I made a little bracket that goes under one of the oil pan bolts, this keeps it pulled closer to the engine and away from the header. After that, it bends outward a little to the cast in holder in the late model bellhousing. It's been over 2 years and I haven't had any problems.

If possiable could you post some pics?

Thanks
-Shaun

 

[TurboDoctor]

I forgot my folder of stuff in my tool box at work. Ill be sure to get it tommorow for you though and let you see the diagrahms. It will make sence once you see it in a drawing. You can do just the cable part for about 30 bucks in parts. I was able to locate all the stuff at my local bolt specialty shop. Yeah i used to in Concord/clayton area but worked a for cresco equipment rentals there on airway blvd. Ill be sure to get you the drawings asap tommorow.

 

[6Stang7]

I forgot my folder of stuff in my tool box at work. Ill be sure to get it tommorow for you though and let you see the diagrahms. It will make sence once you see it in a drawing. You can do just the cable part for about 30 bucks in parts. I was able to locate all the stuff at my local bolt specialty shop. Yeah i used to in Concord/clayton area but worked a for cresco equipment rentals there on airway blvd. Ill be sure to get you the drawings asap tommorow.

Sounds good. Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it. I have a question though. I pulled the quadrant off my friend’s project 5.0 and am going to draft it up and machine one out of alum. I noticed that there are some gear teeth on it, yet I don't see any on the Mustang Steve one. What is the point of these teeth? Do I need them?

-Shaun

 

[shelbyseven]

the teeth on the stock quadrant are for the self adjusting
feature.you want need this if you use an adjustible cable.

 

[351pacecar]

We put an aluminum quadrant and adjustable cable with an additional firewall adjuster in a friends fox body car, the same parts should be easy to adapt to an older car with a new bellhousing and clutch fork. the quadrant is just a fixed piece on the end of the shaft that the pedal rides on, I dunno about the difference in throw but it doesn't seem like it would be that hard to extend the stock shaft in an old car and stick the quadrant on it, then just cut the right size hole in the firewall and your done. I must be missing something though or someone else would have done that instead of all this conversion crap.

In fact since most of the companies semm to be peddling stock trash with their kits, your much better off making your own since every part of the stock stuff sucks.

Heres the kit, the stock quadrant is trash and theres no adjustability to that system so maybe this will work better for a kit:
http://www.steeda.com/store/-catalog/ClutchAdjusterKits.htm

edit: now that i think about it, fox bodies have awfully short pedals compared to the early ones, I think it would take a bigger quadrant to get the right amount of throw if it were still mounted off the pivot shaft.

Maybe just weld a piece off the top of the clutch pedal with a little fork to hold the thing on the end of the cable instead of the quadrant. That should work with all the adjustability that the steeda stuff together gives.

 

[TurboDoctor]

as shelbyseven said the teeth are for the stock adjustment system that sucked to begin with so you dont need them. My set up is adjustable on the rod. one end is left hand threaded and the other is right hand threads. You can adjust it with a 9/16 wrench fairly easy.

 

[6Stang7]

Good deal. Can't wait to see your drawings TurboDoctor. BTW, did you use the plastic quadrant or something else. I was thinking of welding one on like in the Mustang Steve kit, just have to make sure the I get the size of the quadrant right. Anyone know what it should be?

-Shaun

 

[6Stang7]

I noticed that the clutch cable they use has a lower adjusting threads. Do I need this? What is the point of it? I have a stock replacment cable for an 87 GT and it doesn't have this lower adjusting threads.

-Shaun

 

[Himark]

I noticed that the clutch cable they use has a lower adjusting threads. Do I need this? What is the point of it? I have a stock replacment cable for an 87 GT and it doesn't have this lower adjusting threads.

-Shaun

I tried a fox body style cable with large tube headers and the clearance is to tight to the tower(burned cable in 5 min.) . ORDER a SN-95 style cable. Same cable about a foot longer and it allows you to go clear in front of tower and under motor by pan clear away from headers.

 

[6Stang7]

On Mustang Steve's sigh he says that his quadrant has a pull radius of 2 3/4. Were is this from? I made two drawings. One from the center of the pivit point and the other from the top were it gets welded to.

-Shaun

 

[6Stang7]

I tried a fox body style cable with large tube headers and the clearance is to tight to the tower(burned cable in 5 min.) . ORDER a SN-95 style cable. Same cable about a foot longer and it allows you to go clear in front of tower and under motor by pan clear away from headers.

What year did you get? The 94-95 is not as long as the 96-98.

-Shaun

 

[6Stang7]

bump.

 

[6Stang7]

I forgot my folder of stuff in my tool box at work. Ill be sure to get it tommorow for you though and let you see the diagrahms. It will make sence once you see it in a drawing. You can do just the cable part for about 30 bucks in parts. I was able to locate all the stuff at my local bolt specialty shop. Yeah i used to in Concord/clayton area but worked a for cresco equipment rentals there on airway blvd. Ill be sure to get you the drawings asap tommorow.

Did you even find your drawings??? Not to be pushy or anything, but I would really like to see your set up.

-Shaun

 

[INDSKYS]

I Used A Piece Of That Spiral Aluminum Wire Conduit To Insulate The Cable. Its Flexible, And I Polished It To A Chrome Like Finish And Clearcoated It. I Used The 1-1/4 Inch Size. And Ran It From The Front Of The Block Where Cable Started All The Way Back To The Scattershield. I Also Put Heat Resistant Fabric Over The Cable Inside That . Not Only Is It Shielded But It Maintains An Air Gap Around The Cable To Vent Out The Heat That Builds Inside Tube.i Have Pics Of It Ill Post When Developed .---just Another Cable Savin Idea !