I bought an aluminum clutch quadrant & adjustable clutch cable... anybody know of a site that describes how to adjust it? I went underneath the car w/ a buddy of mine & found out where the cable is & where the nuts are to adjust it... but now I think my clutch is slipping a bit.. as in not fully engaging. I'm going to look at it tomorrow so any advice tonight would be awesome... I realize it's pretty late though ;). I appreciate it. Thanks all.
-Mike
-- A happy kid behind the wheel of a 98 Mustang GT Cold air intake FRPP 3.73 gears Steeda Tri-Ax Shifter Flowmaster 40 Series mufflers (self-installed woohoo) Hi-speed fan switch
You should have two points of adjustment, one at the firewall, and one at the clutch arm. Start by placing the firewall adjuster at about it's mid point. The crawl underneath and and adjust the the cable so the arm has about 1/16-1/8" of free play. That should be just about perfect. As you drive and use the clutch, it will need just a little bit of fine adjustment to get it perfect. Do that at the firewall, it's much easier.
I don't have a firewall adjuster... here is the clutch quadrant & cable I bought:
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Any idea how to adjust it on this one? I have a digital camera on the way... so I'll be able to take pictures sometime this week, but I'm going to work on it tomorrow.
Thanks.
-Mike
-- A happy kid behind the wheel of a 98 Mustang GT Cold air intake FRPP 3.73 gears Steeda Tri-Ax Shifter Flowmaster 40 Series mufflers (self-installed woohoo) Hi-speed fan switch
As .boB said, back the nuts off of the clutch fork until there is a little bit of free play in the cable. If the nuts are pushing against the clutch fork, you are pushing the clutch in slightly, and this may be why you don't feel the clutch is engaging fully. Also keep in mind that if you have no free play at the top, and you used a wrench or other tool to tighten the lead nut some on the clutch fork, you are constantly putting pressure on your throwout bearing by applying force to the clutch pressure plate. This causes premature wear of parts.
Loosen the lock nut and then back both nuts off until they're no longer touching the clutch fork. Pull the cable out (toward the back of the car) as far as you can, hold it there, and turn the lead nut in until it's *just* about touching the clutch fork.. small air gap and still loose enough to move around, but not pop out of the fork. You should be doing this by hand. After you're happy with where the lead nut is, tighten the lock nut against the lead nut. After you let go of the cable, it may cause the lead nut to rest against the fork - this is ok. Go back into the car and check the pedal feel.
Because you put the aluminum quadrant on, there is no spring pulling the clutch pedal to the top - this is why you need to make sure your cable is pulled out (pulls the clutch pedal to the top). Otherwise, it is possible to have a lower clutch height. You may want to do this if you're more comfortable with this, but keep in mind that the total travel won't be as far and you'll have to make sure that the clutch disengages completely.
After this adjustment, you should feel just a slight bit of play in the pedal, then it should feel relatively normal again (close to stock). Take it for a test drive and adjust accordingly... but this should get you closer.
In short - the free play at the top ensures complete engagement, and pulling the cable out completely ensures complete disengagement (longest possible pedal travel). This doesn't mean you can't have both with a different adjustment, but this method's the fail-safe. If you're still having engagement problems after this, it may just be time for a clutch.
Ok, when I adjusted it last... I didn't think the cable was supposed to be loose. I got under there & it was a little loose & I was like crap! I thought it was supposed to be snug... so I made it snug.... I guess that's what I get for adjusting it w/out knowing 100% what I'm doing. I'll allow for a little free play & also check for the other things you said. Thx, JS.
-Mike
-- A happy kid behind the wheel of a 98 Mustang GT Cold air intake FRPP 3.73 gears Steeda Tri-Ax Shifter Flowmaster 40 Series mufflers (self-installed woohoo) Hi-speed fan switch
I adjusted it... engages much closer to the floor.. and barely "jumps RPMs" when I hammer it. Grabs nicely though... feels a lot more solid.. and the car "feels" faster. Thanks .boB & JS.
-Mike
-- A happy kid behind the wheel of a 98 Mustang GT Cold air intake FRPP 3.73 gears Steeda Tri-Ax Shifter Flowmaster 40 Series mufflers (self-installed woohoo) Hi-speed fan switch
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