[FC] Clutch linkage - early vs. late

[James Davis]

The front clamp takes the entire force of the outer cable.  It must 
be tight and not move in the slightest; of course that is true for 
the entire length of the cable .  Full pull on the cable is 5.8 of an 
inch and you need it all to get the clutch to work properly.  If the 
clamp is in good shape, you can reform it with a drift and vice,; 
otherwise you need to find an acceptable replacement or fabricated a 
replacement.
Jim Davis


At 08:43 PM 11/12/2005, you wrote:
>Hi all,
>
>"A continuing stoooorrryyy of a quack who's gone to the dogs" (I love the
>Muppet Show!)
>
>Anyway, I think the clutch linkage on my '64 Rampside is now sorted out.
>Read on for the gory details...
>
>I recently installed the used clutch rod that Clark's sent me. When the
>linkage is hooked up, this rod passes through the dust shield in the middle
>whereas the previous one was all the way to one side. In comparing the rods,
>it looks like they started out life as the same part but the one I had been
>using was bent. Maybe when the transaxle had been lowered for removal in the
>past?
>
>I also replaced the front and rear return springs. Both were wrong. The
>front was also missing the spring extension and I installed one of those
>too. You may recall that I also tracked down a "Z"-shaped bracket that
>receives the front of the rear return spring. And I tracked down and
>installed the correct dust cap. (Yay to Jeff Williams at California Corvair
>Parts for having these items!)
>
>With all of the correct parts, the shifting was still problematic. I believe
>I have isolated the problem as the location of the first (front-most) clamp
>that holds the clutch cable in place. This is the one with the tang that
>fits into a second hole (to keep it from rotating). Basically, 1/4" or even
>1/8" difference in its location with respect to the cable greatly affects
>where the clutch pedal, in its travel, disengages the clutch, to the point
>that one can be in a situation where the clutch is not disengaging enough to
>shift smoothly or even at all!
>
>Here's a picture of the clamp I am talking about:
>
>http://www.corvairkid.com/articles/images/UPC_7_Section_C_Page_3.jpg
>
>It's part #4 in the picture. I learned that I had to (a) position the clamp
>as far forward on the clutch cable as possible--basically right next to the
>front boot; (b) pull down on the cable behind the clamp with my left hand
>when tightening the bolt to keep tension on it--and to keep the clamp
>vertical; and (c) use *much* more torque on the bolt than the 75 inch pounds
>max that the assembly manual specifies.
>
>Failing to do any of these three resulted in either a clutch that did not
>disengage properly immediately or one that started having problems after
>just a few down-and-up cycles of the pedal. I think I have it fixed now but
>I need to drive some more miles to be sure.
>
>Has anyone on the list had similar experiences? Part of the trouble might be
>that the NOS replacement clutch cables don't have this clamp. You must
>transfer it from another cable, which means you have to bend it to get it
>off the old cable and onto the new one, which distorts it somewhat. (Both
>ends of the cable have fittings on them that are too large for the clamp to
>slide over.) Thanks to Mike Weirmier for giving me the clamp! I was, of
>course, missing that too!
>
>--Kent