<VV> Broken clutch cables

[DTerry8123 at aol.com]

Not to beat the clutch cable thread to death, but I tried a fix that was  
written up in the tech topics section of the March 1976 issue of the  Corsa 
Communique. The clutch cable that is in my Corsa was installed  in the fall of 1968 
when I was stationed in San Diego. The cable broke  while I was driving on 
the Navy base one morning. That afternoon I drove the car  to a Chevy dealer 
(clutchless) to buy a new cable. Then back to the base to  the hobby shop to 
replace it. In the March 1976 Communique I saw a  tech tip that suggests that if 
you make a metal splint at the ball end of the  cable using a piece of tin can 
1/2in. wide that is about 1 3/4in. long.  Then you form it around the cable 
against the ball. Then pry it open and smear  epoxy glue inside and reinstall it 
on the cable. It adds leverage at the ball  end so the cable doesn't flex 
there. I am still running the cable I installed in  1969. It now has over 150,000 
miles on it and is doing well.
 
Dan Terry
1965 Corsa 140 coupe
Corvair Atlanta
 
In a message dated 05/04/2006 6:52:41 AM Eastern Daylight Time,  
mark at noakes.com writes:

think it  broke right at the ball...which means that it would probably have 
lasted  longer if it had had some grease on it to begin with...maintenance  
error.  I very vaguely remember that I did try something like that as an  
extension to the cable...it didn't last very long.

Mark  Noakes