Clutch Cable adjustment...

OK, after going to Kirks Saturday and picking up a cable.. I found out that it was actually the hook on my clutch shaft that broke. I replaced that and re installed the cable but I had to losen the cable first. After that I thought I had teightened the cable enough, but It seems to have way too much play.. It doesn't even engage the clutch. OK, the pedal just goes in and out too easy... My question is how tight is tight, do I keep tightening this cable till I feel it grab something on the pedal..

P.S. what method is the easy way to adjust this wing nut.. seems like a pain just to get to it here.. any ideas boys and gals...

HELP

You'll need to get under the car, grab hold of the throw out bearing arm protruding from the transaxle and pull it towards the front of the car. You'll feel the throw out bearing touch the pressure plate. Tighten the wing nut (the cable end goes through the hole in the throw out bearing arm) and allow about 1/8 to 1/4 in of freeplay between the throw out bearing the pressure plate.

If it's a new cable, it will stretch and you'll have to re-adjust soon.

Thanks Larry.. I'll let you know how it goes....

PS: this is WAY more easy to do if you remove the RR wheel. And also pray that your cable is right length and that you have enough thread on the back end to suck up the excess and find the good friction point. My setting would be such that when the pedal is just coming up off the floor by a little bit, the clutch begins to drag. This will be the point where you exercise the pressure plate the least needed to get a disengagement. Better not to over flex the springs in the clutch by disengaging more than you actually need to.

That would be the Left Rear wheel.

Kelly likes to approach his clutch adjustments from a slightly different direction. Something to do with being a "Renaissance Man".

...plus, he's got longer arms than Speedster D!

Yeah, I guess I got all dyslexic again. How about this: the driver's side, the one in the back?

If you're thinking about clutch adjustment you are probably looking toward the back of the car.

Then it would be the right rear wheel.

why not pull both wheels, adjust it from both sides,geeez.

If adjusting it back to where it originally was doesn't work - then maybe something else is wrong. I've seen the throwout bearing forks actually break - no amount of cable adjusting will get you pedal then. Spring on the arm to forks break frequently too. Also the clutch cable tube in the center tunnel is known to break loose of the clamps holding it.

Thanks for all the great input here... This is really the first time I had to work on the car ove the past 3 to 4 years of ownership... I was able to adjust it after I lifted her rear and slid underneath her.. sounds like a porno line! LOL ... I did not have to remove the rear tire or tires.. that was too funny too... so again she's back on the road and I am a happy camper again... P.S. my 94 Vintage DOES have an access panel cut into the right front side of the housing near the foot pedals.. Thanks Kirk for that heads-up too!

Hi folks; I've been out of the site for a while but while in the subject I wanted to ask a question. After 5 years of ownership and close to 7,000 miles driven the clutch pedal in my car started to feel a little loose in the sense that the clutch would engage when the pedal was getting closer to the floor and it was getting hard to get the shifter to engage any gear. I got underneath and adjusted the hell out of the wingnut. Sure enough, the pedal was now actuating the clutch up high so I started the car and engaged reverse to get it out of the garage. The car rolled for a second or two but then I heard a loud thunk so I put the car in neutral and tried to get it in gear but again found it very hard to do (as before the adjustment). I haven

Look at the clutch cross shaft under the car where the cable connects. Is it tight and slightly forward of vertical when in neutral? Is it loose? If the shaft, or actuating arm, broke, that might explain your sound.

Sometimes the clutch cable is breaking strands inside the cable housing where you can't see it (mine did). If you re-adjust the clutch, the cable just has more strain on it and it will break quite soon (mine did). This failure is usually silent.

With the cable disconnected, you should be able to rotate the clutch cross shaft about 30 degrees from the rear stop forward, with just your hand, before encountering resistance.

Just wondering????
How long should Kirk's cables last? My last one went 16000 miles. My 1st one only made it 6K.

Ernie:

How did they fail? That might point you in some direction.

I typically see a lot more miles than 16K.

Hey Gordon!
I get the frayed cable syndrome in the rear. Been greasin' the heck out of the ball & cup at the adjuster end.
Maybe, my right foot is the trouble-maker.
Ernie

Pay some close attention to your bowden tube adjustment. My cable broke just inside the bowden tube. That's when I realized that SOMETHING must be rubbing it there. The edge of the bowden tube was definitely rubbing the cable. I carefully re-aligned the bowden tube so the cable entered and exited the tube very near the tube center. Then I re-greased the new cable and presto - the clutch required 50% less efort to operate and no problems in many thousand miles since.

Ernie:

I usually use the same Bowden-tube aiming technique that David just mentioned (and is shown in the official VW shop manuals), PLUS I polish the hemisphere on the adjusting wingnut as well as the semi-cup on the throw-out actuator lever (that which the wingnut fits into).

Why all that finesse? Well, all of the German wingnuts were polished so they would act like a ball joint, while NONE of the cheap, Asian copies are. Not to mention that you don't even know if the Asian wingnuts are even the right size (most often, they are a skosh too big). That makes them bind easily in the cup, which fatigues the cable right at the end of the threaded stud.

A similar failure mechanism happens on the front end of the clutch cable as the little hook on the inside end of the clutch pedal shaft wears over time (or has been rebuilt with weld and re-shaped poorly) and binds against the loop on the end of the clutch cable - this happens more often with a new, un-worn-in cable against a worn pedal hook. If you feel it binding and then letting go (usually with a little "snap") then you have to either replace the clutch pedal shaft or gently massage and polish the hook (and sometimes the loop) so that the binding goes away.

It constantly amazes me how many things on a lowly Volkswagen were precision fitting parts.

gn

Ricardo, you are describing the symptoms I experienced when my cross arm failed. A weld broke a little bit at a time, allowing some flex, so that I had occasional issues with clutch disengagement before the thing finally gave way and I had no clutch at all. Lucky for me it broke in my driveway. If that's your problem, the engine needs to come out for access to R&R the cross arm.

Wow...those would be bad news...when I get home for the Christmas break I'll check on the cross arm free play as advised before prior to doing anything drastic. I'd hate to pull the motor; not in the mood. These days I mostly like to drive that thing; I guess as a result of being home just a week per month.....

Ricardo, you really need to find a way to get your Speedster over to New Orleans with you.

How much longer do you expect to be there?

C'mon, Ricardo!

You and JJ could pull that puppy in 45 minutes, throw a new shaft in it and have it back in, all under 3 hours! That's not even a full afternoon!! That's......What? A couple of Medallas each, right??

There isn't a car engine on the planet easier to pull and replace than a VW!!

You need me to come down there and show you guys how to do this??

I doubt it!!!!

You guys are right on...I've thought about bringing it here but my assignment here is indefinite so I can be pulled out of here at any time. Still; I've been here for 2-1/2 years....

It's just that I'm more into driving it these days; I guess a result of not being there that much.

Actually Jjr had to pull his motor recently because it had become intermittent. After trying everything (including switching carbs for known good pair) they had to pull the engine and they found that the source of the problem was that one of the heads was not sealing properly against the barrels. To make a long story short; Jjr's budget at the time didn't allow for much so our buddy machinist/mechanic re-built the motor on a budget and did the heads. They installed a performance cam & lifters, ss valves, hi-rev springs and prepped the block for future full flow installation. They found that Mofoco did a very deficient job in building that motor (it was bought from them in the early '90's and never run until 2004); even the threads in the block were stripped on some of the head studs. Lesson learned: do your homework before choosing any outfit to buy your engine.

All in all I hope it's not major so that I can just do some quick tweaking and then take it on the road.....

Update: got down here on Saturday. Finally checked the car this morning and our suspicions are true. The cable was fraying and it finally broke. I have a new replacement from Kirk that I bought some time ago and we'll install it tomorrow. Hope that's it.....

Merry Christmas there in the land of endless Summer!

Take a ride along the North Coast while you're home. It'll be theraputic, I'm sure!!

Feliz Navidad, mi Amigo!

gn

Thanks, Gord! Jjr and myself finally fixed it and it works flawlessly. I found out that the guide tube in the transaxle was broken and I suppose it broke the cable. I switched it too and we got it running on the 23rd. These cars are great!! I've had mine for over four years and love it like it was day one!! It's nice down here; hopefully will get to drive it a little more before I return to NOLA. Have a great one, my friend!!