Clutch cable stretch update. Clutch cable length.

I also put Konis on my IM.  Expensive, but well worth the money.  I set mine for 1/4 hard  in the front and 3/4 hard in the rear. 

I got to do a half dozen laps at our local track, at a 7/10 pace and I was pleasantly surprised and how well the car handled.  The car felt very neutral through the corners.

My IM also had aftermarket front sway bar and an aftermarket rear sway and kafer bar in the rear.

Before you install the new cable (which looks fine), I would also spring for a new big wing-nut adjuster.  From the look of the ground-off stud threads, I think your current adjuster is toast.

Gordon Nichols posted:

Before you install the new cable (which looks fine), I would also spring for a new big wing-nut adjuster.  From the look of the ground-off stud threads, I think your current adjuster is toast.

I put a new wing nut and added a bolt behind it for safety.

Thanks

Bill

Ron O posted:

I also put Konis on my IM.  Expensive, but well worth the money.  I set mine for 1/4 hard  in the front and 3/4 hard in the rear. 

I got to do a half dozen laps at our local track, at a 7/10 pace and I was pleasantly surprised and how well the car handled.  The car felt very neutral through the corners.

My IM also had aftermarket front sway bar and an aftermarket rear sway and kafer bar in the rear.

I still have a stock front sway bar.  On the next round I will stiffen them up a little and add a thinker sway bar. I think the shocks turned about 4 to five turns so quarter is roughly 1 full rotation from soft clock wise is +/- 1/4 and 2 would be 1/2 etc?

Thanks

Bill

Watchspeak posted:

Ron O posted:

I also put Konis on my IM.  Expensive, but well worth the money.  I set mine for 1/4 hard  in the front and 3/4 hard in the rear. 

I got to do a half dozen laps at our local track, at a 7/10 pace and I was pleasantly surprised and how well the car handled.  The car felt very neutral through the corners.

My IM also had aftermarket front sway bar and an aftermarket rear sway and kafer bar in the rear.

I still have a stock front sway bar.  On the next round I will stiffen them up a little and add a thinker sway bar. I think the shocks turned about 4 to five turns so quarter is roughly 1 full rotation from soft clock wise is +/- 1/4 and 2 would be 1/2 etc?

Thanks

Bill

Yes-I did one full turn on the front and 3 full turns on the rears.

When I rebuilt my cable, by measuring precisely what it was that I needed, then taking that to the sail maker to have the OEM Bug cable made to length, of course he did not have a metric threaded rod, but did have the nearest English equivalent that would engage the wing nut, sort of. You could tell it was an imperfect fit, the nut being a tad too big, but the pitch was close enough that the the wing nut did in fact thread on to the rod.  To assure stability, I followed the wing nut on the shaft with the proper English thread nylock.  Once adjusted to right length, I snugged up on the back-up nut, and all is good. Next time around, will use new wing nut, proper metric rod, AND the jamb nut too.  Ya do what ya gotta do . . .

Haven't bought this, but tempted.  May happen soon, as I am currently fighting the Battle of the Bowden Tube.

https://www.airkewld.com/Six-S...tment-Nut-p/2820.htm

Tom have you seen this used?  I would love to see some info and picts.  Ray

Nice looking nut but there'd be no space for it in my car. There's barely enough space for the wing nut.

Tom, have you checked to see if the front end of your Bowden tube is "sinking" into the body work when clutch pressure is applied ?  If it is, I've got a simple fix. 

Ray -- I have not seen it used.  Looks like it would make life easier, but I have no idea whether it would fit.

David -- Not sure what "sinking" into the body work means.  What's the fix?

I have a modified 911 cable on my car (from IM) and what I did was put a second nut, a nylon lock nut, and I wedge it against the other to make sure the adjustment does not move.  I have been on I5 in Seattle with the nut suddenly becoming loose and finding myself with no clutch.  No fun, but thanks to a county mounty, I got it going and was able to maneuver getting it to a safe space until I could get it fully adjusted and 2nd lock nut in. 

I wasn't sure how that large nut would work but it seems like a good idea for ease of adjustment.  As it stands my set up allows me to use a 10mm ratcheting box wrench and it is the cats meow. but awfully nice to have someone press the pedal to the floor to provide tension.  Ray

I bought one of the airkewld things but haven't installed it yet. My modified clutch cable has inch threads on the end and I have to modify the threads on the airkewld thing.

Tom Murtaugh posted:

Haven't bought this, but tempted.  May happen soon, as I am currently fighting the Battle of the Bowden Tube.

https://www.airkewld.com/Six-S...tment-Nut-p/2820.htm

I bought one of these but in reality there is no way I can get up under my car without a jack.  I may be better off carrying a small trolley jack.

wing nut tool

http://www.jbugs.com/product/5810.html

Bill

Tom Murtaugh posted:

Ray -- I have not seen it used.  Looks like it would make life easier, but I have no idea whether it would fit.

David -- Not sure what "sinking" into the body work means.  What's the fix?

Hi, Tom. I don't know what shape your car is in so this idea might not even apply. The rear end of your Bowden tube rests against a receiver or bracket on your transmission just ahead of the clutch lever. The front end of the Bowden tube rests against some steel bodywork where the cable enters the body and heads forward towards the clutch pedal. Sometimes the body work there gets soft, corroded or otherwise weakened and cannot hold the front end of the Bowden tube from pushing forward when the clutch pedal is depressed. I designed a small "restraint device" which fixes that problem easily. 

I can't find my picture to attach here, but if you Google Image Search   Stroud Bowden tube restraint, it should come right up in the upper left photo. It's simply a short steel tube sized to receive the front end of the Bowden tube with a flat bar welded across it which prevents forward movement into the car body work.

Here is the post David did here of what he built

https://www.speedsterowners.com...sion-mounts-1?page=4

Watchspeak posted:

 

...but in reality there is no way I can get up under my car without a jack.  I may be better off carrying a small trolley jack.

wing nut tool... 

For adjusting the clutch and half a zillion other Speedster jobs, I've found this one of the handiest tools on earth. Great for turning three-handed jobs into two-handed, and two-handed into one.

This is the small five-inch one which packs easier into your 'on the road' kit and which is better suited to the nooks and crannies we often have to work in.

For the clutch adjustment, clamp this onto the cable's outer housing near the wing nut. When you go to turn the wing nut, this will jam against one thing or another, allowing you to make the adjustment with just one hand.

Awh Mr Irwin, forgot they made them that small.... note to self, add one to tool kit  

If you really want to make it easy, get a 13/64" open end wrench and use that to hold the cable still while you turn the Big Wingnut.  Easy peasy.

While a 13/64" open end wrench would be perfect to hold the stub of a clutch cable while tightening the adjuster, trust me, a 13/64" open end wrench would get totally lost in my roll-up tool pouch.  While it would be a good fit when in the shop, I can just see it hiding in the pouch and slowly becoming a tiny little piece of rust.  Either that or it would fall out of the pouch somewhere on the road when I'm using something else in the pouch to fix something and then some woodland critter would take it to use in their high-tech critter nest.  

BUT!  a 3" or 4" pair of real vise grips stuffed in there would be pretty hard to miss......And could be used for a whole bunch more stuff, too, like holding something in place in an emergency when the fastener has fallen off, right?.  Or maybe clipping your GPS mount to the windshield center strut.  Not that I ever needed to do that or anything......   

Gordon, I was thinking about future utility, too.

Five thousand years from now, when archaeologists dig down and discover our fiberglass shells sitting on top of puzzling piles of red rust, the only things in our tool kits that will still work on whatever fittings they're using then will be our trusty old Vise Grips.

Gordon: did you get one of those tool bags that Drake had done up for Carlisle a while back.  This little bag is amazing in how much you can put in there.  Very handy.  Wrenches, nuts, bolts, vice grips, idle jet tools, WD-40, snail, spark plug wrench (Porsche OEM, ca. 1961), compression tester -- you name it.

Yup - I actually got two - one for each house!

I still use a roll-up tool pouch and stuff the roll-up into Cory's bag.  It just makes it all a little neater and easier to find tools, as the pouch is arranged from small to tall.  Last time it got a lot of use was when Cory and I replaced a clutch cable (in about 30 minutes) for someone else at a gas station near Carlisle.  I donated my spare clutch cable.  It must have been about 75 bazillion degrees out that day, too........One of those rare, rain-free, splendiferous Carlisle days!

Ron O posted:

Watchspeak posted:

Ron O posted:

I also put Konis on my IM.  Expensive, but well worth the money.  I set mine for 1/4 hard  in the front and 3/4 hard in the rear. 

I got to do a half dozen laps at our local track, at a 7/10 pace and I was pleasantly surprised and how well the car handled.  The car felt very neutral through the corners.

My IM also had aftermarket front sway bar and an aftermarket rear sway and kafer bar in the rear.

I still have a stock front sway bar.  On the next round I will stiffen them up a little and add a thinker sway bar. I think the shocks turned about 4 to five turns so quarter is roughly 1 full rotation from soft clock wise is +/- 1/4 and 2 would be 1/2 etc?

Thanks

Bill

Yes-I did one full turn on the front and 3 full turns on the rears.

I just set up the koni shocks as you noted above 1 turn in the front which is effectively two turns as I turn the eye once then a second to get a full revolution.  The rears all the way clockwise.  You really have to pull down hard to get them in place.  My tires were I am ashamed to sat 30 front and 32 rear.  Reset them to 22 and 27.  The car feels really nice.  Going to give it a little afternoon run up the cost before traffic.

Thanks

Can you guys post a pict for us newerguys . Thanks

IaM-Ray posted:

Can you guys post a pict for us newerguys . Thanks

What do you want to see pictures of?

I wanted to see the tool bags you were talking about. 

Sure, Ray - I'll get out to the shop in a little while and get a picture for you.

Cory Drake had a bunch made up for the Carlisle folks as an alternative to Tee-Shirts one year.  It's tough to come up with something different each year that the majority of people like and he remembered something similar in while in the Navy which he uses on the Hoopty, so there you are.  They're pretty handy for stowing car stuff in the nooks and crannies we have to deal with, plus, they can assume almost any shape you need.  I have one behind the passenger seat and another in the Frunk.

Stay tuned - Pictures at eleven!

Thanks Speaking of T-Shirts any news from Rich and his design for Carlisle 2017 ? 

I keep my tools way up front, in that little space next to the battery on my VS.

It's a cramped space, hard to get into, so one bag that holds everything no work so good.

These three little canvas bags from Sears can organize the small stuff you use most often - screw drivers, small wrenches, pliers, allen keys, lucky rabbits foot, etc.

Twelve bucks the set - such a deal!

Here you go, Ray....Straight from Carlisle (and my Frunk):

And here's half of my Vise Grip collection (I have at least one more of each size - sometimes several):

Puts me to shame -- My collection runs to two: I have a normal, i.e., large VG, and a really tiny one.  Did not actually know there were soo many different VGs.

Yeah, there are a bunch.  I have one like the last silver one on the right, fitted with the crimping tool for convertible top snaps.  The middle of the group is the oldest - can you see the welding scorches on it?  I bought that one when I made my first Dune Buggy in 1967.  Many of the others often got bought for specific uses, long forgotten, but have come in very handy ever since, like several very wide jaw welding clamps that I didn't show.  Yeah you can never have too many, or too many variations, of vise grips.  And spend the extra money for real "Vise Grips".  They'll last for decades in home use while the foreigh knock-offs just fall apart (or latch up and you can't get them loose).  

Thanks that looks cool.  There must one size that your missing ... Your right the knock offs are junk I bought a few and they don't hold up and I also don't like the self adjusting ones that is another unfortunate purchase.   Any news on the 2017 T shirt?