Clutch peddle went a little soft so I thought it was a frayed cable as I've felt before.
Pulled out a perfectly fine cable, WTF! Put the new one in anyway...
Now I can feel what seems to be some drag as if something is touching the cable. Could I have lost a weld in the tunnel? What's the best to check for that?
If it's not one thing it's another...
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A couple of possibles: .... weld in the tunnel,( depress the clutch and listen for any tunnel noise) pedal hook cracked or pedal assembly is binding, throw out bearing arm and or bushing may be going south.
New cross shaft and bearing installed last year.
I do have full function, But I do hear noise in the tunnel when pressing the clutch.
I would think a broken weld on the clutch tube....you can look into the shifter hole with a small inspection mirror and through the front oval access plate near the beam.
A) Preferred method....pull one seat, remove the piece of carpet, drill a line of small holes above and below the broken weld so you can loop a good quality hose clamp in, over the tube and back out of the tunnel.
B) Or you can remove your interior, cut a 3 sided access panel at the problem and weld the tube back, bend back the tunnel access weld that and wonder where the day went.
$hit, it's so hard to fix a daily driver!
As Béla Károlyi said: " You can do it "
Time is the issue...unlike you retired folks, I have little of it
Does anyone have a cut away shot of the tunnel innards looking straight down?
crhemi (Bill) posted:Clutch peddle went a little soft so I thought it was a frayed cable as I've felt before.
Pulled out a perfectly fine cable, WTF! Put the new one in anyway...
Now I can feel what seems to be some drag as if something is touching the cable. Could I have lost a weld in the tunnel? What's the best to check for that?
If it's not one thing it's another...
Your first sentence says the clutch pedal went a little soft. Your third paragraph says you feel some drag now but you don't mention if your pedal is still soft. Is it ?
If it is, you could check for movement of the tube by getting under the car and looking where the front end of the Bowden tube enters the steel bodywork while an assistant pushes down on the clutch pedal. Likely best with the car jacked up safely and the left rear wheel off. If you see he front end of the Bowden tube move into the body steel..ask me for an easy fix.
Mine did that one time and I rigged an easy exterior fix with no tunnel work and you'll never worry about a tunnel weld breaking again with the clutch cable tube. It'll sit there happily with no stress.
I found a few pics of the tunnel but not from overhead. These should help to see what's going on in there.
The third pic shows a nasty rear view of the clutch cable tube entering the steelwork as I described above. This is where the front of the Bowden tube pushes against. Over time, that may cause welds of the tube to tunnel to break through forward pressure. I devised a small and inexpensive sleeve / stopper thingme to prevent any forward pressure on the tube and it works well. 50,000 + miles.
David Stroud posted:crhemi (Bill) posted:Clutch peddle went a little soft so I thought it was a frayed cable as I've felt before.
Pulled out a perfectly fine cable, WTF! Put the new one in anyway...
Now I can feel what seems to be some drag as if something is touching the cable. Could I have lost a weld in the tunnel? What's the best to check for that?
If it's not one thing it's another...
Your first sentence says the clutch pedal went a little soft. Your third paragraph says you feel some drag now but you don't mention if your pedal is still soft. Is it ?
If it is, you could check for movement of the tube by getting under the car and looking where the front end of the Bowden tube enters the steel bodywork while an assistant pushes down on the clutch pedal. Likely best with the car jacked up safely and the left rear wheel off. If you see he front end of the Bowden tube move into the body steel..ask me for an easy fix.
Mine did that one time and I rigged an easy exterior fix with no tunnel work and you'll never worry about a tunnel weld breaking again with the clutch cable tube. It'll sit there happily with no stress.
Dave, it's still not what it was. I haven't givien a final twist on the wing nut yet as I had to run back out.
Thanks for the pics!
Good...then when you get a chance to put the final twist on the wing nut, have a person push down on the pedal and you take a look at the front end of the Bowden tube as mentioned above. If the tube moves into the body work ( the clutch cable tube moves into the body work) , then a weld has likely broken. Consider making one of these little restraints. It slips over the front end of the Bowden tube and the rear end of the clutch cable tube. The flat bar fits against the opening in the steelwork hole and prevents anything from moving forward.
I found a picture of the one I made. It might be a good thing to add to any pan based Speedster while changing a clutch cable. Dead easy and it works.
This might help-
Thanks gang!
I had this problem a couple of years back and didn't know about that welded "L" bracket behind the e-brake area (was surprised to see it in the Samba thread, actually). On mine, the weld had broken at the front (just behind the gas pedal) which I got at by cutting the door in the side of the tunnel. Then there was another broken weld where the clutch tube exits the frame just behind the pretend rear seat. THAT one would have been fixed nicely with Dave's "T" adapter, but I had this welder and had to prove that I could use it, so...... BIG glob of weld back there and that's it. (I also had the engine and transaxle out at the time. If they were still in, I would certainly have used Dave's "T" coupling fix).
I'm not keen on cutting another hole in the tunnel (or pulling the seats out again) so I'll pretend that I never heard about the mid-tunnel clutch tube restraint and be happy with welding the front and rear of the tube.
What a good repair thread to keep in mind for these old frames and the weld strength.
Yes and and the pics with Dave's fix should go into the knowledge base.should
Love my hydraulic clutch!
Very different feel in my books 
Ok gang, I see no inward/forward movement of the clutch tube. Have you ever trid pushing the cutch pedal in while facing rearwards...it ain't easy.
Front weld appears fine.
Center bracket weld fix guys? Any way to do it without opening the tunnel?
The welds on the clutch release bearing fork can crack too. They go gradually until the weld completely breaks. Argh, requires removal of the engine to replace (did you say you replaced it already?) Maybe it's just the pedal return spring that's broken? Or the one on the release fork? If it is spring pressure plate, there could be spring broken there too (from racing from one coconut tree to the next). Is pedal just soft or are you having slipping or engagement problems too?
Greg, my heavy duty cross shaft is less then a year old, I hope it's not that.
Besides, I here movement in the tunnel...
Sounds like it's time for the Dr. Clock approach:
A) Preferred method....pull one seat, remove the piece of carpet, drill a line of small holes above and below the broken weld so you can loop a good quality hose clamp in, over the tube and back out of the tunnel.
I would pull the driver's seat and start drilling about a foot behind the ebrake handle.
Try it doesn't take all that long
Wing nuts been adjusted and I took it for a drive...
Not really any difference but I did notice when press the pedal an inch or so I could feel a slight vibration. New Clutch fork has less then a 1000 on it. Could it be?
I have been called a maladjusted wing nut myself. I believe that is tantamount to being an SOC Poopiehead.
If somebody is just looking at the site for the first time.........well it might be confusing for them.
Is there a Poopiehead grill badge in the works?
"Not really any difference but I did notice when press the pedal an inch or so I could feel a slight vibration. New Clutch fork has less then a 1000 on it. Could it be?"
Depends. How slight is the vibration? Only felt in your foot or via the gearshift lever, too?? Were you wearing "real" shoes, like Top Siders, or those Hawaiian abominations often-called "Flip Flops" or thin-soled sandals (the ones with little palm trees on them)? Does the vibration seem to be of a similar frequency/amplitude each time the pedal is engaged 1" or so? Does it change as the engine/transaxle heats up or stay the same?
And most importantly, if you continue to push the pedal past the 1" distance barrier, does the vibration continue or dissipate?
All of this could be really important, or just-a-bunch-a BS.
Mine has a veeeery slight vibration when I press the pedal just enough for the TO bearing flange to begin to engage the clutch plate - almost like a moderate-speed flutter of the TO bearing. If I continue to press further, the clutch begins to disengage, but the slight vibration goes away. I have come to ignore it but now have a mysterious "click" from the clutch pedal just before the pedal goes to rest and I believe it is a mal-shapen hook that the clutch cable loop goes over inside of the tunnel, causing the loop to "click" into a rest position. I'm gonna forgetaboutit.
When I last had everything apart and put in my rebuilt transaxle, I got all the parts to convert from the "old style" TO bearing/clutch plate to the "New Style". It has never been as smooth (vibration-free) with the new set-up as it was with the old one, but the overall engagement has overcome the 1st gear shudder it had for 15 years so that's something. Whatchagonnado?
If it's really slight, I would be tempted to live with it for a month or so to see if you get used to it. If, after that trial period, you can't stand it any more, then pull the engine and see what the heck is going on and fix it.
Oh, and did you ever pull the driver's seat and do the "Dr. Clock loose clutch tube Whammy" on it?
That's where you drill some holes in the driver's side of the tunnel about 1 foot rearward from the e-Brake lever, then catch the clutch tube with a tie wrap or heavy mechanic's wire and pull it up tight to the inside of the tunnel.
Inquiring minds want to know.
It might just be "normal" TO bearing engagement flutter and doesn't need the Whammy socked to it. Let me know about the beyond 1" pedal excursion results.
I drive BAREFOOT!
It dissipates but the peddle is softer then it was.
I pulled the shifter and see no movement of the tube when depressing the clutch. I'm thinking one of the spring clips came off the the TOB or the fork cracked.
The noise I heard in the tunnel was the slack (I think) in the cable. Tightened the wing nut all the way down and that noise went away.
Did you check this spring on the clutch throw out arm (this is bus but same on bug)
IaM-Ray posted:If you drive barefoot you need one of these. ...
I prefer the roller wheel as I can wrap my big toe around it and modulate/control my throttle better.
Spring looks and feels fine.
Pedal cross shaft looks fine.
Looks like I'll be pulling the motor again...Now to put the to-do list together for all that needs to be done with the motor out!
I Just Want To DRIVE!
Too bad I hear they mold it right to your foot for perfect fit
Update...Pulled the motor enough get my hand in and discovered some loose fingers on the pressure plate. Any idea what would cause this? Only has about 3k mile on the Kennedy 1700# plate.
Raphael, who assembled it, was having a bad day?
If the pressure plate bolts were wrenched down tight by going around it...then it can happen the correct torque bolt pattern is opposite from the last bolt tightened.
Alan Merklin posted:If the pressure plate bolts were wrenched down tight by going around it...then it can happen the correct torque bolt pattern is opposite from the last bolt tightened.
My friend was unbolting it around the clock and I stopped him...I put it back with the criss-cross pattern hoping nothing got warped. So I guess that was it.
...and Bill, if you have one of those, you need one of these: www.coolfoot.biz
Will, Yeah I think those who drive barefeet would appreciate one
