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I experienced another instance of The Strange and Wonderful World of Speedsterdom when driving my car this morning, so I was hoping that you brilliant folks could help a brutha out with some advice. The clutch pedal seems to be a little stiffer sometimes, and I've noticed that the pedal is often not returning all of the way when released. It seems as if the cable is binding somewhere. The odd bit is that the car is shifting fine and the clutch is not slipping noticeably.

Any ideas? It's to darn nice outside to let the car sit in the garage.

Formerly 2006 Beck Speedster (Carlisle build car), 1964 Beck Super Coupe

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I experienced another instance of The Strange and Wonderful World of Speedsterdom when driving my car this morning, so I was hoping that you brilliant folks could help a brutha out with some advice. The clutch pedal seems to be a little stiffer sometimes, and I've noticed that the pedal is often not returning all of the way when released. It seems as if the cable is binding somewhere. The odd bit is that the car is shifting fine and the clutch is not slipping noticeably.

Any ideas? It's to darn nice outside to let the car sit in the garage.
Lane, Kelly and I both had cables modified by a guy at a WestMarine in Annapolis. He was in the sailboat cable business. Not a lick of trouble since then -- knock on wood.
The alternatives are endless, like using 10-speed bicycle brake cables and getting a cycle shop to crimp the ends. Either route will result in a better and more reliable cable than one cut down from stock.
I'm pretty sure Carey has his made to his specifications, but it's probably the same cable you got with the car, right? Why not replace it and not have to worry about it?
The cable itself isn't hard to remove from the tunnel, as you already know from removing the pedal assembly last time, and taking it out for inspection now is much better than having it fail on the road.
Just in case you maybe paid a guy last go-'round, you can TOTALLY do this yourself.
You're going to need to jack up your car enough to get under it; you want to be able to get under the left rear axle.
Take off that fancy Lempert wheel to give yourself some room to work, if you can, and maybe you could remove your driver's seat, if it's in the way.
You can grease the next one as you install it. Order a new one from Carey for now, and install it while removing the old one. Put some wheel-bearing grease on a shop rag, remove the old cable from the clutch fork, pass it through the nylon guide bushing and attach a good, strong piece of string to it.
Take out the pin that holds the accelerator pedal, remove the cable from it, then remove the bolts that hold the brake and clutch to the tunnel and disconnect the brake pedal from the master cylinder without monkeying with the clevis pin or the plunger.
Pull the clutch pedal forward so your cable doesn't come unhooked. And gently pull it out of the tunnel. Tie it off to something, so it doesn't slip back inside.
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Cover the carpet on the driver's side, and you'll probably want to cover the tunnel, too.
Get your 20-foot piece of string, and tie it to the end that's still sticking out the back of the tunnel. Once you're sure it's on there good, pull the cable out through the pedal-hole. And untie or cut the string. Re-tie it to the new cable, and then go get Pam.
Take your new cable, leaving it coiled, and put it on the driver's side floorboard. Get your greased shop rag out, and begin to grease it after the first six or so inches.
Put the first two fingers of whichever hand you need to -- probably your left, if you're on the driver's side -- into the hole and feel around for the cable tube. The string will guide you to the hole.
Ask Pam to gently pull on the other end of the string until your new cable is a few inches from being ready to hook onto the pedal. Let the cable play through the greased rag as it travels into the hole, then make sure to grease the loop, too.
Put the rag in a plastic bag when you're done.
This is the tricky part, if there is one. Once the pedal has captured the cable, you have to keep tension, or it'll come off the hook. Pam is going to have to pull enough to keep the pedal where it is long enough for you to put in the couple bolts that hold the pedals to the tunnel.
Put the brake pedal clevis back in just the way it was. Connect the stoppre for the gas pedal again, and put the pin through the pedal base.
Pam's done at this point. I would see about making sure you physically take the cable from her, don't just tell her to put it down, and then keep loose tension at the tunnel while you feed the threaded end through the guide and clutch fork.
If memory serves, Carey uses the wingnut-type cable ends. Get the wingnut on the threads until you have between a half- to three-quarters of an inch of play in the cable.
Put your interior back together, thank Mrs. Anderson, and you're all set.
Easy as pie.



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Interim update: There is a tube that runs the full length of the cable travel, meaning that should be a relatively easy, one-man job. Unfortunately I can't get the threaded end of the cable to go into the tube as the fit appears to be too tight. Hmmm... Gotta be a trick to this.

Oh yeah, no sign of fraying, but the stirrup that hooks onto the pedal is almost worn through. It was only a matter of time until complete failure. Yup, think I'm gonna go hydraulic after Carlisle.
Yet another update: The trick was to remove the bowden tube - not an easy job in itself. The old cable still fought a bit, but the new one slid in like (insert sexual inference here) due to the use of liberal quantities of grease that were lacking on the original. I would have the car all back together by now except that I discovered the base of the pedal cluster had cracked on one side of the uprights holding the accelerator pedal on. Grrrr!!!! I'll try some smackumpucky first.
The JB Weld is for the hinge for the gas pedal, little stress and probably not weldable anyway. I may replace with a roller pedal and do away with the tall thingy anyway.

Marty: Don't know. I plan to ask Carey about it as he's told me that he's done several conversions and never had any problems. I won't do it for a while, anyway, as my budget is a little tight this year.
I've retrofitted several hydraulic clutch systems into Spyders and Speedsters. It's time consuming but well worth the effort.

If you go hydraulic, don't let them talk you into a 3/4" master cylinder. They're too difficult to push. Go with a 5/8" and you can push the pedal with your hand regardless of which pressure plate you're running. Use a CNC slave cylinder, (they're the best for a VW application)
Yes.

Once you have your master cylinder, you can take some measurements and cut a hole in the forward bulkhead and mount the M/C by use of a 90 degree ball & socket joint or a rod end (heim joint) with a bolt through the hole, you can affix the mastercylinder's push rod to your clutch pedal

see: http://www.kartek.com/Product/Brakes/CNCCylinders.html

Lane, depends on how much money you want to spend. Personally, I installed a "Tilton" pedal assembly in my Spyder. I truly loved the system but, it was expensive. The up side is that it was a dual brake system and you adjust the bias to relieve some pressure on the rear brakes (you don't want them locking up first) Here's their web site with a photo of the pedals I used. You have to buy the pedals and master cylinders separatly.

Vintage Spyders installs a dunebuggy style brake/clutch/accelerator pedal assembly in their cars. There are several choices available including Jamar, Neal, CNC

here's a PDF catalog of "Tilton" pedal assemblies

http://tiltonracing.com/pdfs/TBandC_2009-web.pdf
Looks very nice. Whether I go that route depends on what "expensive" actually means. The feel and action of the controls is extremely important in how the car feels to drive, so I'm willing to spend some money and effort to do get it right - to a point, of course.

Anyway, I'm not going to take on a project like that until after Carlisle. It'd be just my luck to have a major failure on the way out of town, again :-O.
Ok, it's done. I haven't done a test drive yet, but the pedal feels fine.

You know, the cost of that Tilton pedal cluster doesn't look so bad at the moment. I will state for the record that I NEVER WANT TO DO THAT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!! How many more Deutchmarks would it have cost to make the pedal/cable connection something that wouldn't slip off? How many would it have taken to make the throttle cable more positively locked into the accelerator? Good Lord that's lousy engineering!
You might want to check out the German Auto/Saco 32-1001 hydraulic clutch kit($250)at http://www.sacoperformance.com/products.php?cat=45 . You don't have to cut a hole in the 1/2" steel arch and the m/c reservoir mounts in the luggage compartment. The m/c mounts inside the tunnel with the hose to the slave cylinder going out the aft end of the tunnel like the cable. You will have to cut a hole in the tunnel to mount the m/c. This was not a quick install (for me), but I did not want to chop a hole in that steel arch on the CMC frame.
Cory - I don't hate the cable idea itself, just the fact that there is nothing holding it on but tension. I couldn't get the rubber band thing to work this time, for whatever reason, so I did have to pull in a neighbor to help. I've also had the throttle cable come out of the accelerator on the expressway, hence my remark about that little bit of engineering mastery. It wouldn't have taken much to design a more trustworthy attachment for either system. Grrr!!!

John - Looks like a nice system, but on the Beck it might just be easier to go forward through the bulkhead than into the tunnel. That little project is (I hope) down the road a bit.
CNC makes a retro fit hydro clutch kit that has an angle bracket that welds to the stock pedals and the master mounts through the front "firewall". Also includes the clutch save cylinder too. Use that, a hydro line kit, and a slave saver bracket and you're good to go. Install time for my guys is about 4 hours, including removal, welding and painting of pedal assembly...

I don;t believe CNC sells anything but wholesale, but places like McKenzie's and CB will carry everything. The kit is available in 5/8" and 3/4" bore master. The 3/4" bore will build your leg muscle... :)
Also, how high you mount the angle bracket will determine the amount of leverage you have and make the pedal easier/harder to push... I'd guesstimate $300 in parts if memory serves.
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