I'll try to not get too wordy here, but I want to give you all as much information as possible.
Car is a new-to-me '89 5.0 with mods (HCI, among others. Many details are unknown to me). I've been working on getting it back on the road and have put probably less than 100 miles on it so far. I've noticed that at times, 2nd gear can be hard to find when downshifting, but ONLY when downshifting. The transmission never grinds, never pops out of gear, etc. Shifting UP through the gears is fine. Reverse is fine. I have a Hurst shifter and new bushing that I will be installing soon.
It was mentioned that maybe the clutch is possibly out of adjustment, so I started asking questions and doing some research. The car has a firewall adjuster and quadrant. I am assuming that it has an adjustable cable, but I have not checked the cable at the clutch end. I can't access that at home.
I watched the LMR video on adjustable cables and noticed that the firewall adjuster was screwed nearly all the way in. Mine is out about 7/8". A friend mentioned that the cable may be stretched and at the end of its adjustment (which is what sent me down this rabbit hole).
Then, someone on Facebook shared this:
So, I looked around and, sure enough, the cable is attached to the farthest hook.
That leads me to my question(s). What would you do?
- Fix the quadrant cable placement, screw the firewall adapter all the way in, and start over with the adjustment down at the clutch arm end.
- Leave the quadrant alone, but start over with a basic clutch adjustment.
Another option: Don't do anything until the new shifter and bushing are installed!
Car is a new-to-me '89 5.0 with mods (HCI, among others. Many details are unknown to me). I've been working on getting it back on the road and have put probably less than 100 miles on it so far. I've noticed that at times, 2nd gear can be hard to find when downshifting, but ONLY when downshifting. The transmission never grinds, never pops out of gear, etc. Shifting UP through the gears is fine. Reverse is fine. I have a Hurst shifter and new bushing that I will be installing soon.
It was mentioned that maybe the clutch is possibly out of adjustment, so I started asking questions and doing some research. The car has a firewall adjuster and quadrant. I am assuming that it has an adjustable cable, but I have not checked the cable at the clutch end. I can't access that at home.
I watched the LMR video on adjustable cables and noticed that the firewall adjuster was screwed nearly all the way in. Mine is out about 7/8". A friend mentioned that the cable may be stretched and at the end of its adjustment (which is what sent me down this rabbit hole).
Then, someone on Facebook shared this:
So, I looked around and, sure enough, the cable is attached to the farthest hook.
That leads me to my question(s). What would you do?
- Fix the quadrant cable placement, screw the firewall adapter all the way in, and start over with the adjustment down at the clutch arm end.
- Leave the quadrant alone, but start over with a basic clutch adjustment.
Another option: Don't do anything until the new shifter and bushing are installed!