Clutch Cable Issues? Help

sgaustin83 · Sep 27, 2014

I was driving my 65 mustang today that has a 5speed, when i went to push the clutch in something snapped and the clutch went to the floor. I believe the clutch cable snapped, i traced the cable attached to the clutch and a 4-5" section of cable came out snapped. Im new to the old cars and still trying to learn, i believe it does have a stage two clutch to support the 302. The clutch was very hard to press and assumed it still needed to be broken in, was the clutch cable over tightened, or what could be the possible issue? Thanks

Gearoholic · Sep 27, 2014

I don't think anything went wrong except the cable was just tired. What I'm wondering about is the set up. Is this a Tremek or TKO out of a fox body car? Just make sure your cable is running in smoothe curves. To say; make sure your cable isn't routed where there's agressive bends or curves. All the cable routing should be subtle and gradual.

sgaustin83 · Sep 27, 2014

What would make it hard to press the clutch? The cable looks like its ran without any drastic bends or curves. It broke about 5 inches down the line from the clutch pedal. Thanks

Gearoholic · Sep 28, 2014

If everything is run properly and there's nothing dragging in your pedal, you may just have a REALLY stout clutch. Is it possible it may be more radical than a stage two?

sgaustin83 · Sep 28, 2014

In my I intial post I said I traced it to the clutch. I meant to the clutch pedal. When I pulled on the cable attached to the pedal 4-5" came out. I sure it's a stage two, the cable doesn't look like its wrapped around anything or have kinks. Is it possible it was just over tightened? Thanks for all the help

sgaustin83 · Sep 28, 2014

What do you mean by dragging in the pedal? Sorry for the dumb questions?

Gearoholic · Sep 28, 2014

No dumbness around here. I'm just surprised that your clutch pedal is so tough that it's uncomfortable to drive. Especially with a 302. The actual clutch isn't going to have anything to do with what you're feeling at the pedal. It's the pressure plate you're feeling. Unless you're engine is built to the hilt...say a stroker at 347+ CI...you honestly don't need anything more than a stock clutch and pressure plate. Do you know what pressure plate was installed?

sgaustin83 · Sep 28, 2014

It's a ron morris clutch cable kit and king cobra clutch And pressure plate. It should be only rated up to 400hp

sgaustin83 · Sep 28, 2014

It's just a 302 I believe headers, exhaust and a medium cam.

Gearoholic · Sep 28, 2014

Good stuff! The P plate is probably where your stiffness is coming from. I can't think of where else a problem might be. Someone else may chime in and think of something I haven't...

latamud · Sep 28, 2014

If the cable isn't heat shielded, then the nylon coating inside will melt. When the car cools down the melted nylon will cool and harden to the cable. At initial startup the clutch pedal will be very stiff because the hardened nylon on the cable. If you pulled on the cable under the dash and 4-5" came out under the dash then the cable is probably broken. If it has that much slach and it isn't broken then the housing casing probably mented too. The wire hoinsing i basically a spring with a plactic sheath over it. When the sheath melts, there isn't anything to keep the spring compressed. When you step on the pedal the housing coil bulges or colapses on it self like a Chinese finger trap. This will allow the pedal to work fine but the clutck fork doesn't move.

sgaustin83 · Sep 28, 2014

So do you think just replacing the cable will fix this, hard to guess I'm sure? Or is the pressure plate and clutch to strong and need to be swapped out? I ordered a new clutch cable and will buy heat shielding to go around the clutch cable any place you recommend buying be shielding? Thanks

Gearoholic · Sep 29, 2014

So, was your cable melted?

sgaustin83 · Sep 29, 2014

No it had a heat shield over it where it runs through the headers. I have a new clutch cable coming, I hope it was just installed wrong and not the pressure plate.

tx65coupe · Oct 12, 2014

How close was it to the headers?

CUAviator · Jan 11, 2015

Pretty funny (OP) - my clutch cable snapped almost exactly one month to the day after. I have a '65 fastback with a crate 306, T5' and Centerforce dual friction pressure plate (this is the way it was set up when I bought it)...total pain in the ass in stop and go traffic. Mine was doing the same thing, very stiff in the clutch.
Anyway, I replaced it with the Modern Driveline clutch cable. (That's a who other story of whoa and misery). End result, drives great...on a drag strip.

n8rfastback · Jan 13, 2015

I'm also running a king cobra clutch from modern driveline, but I went with a new reinforced Z bar setup for my conversion, it works great, and itll never break. If your cables keep giving you issues I would look into the Z bar.

CUAviator · Jan 15, 2015

Wrt the King Cobra, the literature says it's only rated to 315HP - what happens if you have more than that?

n8rfastback · Jan 15, 2015

If I end up being over what the clutch can handle I'll just have to go easy on the clutch till I can afford a stiffer one. It would only really be an issue if I have sticky tires and rail on it a lot in the lower gears.

n8rfastback · Jan 15, 2015

Having more power than a clutch can handle will just end up slipping a lot if you are hard on it, and will end up burning up the clutch eventually.

Clutch Cable Issues? Help

New Member

Member

New Member

Member

New Member

New Member

Member

New Member

New Member

Member

New Member

Member

New Member

Active Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Similar threads

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency