clutch cable problems

[SHOWTIME!!]

I recently put a new clutch and firewall in my 99 GT. I put a centerforce dual friction clutch and fidanza billet aluminum flywheel. I also bought a BBK clutch cable, quadrant, and firewall adjuster. I put everything in and it seemed fine, but the 2nd day i was driving it the cable got really stiff and it stretched then it broke. I called the company and they over nighted me another cable and they told me this was there HD cable, the same thing happened to this cable. We have looked to see if anything is binding up and we can't find anything. We put a HD clutch cable off of a fox body off of it today, it has stretched 2 times today but hasnt broke. Any suggestions will be helpful!

 

[sveltre]

hey i was having the same problem with my 96 GT. I put in a new clutch, flywheel and rebuilt gear box. i went through three cables in a few months time. i ended up down grading the clutch and changing the cable again but i don't know if you really need to do that. I ended up reading this on ram clutches web page

"I have a late model Mustang with the cable linkage, and the pedal is extremely stiff, or I have a problem breaking the outer casings of the cable."

"These problems can occur when the clutch quadrant is not positioned properly on the shaft under the dash. There are no 'stops' on this shaft, and if the quadrant does not line up with the cable routing hole in the firewall, the cable pulls at an angle and can cause heavy pedal effort or in extreme cases, breakage of the cable and/or cable housing. Be sure to sight the position of the quadrant when installing so it lines up with the cable routing hole."

Anyway i hope that helps. mine has been good since the new clutch and cable alignment.

 

[BobHyatt]

Check the cable installation carefully. Make sure the new quadrant is sitting properly on the clutch pedal shaft as well. The cable should follow the quadrant so that it does not get a sharp bend where the cable exits the housing. Sounds like something is wrong with how the cable is installed as these work fine normally, even on very stout pressure plates...

 

[2000fordstanggt]

make sure the cable is routed *through* the motor mount

 

[twogts4us]

hey i was having the same problem with my 96 GT. I put in a new clutch, flywheel and rebuilt gear box. i went through three cables in a few months time. i ended up down grading the clutch and changing the cable again but i don't know if you really need to do that. I ended up reading this on ram clutches web page

"I have a late model Mustang with the cable linkage, and the pedal is extremely stiff, or I have a problem breaking the outer casings of the cable."

"These problems can occur when the clutch quadrant is not positioned properly on the shaft under the dash. There are no 'stops' on this shaft, and if the quadrant does not line up with the cable routing hole in the firewall, the cable pulls at an angle and can cause heavy pedal effort or in extreme cases, breakage of the cable and/or cable housing. Be sure to sight the position of the quadrant when installing so it lines up with the cable routing hole."

Anyway i hope that helps. mine has been good since the new clutch and cable alignment.

Great post, great advice - and welcome!

Is the cable breaking at this end...under the dash? sveltre is spot on if this is where your problem is...

 

[SHOWTIME!!]

the cable itself is not breaking, it's the cable housing up against the firewall. It just seems to be breaking the little plastic housing that goes around the cable.

 

[sveltre]

SHOWTIME!! that happened to me one of the times the cable broke. What brand heavy duty cable are you using? Do you have a fire wall adjuster?

When i had that problem the part on the cable that goes into the fire wall wasn't sitting in the adjuster properly, causing excess tension on the cable. When i replaced the cable i eliminated the adjuster and went back to the old fire wall set up and adjusted the cable from underneath the car at the transmission.

 

[twogts4us]

the cable itself is not breaking, it's the cable housing up against the firewall. It just seems to be breaking the little plastic housing that goes around the cable.

Did you follow the instructions when installing the firewall adjuster? You have to remove parts of the cable to fit against the FW adjuster.

the end result should look something like this...

For additional help (and GREAT) pics, take a look at the instructions for the Maximum Motorsports FWA, item # MMCL-3 at http://www.maximummotorsports.com/i...rsports.com/store/index.php?main_page=install

 

[SHOWTIME!!]

SHOWTIME!! that happened to me one of the times the cable broke. What brand heavy duty cable are you using? Do you have a fire wall adjuster?

When i had that problem the part on the cable that goes into the fire wall wasn't sitting in the adjuster properly, causing excess tension on the cable. When i replaced the cable i eliminated the adjuster and went back to the old fire wall set up and adjusted the cable from underneath the car at the transmission.

It's a BBK cable and quadrant. We ended up just going back to the way you said. It seems like the cable it's self is sticking. If i have the clutch pedal to the floor and lift off of it enough to make it start engaging, then push the clutch back in to disengage it, it wont. It will just sit there trying to engage it's self and the car will just be shaking until i jerk it out of gear. Then i can fully let off the clutch and push it back in and everything will be fine. I dont know what to do at this point.

 

[sveltre]

i was having trouble with the bbk stuff as well, when i replaced it after the 2nd time i went with zoom its held up since. But i would try another brand if you are also having problems with bbk.