Clutch Cable Too Short or What?

Last weekend we replaced the clutch cable in my friend's 89' GT. Just to get it on we had to completely engage the clutch by pushing on the clutch fork. Well, now when he tries to go in gear it just sits there from the clutch not disengaging enough. The cable is from auto zone but we checked the length and they were exactly the same length. The reason he changed it out is because the stock one started melting on the headers. The cable is routed correctly, we ran the new one before we took out the old one. He has no firewall adjuster or quadrant. Thanks for any help.
 
engaging the clutch makes the cable throw longer, not shorter.
if he has the stock quadrant, i bet he needs to release it (from the adjustment of the old cable) and readjust it (as the old cable wore, the adjuster took up slack. now the adjustment is too tight with a new, non-stretched cable).

good luck.
 
Yea i think i no what hissin's saying. he means the adjustment on the stock quadrant is good for the old cable but with the new one u have to release the adjustment and readjust it for the new clutch cable. Im not sure on how to release the adjustments, since i have an adjustable cable.
 
if you released the quadrant/pawl adjustment from the setting on the old cable and it is too short, you have an issue. i would go back over it again, since you said the cable is the same length as the old one. make sure it is routed correctly, etc.

if not, i would get an aftermarket quadrant and hope that the pawl did not release and that the new quadrant fixes it.

good luck.
 
Thanks for your help guys. It confuses the hell out of me why we can't fix something that easy. I'm sure we just overlooked something. Hell, we swapped the cables without jacking up the car, and it does have lowering springs. I'll go over everything again.