Drivetrain Clutch pedal assembly questions....

limp

wrap a little cheese around it and its a done
Oct 4, 2020
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Sooo, here is the pedal assembly from my 83....
Do I replace the plastic quadrant with a metal one?? If so, any brand recommendations??
I am going to look over the factory cable closer, but the plan is to reuse it.... It looks like new......

While I have all this taken apart, I am going to disassemble all of the metal parts, clean and paint them......
I see the clutch pedal/quadrant has a spring in there..... Can this thing bite me?? Do I need to take any precautions with disassembly? My Ford service manual does not say squat...
Is this spring a pain to reassemble??????

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This type of clutch linkage is new to me....
While this stock plastic quadrant is self adjusting? ( ratcheting) If i want to go to a metal quadrant then I would need a firewall adjuster? Would my stock cable work with a firewall adjuster??
 
It’s easy to take apart.

I disassembled mine completely to paint. I found the bushings were broken so I replaced those all and lubed with graphite lube. Easy to reassemble
 
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I ordered a set of the larger bushings that fit my clutch pedal pivot area.... My stock ones seem to be of much better quality and of thicker material
I am going to lube up the original ones and reuse them...
 
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Just replace it with a aluminum quadrant. I like the steeda one, but pretty much any name brand one will work well. Just pull the retaining pin out and everything just slides out.

If the factory bushings are in good shape, no reason to change them.
 
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This is a part where you can cheap out and use the fleabay/ China $30 Billet triple hook quadrants and firewall adjuster, a pack of flat washers and an 96-04 ford oem cable. You remove the both the clip and bushing from the new cables at the firewall side, v6 cars are about a 1/2" longer then the stock one, the v8 cables are a few inches longer and is what Maximum motorsports sell, the aftermarket cables are horrible.
 
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This is a part where you can cheap out and use the fleabay/ China $30 Billet triple hook quadrants and firewall adjuster, a pack of flat washers and an 96-04 ford oem cable. You remove the both the clip and bushing from the new cables at the firewall side, v6 cars are about a 1/2" longer then the stock one, the v8 cables are a few inches longer and is what Maximum motorsports sell, the aftermarket cables are horrible.
I did exactly this and the fit was great, got a 3-hook quadrant and ratcheting firewall adjuster for under $30 IIRC. The triple hook is nice since there seem to be several different lengths of cables in the fox production run... I had to go to the second hook with my 4-banger because it's considerably shorter than others.

FWIW I had the Maximum Motorsports parts in my '00 GT and they were quite nice so there's nothing wrong with going that route either if the budget's not too tight.
 
The MM set up is already on it..... Thanks for the advice....
Cleaned and painted.. Waiting on my B/O Pedal box spacer.....
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Do a little research on firewall flex you may wanna brace your firewall.... while you have it all apart ....
I used to preach the same thing but people started flaming me for it. I've seen way too many cars with cracked firewalls. Just cheap insurance.
 
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Ok, so here are some pics of my new MM cable and what I believe is the OEM one that came in the car...
My #1 question is I wanted to reuse the support bracket from the original on the MM cable.. As you can see in the pic the clamping part on the new MM cable is way off from the original cable.... Anyone know if I can slide that piece on the new cable?
If not, what about using the bracket on the bare cable housing??
#2, the new cable is quite a bit longer... Where is everybody routing their MM cable?
#3.. I hope the bearing ( and the two washers) that is recommended between the cable and the firewall adjustment is worth the $26 it took to get it here.....LOL
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That last pic is a little blurry, so I can't really tell, but are both washers are on the inside of that thrust bearing? Doesn't the bearing get sandwiched in between the two washers? Or am I assuming wrong?
 
Why not just get a Fox specific adjustable clutch cable? Been running the BBK one in my Coupe for years with zero issues. I also have the fire wall adjuster and aluminum quadrant in the car. I set the firewall adjuster about a 1/4 of the way out and adjust the cable under the car. From there I can back it off a little if needed and have plenty of adjustment to take slack up over the years.

Pedal assembly looks great by the way. Was the spring easy to deal with?
 
Why not just get a Fox specific adjustable clutch cable? Been running the BBK one in my Coupe for years with zero issues. I also have the fire wall adjuster and aluminum quadrant in the car. I set the firewall adjuster about a 1/4 of the way out and adjust the cable under the car. From there I can back it off a little if needed and have plenty of adjustment to take slack up over the years.

Pedal assembly looks great by the way. Was the spring easy to deal with?
If its the spring I think you are talking about it is not used on the MM system. Another one of those " parts I bought in advance" that " I will not be using".... LOL....
 
That last pic is a little blurry, so I can't really tell, but are both washers are on the inside of that thrust bearing? Doesn't the bearing get sandwiched in between the two washers? Or am I assuming wrong?
I left the outside washer off to show the bearing...
 
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For the clutch pedals. Did you sand blast or wire wheel it? Or just scuff and shoot
Dipped it in Muriatic acid
Rinsed with water
dried then red scotch brite with paint thinner....
Light coat of Etching primer
Coat of hot rod primer
rustoluem black ( either semi gloss or satin) couple of coats...

Pretty sure I had run out of money for the month so I had some time on my hands.......
 
Most people don't bolt the mm/ new edge oem cable to the frame rail on fox bodies..... The 96- 04 still bolted to the rail just farther forward and used a different bracket. Most will run it up behind the power steering pump on a fox body. I use junk yard oem cables out of 96 up cars lol so what ever braket on it gets bolted to the rail and routed like stock. The thrust bearings are cheap on Amazon last time I looked but they help a ton when you need to adjust the firewall adjuster, some of them can be a pita esp the older ones that aren't 1/4 turn and spring loaded, use a nice thick n tacky grease.
 
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