new clutch slips

The rust should have worn off the first time the clutch slips. It should not continue to happen. Kind of like the rust on a pair of brake rotors that has sat for a few days.
Are you sure it is adjusted properly?
You say it tries to catch. Does it slip under throttle after you let the pedal out? Or does it only slip as you shift?

no, only when i apply a good amount of throttle is when it slips. how would i adjust it with a stock cable and quadrant, the clutch pedal has no play in it whatsoever. this is my wifes user name but still the same person. in 1st it works good, it gets squirly pretty easily with 3.08 gears.

I'm not sure how to adjust it. My Ranger has a hydralic clutch.
But from what I have read, there should be a threaded end and nut were the cable attaches to the clutch fork. There is an adjustment someplace, hopefully someone with a Mustang will read this and respond.
But a new clutch should slip only as the clutch engages between shifts, and that should be unnoiticable. So something is wrong.

Where does your clutch start to engage? Up high by the brake pedal, or down low by the floor? Or is the pedal in the middle when you feel the car start to roll?

wow thats way too far out, its should grab right when you start letting the clutch out..

Yeah, its not your clutch, but the way you have it adjusted. You need an alum. quadrant and firewall adjuster. Or at the very least an adj. cable. You should not drive the car, and under no circumstances should you get on it if you do anyway.

A FWA should fit with the stock quad and cable, but there may be excessive wear on your cable. Take your cable out and make sure it runs easily through the housing. Mine was frayed and had a rough spot.

I mashed my clutch with my hand and watched the plastic quad flex under the tension. There was no way I was leaving that thing on there. It will shatter if you dont replace it, sooner or later.

You should have just paid the 30 bucks to have the flywheel resurfaced when you had it off. At least you could elminate that aspect and know it's not because of any rust. I did a clutch swap about 2 years ago. I recently dropped the tranny and clutch and all to check my rear main and swap the oil pan gasket. The flywheel was in excellent shape, but I went ahead and had it resurfaced just to be on the safe side when putting everything back together.

SLiM JiM 156 said:

wow thats way too far out, its should grab right when you start letting the clutch out..

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No it shouldn't. If it grabs right off the floor, you are wayyyyy too loose. A properly adjusted clutch will grab right about half way up off the floor. If it's grabbing right off the floor, then you are too loose, which will cause difficulty engaging in gears, premature clutch wear, rolling at a stop, and eventual transmission failure. I found this all out the hard way.

However, a properly adjusted clutch pedal will sit in height right about where your brake pedal is, perhaps a little higher. If the clutch isn't engaging when you let off the clutch till around where the brake pedal is, then I would guess you are definetly adjusted too tightly, and it is likely constantly partially dis-engaging at all times. You're going to really biff up your clutch this way.

Your setup is not adjustable, since you have the oem setup. HOWEVER, pull UP on the clutch pedal with your left foot till you hear a click, then press the clutch back down. This will disengage the two plastic quadrant gears under the dash, and depressing the clutch pedal again will (in theory) re-engage the gears together at the proper place and with the proper clutch cable tension. Try this a couple of times, and if it does nothing, and you are still engaging too highly, get the adjustable setup. FYI, the best, hands down kit is a double or triple hook with a firewall adjuster and the oem cable. The steeda double, or upr triple hook is a kick ass setup (don't use the third hook with the upr setup, it's gonna mess u up, and is only there to bypass the steeda double hook patent. Myt brother and I found this out the hard way, ---chewed threw a new spec in 5100k miles)


On another, there is a big difference between your clutch, and a brake setup. Keep in mind, most brakes are made up of a semi metallic material, and easily will grind through rust on rotors without a problem. If memory serves me right, the clutch you bought is an organic clutch, and the disc material may not be strong enough to chew through that rust if its too heavy. I do think, however, that you'll be ok, it's just going to take longer to chew through it.

On a final note, you shouldn't be gassing the car that heavily during the break in period. I just learned this. During the clutch break in period, the new disc has small, uneven amounts of surface area, and therefore will contact the fresh, flat pressure plate unevenly. This can result in slippage of the clutch with overthrottle due to less material contacting the pressure plate. In your case, your flywheel is rusted, and has a very bad surface area, so not nearly as much of the clutch is grabbing.

Right now, as you are driving, and slipping, the clutch disc is likely getting glazed over, which will spell doom for it. I would stop driving immediately until you can confirm appropriate adjustment. When you do drive it, give it an extended break in period of stop and go driving before you apply ANY decent amount of throttle.

Good luck, I surely hope you don't have to tear it down again. Please keep us posted. If you have any more questions regarding adjustable clutch setups, clutch adjustments, or the such, feel free to ask anytime.