DOH! Clutch cable go boom!

[john42]

Met up with some friends this morning for breakfast and a Cobra drive. All seemed well when we left and all through the day, car running great and happy times. Then when we turned our way home the clutch started feeling a little tight. Oddly just yesterday I was reading the forum post on routing your clutch cable so I had checked mine and noticed it was very close to the headers (which are wrapped) and noted the rubber was singed a bit so I did a bit of research and ordered a longer cable with a firewall adjuster etc. ANYWAY... driving along, pressed in the clutch and I feel what seems like some strands of cable braking. Oh oh... I have 28 miles to go until home, could it be my imagination and just a renewed focus on it since I was just reading about this issue? Perhaps... Stop sign coming up, press the clutch and pop pop pop more strands cut loose and now I feel a lot of loss in clutch peddle travel. 18 miles to go and a stop light ahead.. At that light I must choose go left for a shorter route but more stop lights and left turns or go straight for only 1 stop light and 35-45mph speed limit the entire way. I go straight. The less shifting the better. At the one light I have to down shift and OMG it's much worse again. 2 miles to go. The only need to shift again is to pull into the driveway. I tell my son the moment I open the garage to hop out and setup the car ramps and we'll pull it straight up on the ramps. Which is exactly what we do. Up on the ramps, I get the car completely up on stands and open the hood. I inspect the cable and it doesn't appear to look any different. I get in the car and press the clutch pedal 1 more time and BANG! Clutch pedal goes to the floor and lies there limp.. Under the hood....

171373

Good car! Got us home. Good thing I got a new cable already on the way.

[cob427sc]

Love that you just didn't give up and park on the side of the road! And best of all you had already ordered the part!

[Railroad]

I once had a car with no clutch. I learned to watch and gauge traffic. Park on a hill or very flat ground. It would start in 1st gear and off you go. Shifting was no sweat, neutral and a little throttle to down shift, just no load for up shifts.
That sure was a long time ago.

[john42]

I once had a car with no clutch. I learned to watch and gauge traffic. Park on a hill or very flat ground. It would start in 1st gear and off you go. Shifting was no sweat, neutral and a little throttle to down shift, just no load for up shifts.
That sure was a long time ago.

Yeah! I had to do that as well with a 1966 Shelby GT350 Mustang. Good times in high school and no budget to fix the car.

[rthomas98]

Ok you need to change your screen name to Stephen King. That was one of the most suspenseful posts I have read.

[nucjd19]

Ok you need to change your screen name to Stephen King. That was one of the most suspenseful posts I have read.

Right on!!!!!! I was thinking the exact same thing. So suspenseful!

[JIMOCO]

I had the same issue, barely made it home. I took a rat tail file and put it in my drill. Going through the hole in the firewall where the adjuster mounts, I filed the top of the channel along the arch where the cable attaches to the pedal assembly to smooth any rough edges. I then put grease on the cable filled the channel with grease. Since then, I check the cable wear periodically and re-grease if necessary. After several years I see no indication of cable wear and risk of breaking at the top of the pedal.

[John Ibele]

Funny how many people have driving-with-a-blown-clutch stories. I still remember the shift points which matched idle RPM ... 10 mph into 2nd, 17 into 3rd ... light pressure and wait for it to drop in. Notoriously bad form using the starter to get things going again if I had to stop at a stop sign or red light for those few days before getting it fixed. But ... Chevy Citation from 1981 ... maybe it wasn't such bad form after all :rolleyes:

As for the OP ... best clutch story ever, thanks for brightening everyone's day, and glad you skated through!

[J R Jones]

There was an early morning commute in my wife's rusted Mustang II Cobra II in a raging WI spring snow storm. The back-country roads were high risk, I took the county trunk to the state highway. On the incline to the right turn intersection stop sign, I pushed the clutch for second gear and it would not move. Slush and ice had come through the floor pan, raising the carpet to the back-side of the clutch pedal. I feathered the throttle to get neutral, revved the engine for second, and powered around the corner without stopping.
Exhaust heat did not contribute to your SS cable failure. More likely is bending fatigue. You need better cable routing.
jim

[MB750]

The more I think about the clutch cable on these Roadster builds the more convinced I need to go with a hydraulic clutch. Based on my previous Fox Body Mustang GT, this cable has quite a small radius bend to get from its output in the footbox to the bellhousing. It may work, for a while, but there's a lot of friction in that cable sleeve for sure.

[SJDave]

Fortes external hydraulic kit works really well; swapped mine 10 years ago after the soldered ball came off the end.


The more I think about the clutch cable on these Roadster builds the more convinced I need to go with a hydraulic clutch. Based on my previous Fox Body Mustang GT, this cable has quite a small radius bend to get from its output in the footbox to the bellhousing. It may work, for a while, but there's a lot of friction in that cable sleeve for sure.

[CraigS]

When mine went I already had one on hand because I had read a lot of stories too. Mine came apart right where it went through the firewall. What I found (it was no fun working on my back in the driver footbox) was that the cable had to bend maybe 5 degrees coming out of the firewall going to the pedal quadrant. For many years it had been slowly trying to saw it's way through the firewall piece. Of course the firewall piece was trying, at the same time, to grind through the cable. Firewall won! I remembered reading of an old trick to fix that. Remove the cable and adjuster from the firewall. Find a socket that is a nice fit inside the tube of the firewall. Put an extension on it for leverage and bend the firewall/tube as needed for a straight cable run.

[john42]

The fun continues! Turns out the replacement adjustable clutch cable kit I ordered is 3+ months back ordered and that is if your lucky. The kind sales person told me they already have over 90 people who have ordered and been waiting on them for 8 months! So the search for a replacement that is available "now" began. I found a BBK heavy duty adjustable clutch replacement cable and with luck I'll have it this Wednesday. I'm hoping it works well.

The idea of switching to a hydraulic is certainly appealing! That may very well become one of many projects added to the to do list when the snow comes.

[Ford & Jeep Fan]

busting a cable is not the end of the world. a car (or truck) with a synchronized trans can still be shifted withOUT touching the pedal. in fact I have done this for Decades. the key is getting to know your vehicle. the engine rpm/road speed is the key. when they match shifting (both up and down) can be done WithOUT damage. A T-5 is very easy to master.

[seagull81]

John42, contact Mike Forte. I got two cables from him. He has them in stock.

[john42]

John42, contact Mike Forte. I got two cables from him. He has them in stock.

I almost bought his, but his is the standard Ford one and doesn't have the firewall adjustment. I also wanted one that was a tad longer so I could route it better.

I do have the Forte clutch effort reducer which I'm installing now as part of this little adventure. :-)

[rich grsc]

Anything other than a ford cable may have a short life

[john42]

Anything other than a ford cable may have a short life

I bought a BBK heavy duty (part 3519). I'm hopeful.... but will be keeping on eye on it.

[john42]

Well... That didn't last long.

Installed the new cable, went for a test drive, did a little adjustment and put the foot box cover back on. Then went out for an hour long test drive and all was working well.

Now... this morning.. Do I drive it to work and then go to the Factory Five Cobra get together at Gillette? Sure... why not! All was great until I pulled into the parking lot at work and suddenly I can only depress the clutch about 2 inches and it comes to a hard stop. I manage to get it into the parking garage and park. I take off the hood and popedp off the footbox cover. Nothing seems amiss. I grab a friend to push the clutch while I look to see what's going on. The clutch fork moves a little and things just stop. I detach the cable from the clutch fork and it all appears fine. Cable moves freely. I start making phone calls. Shout out to Mark Doughterty, Mike Forte and Ron Everitt for the over the phone trouble shooting assistance! Once I got under the car and got a large wrench then pushed on the fork arm. It only goes about an inch (if that) and comes to a hard stop. The throw-out bearing is apparently seized on the transmission input shaft. That is also, the likely root cause of the first clutch cable being over taxed for a good long while and its' eventual failure. So, now my car is stuck at work and I'm missing the FF gathering! Good news is Mike Forte is going to help me out and get the car in next week where we can pull the trans and get 'er fixed up.

[john42]

Just got the laundry list from Forte:
Bent clutch fork
Disintegrated clutch fork ball
Seized clutch bearing
Warped flywheel
Smoked clutch disc
Bad u-joint on the driveshaft

Is wow lol. Ya I bought a racecar. None of that was my doing. Haha. I am pretty tame and have yet to even do a burnout.

They've replaced everything and also replaced my leaking rear main seal. I pick it up tomorrow. Huge shoutout to Forte. I’m very lucky to be local! Very reasonable price too and all done in basically a day.