Hydraulic clutch vs manual

[Scott e]

I was planning on using a hydraulic clutch on my 302 with a five speed trany. I was surprised at the prices of hydraulic throw out bearings.
$350 and up. So now I am considering using a manual clutch. I am not going racing and am trying to keep out of divorce court and keep my expenditures to a resonable limit.

Is there hydraulic throw out bearings out there cheaper?
How stiff of a clutch would the manual one be? No need for any racing stuff.

Thanks

Scott E

[Jeff Kleiner]

Use a Ford cable and the manual clutch is very manageable.

Jeff

[egchewy79]

Forte sells 2 OEM ford clutch cables for around $50-60. Keep an extra on the shelf or trunk.

[Dgc333]

I was planning on using a hydraulic clutch on my 302 with a five speed trany. I was surprised at the prices of hydraulic throw out bearings.
$350 and up. So now I am considering using a manual clutch. I am not going racing and am trying to keep out of divorce court and keep my expenditures to a resonable limit.

Is there hydraulic throw out bearings out there cheaper?
How stiff of a clutch would the manual one be? No need for any racing stuff.

Thanks

Scott E

I purchased a hydraulic throw out bearing from Summit for $150. It is made by RAM clutches.

[john42]

I now (as of a few months ago) have the Forte (Ford) clutch cable, and Forte clutch effort reducer. As luck would have it a few months ago my clutch bearing and cable went boom a few miles from Forte when I was on the way to a Factory Five car gathering. Forte replaced my ... well everything, Flywheel, clutch, cable, bearing, etc. Clutch is so easy now it feels like a Honda Civic. This was in a Challenge car that was heavily raced from 2006 to 2016 and I continue to autocross and do fun track days.

[Jacob McCrea]

It is not an internal throwout bearing but for what it's worth, a $65 Speedway Motors slave cylinder, a $15 3AN line, a $75.00 master cylinder and two self-fabricated brackets will get you a cheap hydraulic clutch.

I really liked the flexibility to route the hydraulic line as I saw fit.

175259

[Scott e]

Thanks for the info guys. Lots of food for thought. Never heard of a clutch effort reducer?

[edwardb]

Thanks for the info guys. Lots of food for thought. Never heard of a clutch effort reducer?

Nothing magical about it. Simple physics. Attaches onto the end of the standard clutch arm, moving the clutch cable attachment further from the pivot point. The increased lever distance reduces effort. Nothing free though. Also increases the amount of movement required to do the same work meaning additional clutch pedal movement. I haven't personally installed one so can't say how significant that is. Just what it is. Numerous mentions on the forum of guys installing them, so clearly they've made it work for them.

[Alan_C]

I installed Forte's clutch effort reducer on a TR3650. In my estimate, I saw about a 25% reduction in effort. The original cover panel on the trans can no longer be used, but I fabricated one out of some scrap aluminum.

[cobrajj]

175772

This is Forte's clutch effort reducer, I installed on my T-5. More pedal travel, but easier on the leg muscles.