Where does your clutch engage?

[racerat]

Where does it engage and what do you prefer?
I always thought it was supposed to be as close to the floor as possible. All the way out meant your clutch was going bad.
:shrug:

 

[DSG03Snake]

Mine is almost all the way out, and so is my friends. I think its normal in the 'revised' clutch version of these cars.

 

[69 Resto-mod cp]

I think about 1/2 way..it feels like all my other Stangs..

 

[ADR]

Mine is almost all the way out, has been that way since I first got the car. Although now every couple of days it makes noise when i push it in, but I'm not hard on my clutch either, not even at the track do I ride it hard enough to were you start to smell it, I only have 10000 miles on my car to.

 

[05 Roush]

Pull up on the clutch petal and readjust it before voting!

 

[03DOHC]

Mine is halfway but sometimes close to the floor. If I adjust my clutch by pulling up it usually goes back to halfway.

 

[golfprowanabe]

halfway here!

 

[predator]

Mine used to be off the floor until I put the clutch quadrant and firewall adjuster in and set the pedal where I wanted it. I had to. The clutch would not fully disengage....evidenced by the fact that the first time I went to the track at FFW in Richmond I ended up sitting out the final rounds because my clutch was so over heated I had no ability to shift gears. I let it sit for 3-4 hours and it cooled enough to let me drive home. I did the "pull up on the clutch pedal" adjustment too and it helped for a little while. Anyway, been fine since.

 

[2kbill]

Mine engages pretty high off the floor. How much slack should there be in the cable to make sure it is fully engaged? I have a quadrant and adjuster, stock cable.

Bill

 

[mike79]

Mine is high off the floor, but as the car gets warmer, it engages lower

 

[sonic cobra]

Mine has engaged right off the floor since day one. Did the clutch pedal adjust at 5000 mi and still right off the floor. I too thought this was the "correct" adjustment

 

[racerat]

Ok...the reason for my poll.
I have the adjustable quadrant and cable and have never been able to get the clutch adjustment right. It's frustrating the crap out of me.

My clutch pedal flops around like a dead fish and it's really, really stiff. When I try to get rid of the excess play, the clutch seems to stick...refuses to engage when it's supposed to.

Some folks have mentioned a big hesitation between shifts...I had this at one point and it was after screwing with the firewall adjuster.

Last night I had the cable adusted too tight and had all sorts of problems at the track.

I'm real close to going back to the stock cable and no adjuster. Never had these problems before.

 

[Fast01Cobra]

Originally posted by racerat
Where does it engage and what do you prefer?
I always thought it was supposed to be as close to the floor as possible. All the way out meant your clutch was going bad.
:shrug:

Mine is all the way out, by choice. I have a firewall adjuster and quadrant. Mine stock was at the floor, and I was having difficulty making the 2 - 3 shift without missing. Now I can quickly make the shift and haven't missed one since.

 

[lRageATMl]

i have mine near the top on purpose as well, I have the UPR goodies to make it possible. The reason I have it this way is so that when I shift I will be gaurenteed a solid shift with none of the missing a shift crap.

To be exact mine engages about 1/2inch down as I push it.

 

[NukeX]

been driving it for 2 days now, and mine is almost all the way out it starts engaging :-/ I Still stall tho

 

[trey193]

Yeah I have the UPR Firewall Adj. and 3 Hook Quad. I set my pedal towards the top, man what difference ,powershifts are a snap with this setup!!

 

[Dana]

Racer,
You don't really need the adjustable cable (if you have it). Just the firewall adjuster. If you have installed the adjustable cable, I'd replace it with the stock one. There is nothing wrong with the factory ones.
Since you seem to be having problems, check the ease of movement of the cable. You can disconnect the cable at both ends to make sure it is not binding throughout its movement. Another important thing is the alignment of the cable from the point where it passes through the firewall to the clutch quadrant. If the quadrant is off to one side, it will cause binding and excessive wear of the cable. Washers can be installed to position the quadrant. A little grease in the quadrant groove won’t hurt either.
Now, as for the clutch pedal adjustment itself, consider this. Keep in mind that the object here is to have the release fork/TOB assy not touching the fingers on the pressure plate when the pedal is all the way at the top of its travel. 1/8 inch clearance should be fine. This should translate to about ¾ inch free play at the top of the pedal. The pedal should move with no resistance for that first ½ to ¾ inch before you actually begin to do any work down at the clutch.
Too little freeplay can cause the clutch to slip. Too much can prevent full release and hard shifting.
Where the clutch actually begins to engage is a function of the amount of material remaining on the disk and the geometry of the linkage itself. You do not adjust this kind of clutch by where the point of engagement is at, only by the free play at the top of the pedal. You want the least amount of freeplay possible to minimize the distance the pedal moves to fully release the clutch, while still allowing for the clearance to keep the TB off the clutch fingers, even after the clutch heats up or cools down.

All of this is based on the idea that the clutch you have is still serviceable. If the clutch is on its way out, which wouldn’t surprise me since it’s living behind the KB now, you may be looking at installing an aftermarket unit. Slipping the clutch to prevent wheel hop when launching is probably the worst thing that can happen to these factory clutches. The heat generated is a killer, to say nothing of the wear to the disk itself.

After rereading your post, another thought comes to mind. If all of the above stuff is OK, and the clutch still seems to be binding, the collar that the TOB rides on may be binding on the front bearing retainer of the transmission. If it isn’t being caused by excessive wear of the retainer (very possible), then you may be able to lubricate the retainer in the area that the TOB collar moves on, and see if that helps. I honestly don’t know if the retainer is accessible enough to do this since I haven’t had mine out yet. It won't be long though. HA! HA!
Sadly, sometimes the only way to fix these is tear the trans out and inspect everything, replace it with new/better parts and try it again.
Hopes this helps and answers some of your questions.
Good luck,
Dana

 

[racerat]

Dana,
Thank you for all the info. :beer:
We're going to yank that cable and put a new stock one in. Bingo13 recommends the same thing so maybe I should listen huh? ;-)

The clutch is a Spec II, so I hope I haven't destroyed it already.

Tracy

 

[ADR]

Here in CA, I mention to my local shop about replacing my stock clutch with a Spec 2 and he said that they have had a lot of guys say that the after market clutches are getting burned up after a couple of runs at the track and that he wouldn't recommend it, I though that was kind of strange. I think I will just keep the stock clutch but go with the adjustable cable and quadrent (Sp?)

 

[wjfawb0]

Racerat, the way you described your clutch pedal feel is just how my 02GT felt with the Steeda adjustable cable and double hook quadrant.

I bought the Steeda kit with the firewall adjuster for my GT, and I never used the adjuster. Will the firewall adjuster work with the stock cable and quadrant on my Cobra???

Thanks all.

-wjfawb0