Some time ago I decided that something needed doing to the clutch actuation. It was way too heavy to push & operated over far too small a travel, making it awkward to drive slowly in traffic. Two of last winter's mods were swapping the Zetec clutch for a pinto one & ball-racing the pedal. These actions certainly helped, but didn't cure the problem.
One of the problems was the clutch cable. It leaves the pedal, passes through the footwell front bulkhead, then loops through 180deg to the clutch fork about two inches from the bulkhead exit point. So there's a lot of drag on the cable outer. I hatched a plan to do away with the cable outer altogether. In plan one, the cable (without the outer) would run from the pedal, directly forward to an aircraft control pulley, then back to the clutch fork. There were risks, the cable would be pulling the engine forward on it's mounts, would that matter? The cable may transmit vibration to the chassis or pedal. Engine movement might make slipping the clutch impossible.
I made up a prototype system & tested it on the car - none of these things happened, so the design has been refined to have a pull-rod on the pedal, pulling a rocker, which pulls a cable, which pulls the clutch fork - that's the plan anyway.
I've also started re-making the clutch pedal with a little more leverage (pronounced leeeverage). It'll use the ball-raced centre section of the old pedal to support two new side plates. Looks good so far.
One of the problems was the clutch cable. It leaves the pedal, passes through the footwell front bulkhead, then loops through 180deg to the clutch fork about two inches from the bulkhead exit point. So there's a lot of drag on the cable outer. I hatched a plan to do away with the cable outer altogether. In plan one, the cable (without the outer) would run from the pedal, directly forward to an aircraft control pulley, then back to the clutch fork. There were risks, the cable would be pulling the engine forward on it's mounts, would that matter? The cable may transmit vibration to the chassis or pedal. Engine movement might make slipping the clutch impossible.
I made up a prototype system & tested it on the car - none of these things happened, so the design has been refined to have a pull-rod on the pedal, pulling a rocker, which pulls a cable, which pulls the clutch fork - that's the plan anyway.I've also started re-making the clutch pedal with a little more leverage (pronounced leeeverage). It'll use the ball-raced centre section of the old pedal to support two new side plates. Looks good so far.
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