Technical hydraulic clutch for a hot rod

Folks, I'm to start work on a friend's hot rod ('34 Plymouth w/401 nail head, on 32 Ford frame). He has a Saginaw 4-speed in it and already what looks like a workable pedal set-up (which is mounted from the top (not a bottom pivot). From the looks of things, we need to use a hydraulic clutch. Interested in what some of you may have used (if you were so inclined to deviate from a straight mechanical set up.)....thanks for any advice.

 

I used a McLeod HTO bearing behind my flathead because slaves are not PC

 

This is a shortened 5.0 Mustang cable – there's nothing simpler. The pic is with under floor pedals, but I've engineered this system to work with hanging pedals in our Bonneville race truck. And it will never leak. Keep in mind that GM clutch systems (as in the pic) pull back and Ford clutch systems pull forward.

 

Pretty sure slaves were in pre 65 Fords and C-10 PUs.

 

That’s pretty slick. What year 5.0?

 

I would think the setup from a C-cab Ford truck would have possibilities. They have a hanging pedal, and a simple slave cylinder and mount, and had many different engines, FT's, 370/429, CAT V8 Diesels etc. IIRC the MC was built into the top of the pedal ***embly, very simple design, used for many years- that Budd cab was also used on some Mack trucks. I have to work on one of my forklifts this weekend, which has a Ford Industrial (think tractor) 4 with the same slave on it

 

I used a hydraulic throw-out bearing on a 8BA with 3 speed overdrive. It worked very well but that Mustang cable looks a lot cheaper and easier.

 

In the late 70's my Cobra buddy Cantrell drug home a nasty little autocross car, was a tiny early Fiat 600 body with a 4-carb 140hp Corvair engine where the back seat had been. Evil little beast, had a Holley 4V adapter manifold and a nasty Crower cam, headers that went up to the front and exited behind the front wheels, big flared fenders and fat road race gumballs. They had run an open cable under the floor from the clutch arm up to an open pulley under the dash and connected by witchcraft to the clutch pedal. They didn't do much of a job on the ratios though, it had a hair trigger, no feathering that clutch- more like a light switch. Take aim, get it up over 3K and let it loose. Man, that little thing was fastfastfast and sounded like a Porsche 904

 

I think you'll find he was making a joke.

 

Interested in what some of you may have used (if you were so inclined to deviate from a straight mechanical set up.)


- 29 Phone booth pickup
- 302 with a toploader behind it

The truck was a basket case when it was bought and it came with a variety of parts that I went with


- I Modified the Ansen firewall pedals by adapting (3) Wilwood master cylinders rather then the 50’s Chev master. I created a balance bar to adjust the front/rear bias on the brake system. I added zerk fittings to be able to grease the pivots and cut circlip grooves on the cross shaft so everything is serviceable
- Wilwood slave cylinder mounted to a birdcage bracket that I created. I made adjustable link for the connection to the stock F100 throwout arm and made the other mounting end with multiple holes so that I could tune the feel if necessary

The system worked seamlessly, no issues no problems

 

Nice work Ratreo. Quality.
I chose to go with Chevy truck slave and master.
I cant recall what year truck. This took place in 1969.
I was contracted to graft a 283 into a Jaguar.
One of the smoother things I did to that poor old cl***ic.

 

Hydraulic throw out bearings are great...when they're working. Trans has to come out to service. Warrantied a lot of these for late model Ford trucks when I had a parts store. Took a hit on labor claims from shops and lost a good customer over Ford's engineering. You can change a slave in minutes.

 

I'm using a 3/4" Wilwood clutch master on my Ford with a Speedway 7/8" slave bolted to the side of my bellhousing. The linkage from the pedal took a little figuring but it works well.

 

Fox body.

 

Good point brando1956

There is a half started Throwup job ( O/T Ford ) in my drivewy. I keep losing losing interest.

 

Slave cylinder Dorman EW33723. EIS 643
This was used on 60-67 Dodge W300 Series trucks
2 7/8" between mounting bolt centers

 

This has always been a reason for my thought that a easy to find slave cylinder is a lot better option than a hydraulic throw out bearing. Sometimes you don't have the room due to extremely tight quarters but I have changed clutch slave cylinders while laying under a truck on a sheet of cardboard before and had it back to work in a few minutes. A failed hydraulic throwout bearing may mean a tow home or to a shop and the tricky slicky hot rod ones usually mean a wait on the brown truck to show up.

Simple common parts that are rather easy to find and get are a lot better option.

This is a setup I found on Amazon that fits an O8 to 2017 Jeep Wrangler JK meaning that you will never have an availability issue. Available at any parts house in the US and sold world wide. https://www.amazon.com/RhinoPac-PS0115-Hydraulic-Pre-Filled-Pre-Bled/dp/B000CPAOMC you wouldn't want the pre filled pre bled version but master and slave cylinders are readily available anywhere.

 

New one on me. How long has this kind on nonsense been a 'thing? Are 'techs' really that bad? Seems they must be for someone to feel the need to scratch the itch. What is the world coming to?

Chris

 

They used them on the 90s 2.3 with the T5 also.

 

I used a cable activated clutch on the '54 Ranch Wagon and adapted it to work with the original '54 clutch pedal, I have a 5.0/ 302 and a t-5 transmission.

I robbed the parts from a mustang to convert the clutch pedal in the wagon are over 30 years old and had concerns about the original equipment plastic quadrant, with it's age it may be getting brittle and could break leaving us stilling high and dry on the side of the road, if that happened a rollback is the first phone call because you are not going to drive it home.

The part you will need to acquire is the clutch cross shaft from the mustang, they may be available from Ford but I removed it from the same car I got the engine and transmission.

This is the original fox body mustang pedals.



This is the shaft after removing.

Rod sent me this photo of his '56 pedal ***embly and it looks pretty much like the '54 Ford, in this case you will want to remove the big spring which is no longer needed.



then remove the clutch cross shaft bolt and insert the mustang clutch shaft, you may need a spacer or two on the quadrant side.



This photo show's the shaft installed, I believe I cut part of the mustang clutch pedal and welded it to the '54 clutch pedal, I think there is a square shank on the cross over shaft.



I ordered the kit from Summit which comes with a aluminum quadrant and a adjustable firewall mount for the clutch.



I watched all the video's and it looked simple enough and each one said it only takes about 2 hours, sounds good.

I started by jacking the car up and getting the jack stands in place,crawled under the car with a 3/8" socket as recommended to remove the cover for the cable and clutch fork, naturally mine was not 3/8" so I crawled back out and found the correct socket 5/16'' and removed the cover, I managed to get the cable released from the clutch arm and removed the C clip holding the exterior plastic cover to the transmission and fished it out.

No photo of this.

I then moved to the small screw holding the cable to the firewall, I was also 5/16", guess where the socket was? under the car!



I got the cable loose from the quadrant and fished it through the hole on the firewall I then turned my attention to removing the plastic quadrant and it fought me tooth and nail, I had to contort my 6' 4" frame under the steering wheel and probably resembled the famous Chinese acrobats most of you have seen at the Circus at one time or another.

After finding all the tools needed to remove the clips and prying off the quadrant spring and the smaller pawl spring all the old parts were removed.



I then used anti seize to use on the aluminum adjuster and then installed it in the existing hole in the firewall, it seem the clutch cable outer mount is a little smaller than the new adjustable piece, after I did some file work and testing, I finally got the part to seat.





Next I turned my attention to installing the new quadrant, again it wouldn't slide on the shaft, the new piece has 2 holes, the forward hole is the pivot and the rear that originally held the pawl bit the aft hole is off a bit so I clamped the piece down on the drill press and enlarged the hole, crawled back under the steering wheel and slid the quadrant in place.





with this side by side you can see the small fork where the cable inside the car attaches.

The way the new piece is made and the modifications I made originally I used some spacers and a few washers, I don't want any rattles.



This is the end of the cable that attaches to the hook on the quadrant inside the car and black plastic piece of the outer sleeve fit's inside the adjuster.





This end of the cable attaches to the clutch fork, the rounded piece attached to the loop on the side of the transmission and is held in place with a ''C'' clip.



Side view of how it attaches to the transmission.



Cover for the cable.



The clutch cable is exactly like the original but with the stock rubber firewall mount removed,that way it can slide into the adjuster.



This is the firewall clutch adjuster
.



Now all that's left is to adjust the cable on the firewall. HRP

 

Most likely from a 1960-62 picjup.

 

I used a 1961 Econoline Ford unit, made my own slave cyl. bracket.

 

Had to move stuff around to get everything where it wanted to go. Works great, but I always expect it to **** out on me at the worst possible time. 4 years later, it still hasn't done it.






-Abone.

 

Very sanitary. Good work, just like the old time hot rodders who built their cars out of the junkyard instead of the UPS truck. Not knocking buying new parts but sometimes cost comes into play. All the serious hot rod type magazines were full of stuff like this back in the HAMB era. Now that type of how-to article is rare. This shows you can do a lot for a little if you're willing to work.

 

'63 Chevy pickup dual M/C and slave cylinder. SS brake line for the clutch hydraulic line. Made my own mounting bracket and pushrod. Wilwood hanging pedal ***embly. Works great!

 

I’m sold on the 5.0 cable …it’s not Hamb friendly just user friendly…

 

I hate the hydraulic throwout bearing inside the bellhousing. Had one on a '90 Ford Ranger. Went through several of them over the years I had it, and the trans had to come out to replace it. A slave cylinder that operates the clutch fork is a lot easier. Takes a few minutes to change a slave cylinder and bleed the system, no different from bleeding brakes. I used a '55 Ford hanging pedal ***embly with a '70s Ford Courier / Mazda master and slave cylinder. Worked well. The truck had (I've since sold it) a small block Chevy and T-5 5 speed. Just had to fab a bracket for the slave cylinder.

 

Have a similar application, 401 Nailhead in a 32 frame with BW 4 speed. The hydraulic to bearing liked to leak. That was originally used because the Nailhead starter is on the drivers side and putting a slave cylinder there is a tight fit. Russ Martin (Nailhead guru) uses a longer clutch arm from a early Chevy truck. That requires more movement for clutch release so used a 1" master with a 7/8" slave cylinder. Takes a little more leg muscle to operate the clutch but it eliminated the annoying leaky hyd to bearing. That hyd to bearing has to move ~ 1" every time its's used and the seal in those bearings is quite large in dia. If the vehicle sits for a period of time the fluid drains away from the top of the seal and when the pedal is activated the seal on top is dry. A 2 cent opinion as to why they like to leak.

 

When I did my 55 Studebaker I used a southwest speed hydraulic throw out bearing, and a willwood master cylinder on a custom bracket next to the brake master. I used a brake pedal ***embly fro a 57 Hawk, which was the same as my 55, and installed a 5/8 rod for the pedals to float on, keeping the bottom swing pedals. This was originally a factory automatic car, I put a 327 and a Saginaw 4 speed

 

I am using a master cylinder from an 1985 Toyota Vanwagon with a slave cylinder from a 1980 Datsun pickup.