I am building a ‘32 Ford roadster on ASC rails, 283 with a Muncie 4-speed. Has anyone installed a hydraulic clutch, if so which one did you use and any hints/advice on an install. Thank you
I had a Mcleod rigged up on a Muncie I had on a PU I had . it worked fine . shim it as suggested. There are a lot of less expensive choices now that should work fine . be sure the bearing is made for your pressure plate type Diaphram or fingers Long type . I used a master cylinder I already had . I did put a bleeder on the master cylinder fitting to make it easier to get all the air out but not necessary.
I don't know a lot about the hydraulic throwout bearings. I never used one. But the other type uses the standard throwout bearing and clutch-fork. The clutch fork is actuated by a rod actuated by a simple small slave cylinder. A hydraulic line from there to a master cylinder actuated by a rod actuated by the pedal. Early '60s Chevy Apache pickups used that type. But the only special part is the slave cylinder which I imagine is probably still available. So a guy could pretty easily build his own. And it might be fairly less expensive.
Have you tried Rochester Clutch and Brake in Victor, NY? If you are in Rochester, they are maybe 20 miles from you. Their website shows they are active in vintage racing and they should be able to steer you in the right direction. When I was swapping out the automatic in my OT F 150 to a 4 speed + OD manual trans, I tried different parts houses here in the Chattanooga area trying to make things work and the counter people always directed me to a clutch and brake spe******t in town that I had never been aware of. Twenty minutes after I walked in, I walked out with all the correct parts and no more headaches.
On my '38 Ford pickup with SBC and T-5 out of an S-10, I used a master and slave cyliner out of a mid '70s Mazda/Ford Courier pickup. Fabricated a bracket to mount the slave cylinder which pushed the clutch fork that came with the Chevy pickup bellhousing.
I have used multiple different hydraulic clutch setups in various vehicles since the '80s, and only one time did I have a leak-- in sub zero weather when the slave cylinder piston popped out. Mechanical linkages have their own problem areas, too, so we each pick our poison so to speak. The most recent was using an internal slave type setup with no traditional external slave cylinder, as it's integral to the throwout bearing. Very simple, but does require two holes in the bellhousing for the feed and bleeder lines. Mount clutch master cylinder where it's convenient, connect the MC and TOB, fill with fluid, and bleed. There should be plenty of aftermarket options for a SBC/Muncie combo.
After a bad experience with a hydraulic TO bearing I looked for a solution to my problem. For the past 20+ years I had sold an external slave ***embly for my T5 kit. After some research I found an aluminum 10.5 inch Chevy bell housing that was easily converted to a right side clutch arm to clear floor pedals on my 28-34 ch***is. It used the stock clutch arm, pivot ball stud, TO bearing and boot, when converted it looked stock. The conversion used the small black Wilwood 7/8th bore pull slave and the 3/4 bore high volume Willwood MC. I probably did over 50 of these bell housings on customer ch***is over the years with no problems. It was my way of solving my problem.
If you are going with a hydraulic TO use only a RAM or Howe…..all the others will leak. Also they don’t bleed the same as brakes. Put the bleeder hose in a cup with fluid, pump the pedal a few times, remove the hose and close the bleeder. Test the pedal.
Another 60-62 Chevy truck hydraulic bell housing user here. Used them on several builds without a problem. ***cough cough shameless plug cough cough*** https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1230862584284048
Due to space constraints, I used an external pull-type slave cylinder that actuated an OEM clutch release lever. I just didn't want to deal with fluid leaks around an expensive clutch.
I used one EXACTLY like this when I was 18, with a GMC dual master cylinder, Chev, with a t-10 4 speed. I NEVER could get it to "bleed" properly, so I never could count on it releasing the clutch with consistency. I would never try it again.. I sold the "29 tudor, and the next owner replaced it with manual linkage.
If you use a truck bellhousing, remember that the bore in the housing is larger than the bore in a car bellhousing and you need a spacer ring to go in it when using a muncie. If not, the trans will not be aligned properly. Cable clutches are very easy to install, pretty cheap to buy. Think 98 Mustang or Jeep Commanche pedals and a new cable from Amazon......and they are easy to adjust when installed.....and never leak.
I should have explored that with my car, maybe on the next one. Some guys I raced with used hydraulic clutches with a RAM TOB. They worked well. Using the z-bar was a risk, if the car took a hard hit, the bar could part with the mount. We would see these guys circling like sharks when a yellow flag came out.
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