This might sound silly, but I've overlooked simple things in the past... Is the throwout bearing moving easily and smoothly on the trans snout? Is there a kink in the flex hose or a pinched spot in a hard line between the cylinders? Either would require a lot more pedal pressure to move the fluid quickly. Also, is it a diaphram pressure plate? They usually take less effort to operate than a Borg & Beck style.
I dont think there is a kink in the hard line.. thats the only part thats a junk yard part though.. Yes, i assume its a diaphram type clutcgh.. dont dont really know the difference but i think it is.
I moved the pushrod linkage to the pedal up 3/4 of an inch for more mechanical leverage. Pedal feels great now but my throw is barely enough to disengage the clutch so I am going to go right in between both of them and move it about a half inch up the pedal. Should give me a good balance. Ill show some pictures on Saturday when I finish.
Pottsie...what did you end up with on your clutch issue? I would like to hear the rest of the story. I had major clutch issues trying to get the hyd clutch to work on my 31 Coupe. Among other things, the biggest help was changing to a diaphragm style pressure plate. Since you have a Lakewood bell, I assume you don't have a removable clutch cover on the bottom that could be removed to verify pressure plate type. I recently made clutch braketry to use the stock 55 Chev Z-bar in conjunction with a 95 Camaro MC and clutch slave unit in the same 55 that had a Richmond 6 speed installed. He was using a Corvette clutch /pressure plate (diaphragm style). THAT pressure plate was very strong even though it was a diaphragm. It does sound like you may still have some clutch pedal ratio issues.
The pushrod setup you ended up with is exactly what I used. It works super, I'll be taking mine to the drags in a couple of weeks so I'm confident with it. The brake guru's out there will have opinions, but I'd say you still need to have a minimum of 6:1 pedal ratio -not 4 or 5 but 6:1. I tried various methods, and ratios, on mine and wound up with the 6:1 as the very best. Grade 8, right pedal ratio, good alignment, and smooth action should solve all your problems. cooger
This is exactly what I ended up with. 88 s10 pedal assembly with manual brakes 86 s10 master cylinder with .68 bore 88 c1500 slave with .85 bore (I believe this is correct) 88 s10 clutch hose With above listed parts and the master aligned as best as possible pedal effort was pretty great. I think it had a 4.8 to 1 pedal ratio originally. I move the attachment point on the pedal up 1/2 an inch and this gave me close to a 6 to 1. Pedal effort is still a tad tough but defiantly bearable. During mock up I moved the attachment point up 1 full inch and tha gave me a bit over 7 to 1. The clutch disengaged but it was to close to the floor for my tastes so that's why I ended up with a 6 to 1. As far as the pushrods bending, after I finished I looked closer into my alignment and it was a tad to low. I think it was a combination of a stiff clutch diagram and a slight misalignment. The misalignment was corrected by movin the pushrods connect to the pedal up and it also gave me a better pedal ratio. A twofer as I call em. Hope this helps, I don't know for certain if I have a diaphragm clutch because I honestly don't know the difference.
This thread has alot of good advice. The only thing I can add is that you have to go tubular on long throws like that. The solid rod is just too bendy. It's a molecular thing. The rod's outer molecules are the only thing holding the structure rigid. As you bend it, the outer molecules compress on one side and stretch on the other. A tube has a larger outside surface area, plus it has an inner surface area in the hollow. You can easily bend a solid rod, but a tube is alot harder to bend. Think of why driveshafts are tubes and not solid.
Hummm, not sure on your bore sizes. The master needs enough volume to fully stroke the slave, and have some left over so it doesn't get into air. Like a 1" master operating a brake cylinder that's smaller. I think the Wilwood I went with was a 3/4" bore operating the stock slave, which was in metric and I did a conversion. It does the above and has plently left in the pot. But, if it works for you and you're happy with it----------- Clutch guys can correct me, but the diaphragm will have what looks like a lot of turbine blades, while the old "three finger" style is just that--looks like it has 3 fingers for the throwout to operate. A poor man's definition. cooger
I definatly have a diaphragm type clutch. Now to the bad news, I test drove the truck the past couple days and it drives nice, but the clutch is still stiff, and there is a growling/scratching/srapping noise when you depress the clutch. With the motor off you can hear it coming from the bellhousing. The engagement works but when you let off the clutch it seems kind of sticky when you release the clutch. Im thinking I am going to buy a new fork and pivot ball from lakewood and see what happends.
This thread has been around for awhile, hopefully your problem is already fixed, but if not, find a pushrod, used with a really stout valve spring combo, like a blown alky or fuel car, something with tapered chromoly pushrods, you won't bend one of them.
I got the pushrods issue fixed. Now I'm concerned with this rubbing sound I am hearing from the bellhousing. Thanks for your input though!
The Jalopy Journal
