How to build a Hand-Clutch setup For "A" Coupe?

I think hydraulics are the way to go here. The slave and master cylinders are already out there. Look thru some catalogs and and you will find a plethora of bore sizes and configurations. The prices are very reasonable as well.

 

yes there are a few $ involved at the cobras but the system what is interestiing for you is not the exepensiv part of the cobras .-)

 

Motorcycles have the throttle and brake controlled by one hand,the clutch by the other.I think putting the hand clutch and gear shift together might be best.A simple hydraulic clutch set up like modern cycles should work on a Model A? I'm ***uming the driver has strong hands?

 

Last night there was a feature on television on a guy who invented a system whereby he linked a clutch and the rear brake on the clutch lever on a m/cycle.
It was on "the new inventors"
the episode would be viewable on iview or via abc.net.au/newinventors

hope this helps

 

also model a's have a convienet built in cruise control for the throttle
that could get you a little closwer to the goal
the ****om on the shifter for the clutch sounds like a great idae along with the air cylinder.
Anothe thing to think about too on the model a's, AR cars had a hand brake on the left for the service brake. it acuated all 4 brakes not just the rears like the rest of the model a's. you could rig up something like that..... **** this could almost be a "traditionl" special needs vehical
tk

 

A little typo on my earlier post, I meant to say "activate the clutch with your thumb, finger the throttle".

For my arrangement I made a "T" style handle for the shifter, The throttle was a simple cable mounted to the shifter lever with a ring at the top. The cable was stiff enough that you had to push it back to throttle down. So with one finger you can throttle up or down as you wish.

 

GREAT thread! Obviously, NO HAMBer can resist tackling a problem that's buggin a fellow rodder.

Gasolinedeniz-
I'd too would like to see a couple of pics of his solution in the Cobra, it sounds interesting.

 

I couldn't find much info, but when my uncle came home from WWII minus 1 leg, he was given a new 1946 Ford with a vacuum operated clutch. A switch on the column shift operated the system which automatically depressed the clutch, then it would release slowly allowing you to pull away smoothly from a stop. My Dad said he drove the car and it operated as a normal 3 speed also. I did find a picture of the system a few years ago, but I can't locate it now.

Another "traditional system" is Chryslers' fluid drive from the 40's.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/au...2BF43E2483A6B4458625739F0058CCE4?OpenDo***ent

Newer system.

http://www.accessunlimited.com/drivematic/infopac.html

 

Don't know how it worked but the 39 Ford that FDR drove had hand controls with a stick shift. Saw the car at Warm Springs Ga. at his summer white house

 

Hudson: off google

An optional accessory on some 1935-1938 Hudson and Terraplane models was a steering column-mounted electric gear pre-selector and electro-mechanical automatic shifting system, known as the Electric Hand, manufactured by the Bendix Corporation. This took the place of the floor-mounted shift lever, but required conventional clutch actions. Cars equipped with Electric Hand also carried a conventional shift lever in clips under the dash, which could be pulled out and put to use in case the Electric Hand should ever fail. Hudson was also noted for offering an optional vacuum-powered automatic clutch, starting in the early 1930s.

http://www.hudsonterraplane.com/tech/1935/1935BendixAutomaticClutchControl.pdf

 

I also rigged up a clutch for a friend who's injury was similar to yours. It was in a Bronco. I made up a hand lever about 36 inches long. I drilled a pivot hole about 6 or 8 inches from the bottom and made up a mount that bolted to the floor. A hole was cut in the floor and the handle and mount ***embly was bolted in place. A heavy spring from a hood hinge was attached to the lower end of the lever and stretched up to the pivot. I dug an old E brake cable out of the junk pile and attached one end to the bottom of the lever and the other end went through the floor and connected to the clutch pedal. When you pulled on the lever the spring would go over center and hold the clutch in. You could remove your hand from it and the clutch would remain disengaged. It was a bit of a one man band to drive and we decided that a twist grip throttle, on the clutch lever, to supplement the existing standard hand throttle/brake controller that was on the car would make it easier to drive. He usually shifted without the clutch once the car was underway. Before we got a chance to refine the deal, someone offered him too much money for the Bronco and away it went. It was a very promising setup and he adapted to it right away. I would consider it before a bunch of linear actuators, vacuum boosters or electrical franistats that can cause you to tear your hair out. The system that I used on my V-8 bike was necessary, but you can get by with a lot less in a car. Remember the KISS principle, Keep It Stupid, Simpleton...... wait, that ain't right.

 

I'm not really familiar with the A banger engines or how alike the different 4 cylinder engines of the early era were...but the first thing that came to my mind when I realized how "busy" such controls would make the drive in a standard...was the Model T planetary setup.
In original configuration forward movement and gear changing was by foot pedal and that could be reconfigured into a hand controlled setup. I believe Reverse could also be controlled by the same lever, but perhaps configure the lever in a H pattern to access it.
Braking could possibly even be accessed as the final location on the H pattern.
No clutch...throttle on the "shifter", banger engine and 1 hand always on the wheel.

The brakes would of course be modern hydraulics to replace the "jam them all to the floor to stop!" Model T layout. An additional full size hand brake lever would become the "Park" that is missing in the T planetary setup...just like a stock T.

I have no idea if this is all 100% possible...but it came to mind so I offer it up.

 

Thank You John, there is some real ingenuity there. I have thought of using a brake-booster setup...... hmmmmmm

I like this idea...... I would prefer good old mechanical linkages and leverage systems, then there is no relying on air or hydraulics or electrical sources.... Below there should be a pic with some arrows to clear up how the standard controls work...

I think the easiest way to do this would be to either mount a booster of sorts for leverage that is operated by a motorcycle style lever either lounted on the shifter, or on the throttle/brake lever.

Option 2, is to take the standard hand controls, and just hook the linkage up differently. I.E. hook up the linkage normally attached to the brake pedal, to the clutch, and keep the throttle where it is. The reason for doing this is that with the standard controls, the brake and accelerator can be used at the same time, making it very easy to depress the clutch, and feather the throttle while releasing the clutch.... Then that leaves us with the new dilema of how to depress the brake pedal...... There is ALWAYS an odd man out!!! Dammit.....

I have not seen this setup, but I have heard of it rather recently..... Maybe a trip to The Henry ford/greenfield village is needed.... I love that place!

Thank You All!!

James

P.S. I GOT THE CAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Picking it up in the morning!!!

See pics HERE: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=463946

 

Congrats on getting the car. Keep us posted on the conversion!

 

This just occurred to me. Growing up my Dad had one of those old Ford 8n tractors. Instead of a gas peddle it had a throttle lever on the dash with maybe a dozen or so "notches" to hold the throttle wherever you set it. Just set the throttle, put it in gear and release the clutch.

 

The biggest problem with the "T" ****** is that it is not adaptable to an "A" engine, at least not without a great deal of time/money. It is not a separate unit that unbolts from the back of the engine as we're all used to, but an integral part of the engine ***embly. It would be like trying to take all the guts from an automatic and using them without a case.

 

Rickybop !!!! you da man, great thing there.And James im disabled but not near as severe,your heads high im proud to read your story.....................YG

 

Ohhhh...like I said, I'm not into the early bangers so I didn't know that.

I noticed on a different thread about an off-brand ch***is someone found that it apparently had a "free floating" planetary transmission. It was mounted like a divorced transfer case.
I wonder how common and how reliable something like that was?

To make rolling back less of an issue, Subaru had/has a "hillholder" feature built into their brake system to keep the car in position on an incline, while the clutch is depressed and the brake is off.
I wonder is that adaptable to help on the hills???

 

As to the brake booster ***isted clutch: if you mount a hydraulic clutch lever off a motorcyle as the clutch actuator, have it run to a slave cylinder, have the slave pull on a short link to a ratio'd bellcrank, so that you could increase the draw over what the lever would give you. If the lever pull was 1", an offset bellcrank could increase that to any amount necessary to give enough draw on the booster... and the hydraulic slave cylinder would alleviate some of the drag??? Does any of that make sense?

I've been playing with a hand clutch idea for a few months now, I'm getting a vw bug and want to be able to shift it by hand (I have no strength left in my left leg to work a clutch pedal), so I'm very interested in seeing how this works out.

I know it was stated that simple was better, but because of the number of operations necessary to drive a manual car with two hands, some electronics might be useful. If you want to be able to feather the gas as you release the clutch, having those two functions in one hand might be useful... on a suspension crane I used to operate we had 22 functions enabled with only two joysticks, doing very precise work. This was all done electronically or electrically.

Okay, my point: what about having the lever operated clutch on the shifter along with a trigger type throttle? Ease the clutch out while triggering the throttle. This would make shifting a one handed operation. For braking and steering, what about a ring mounted to the steering column behind the wheel? It would be accessible no matter where you hand position would be, and would resolve any problems holding on a hill... Also, having this arrangement would keep the brake and clutch hands separate, making the operations more natural and less confusing (maybe?)

 

Early Porsche 911's never came out with an automatic transmission, but for the US market they came up with something they called the "sportmatic" transmission.
This uses a straight manual gearbox, but had a big vacuum actuator that looked like a brake booster to operate the clutch.
As soon as you placed your hand on the gear lever, the clutch ****ed in.
Take your hand off the gear lever, and the clutch slowly released.
If Porsche could get it to work well enough to sell to the public, so can you !

http://ranwhenparked.blogspot.com/2009/02/what-lies-beneath-porsche-sportomatic.html

Another source of clutch actuating power to do this, would be an ordinary power steering pump and a stroke limited hydraulic cylinder (with two end stops) operated from a single electrical solenoid control valve.
It could all be made a lot smaller, and could have far more powerful clutch actuation force than engine vacuum.
A pair of needle valves would allow both the speed of operation and release to be readily and independently adjustable. The pressure relief spring in the steering pump can be changed to reduce the hydraulic pressure as much as you want over a very wide range.

 

Did a quick search of the posts and did not see this but. Fully hydraulic throwout bearings. This could be adapted pretty easy, I know that there are a few leg amputee drivers using these more modern track cars.

 

Very interesting..... Any more info?

Thanks!!! James

 

Half a dozen or more people suggetsed this to me when I was doing my hand clutch conversion. They say to get one of these and a hydraulic clutch lever from a bike and your worries will be over. IT WILL NOT WORK!!! As I stated in my last post, ratios and leverage are the same. You cannot bend the laws of science. If you end up with a 2:1 ratio from the lever to the TO bearing it still will be like pushing the pressure plate fingers with the palm of your hand, just half as hard. Still, more strength than anyone has in their grip. Some of the ideas that have been posted will work as well, but their is no direct hookup that will work.

 

The hydraulic ones off a bike will not work, directly. It is a sizing issue.

These are made specifically for amputee adaption to cars so I know it can work. You could make the lever 38-40 inches long to up following it down the shift and get more then enough pressure to activate the release. Its not a really long stroke on the bearning so the foce multiplication would be pertty simple.

 

The one in the pic appears to be a McLeod hydraulic throwout bearing. They were not specifically designed for amputees but for general usage and replacements for existing units. Again, there is no advantage to using hydraulic over mechanical other than a slight reduction in friction when using the wet setup. If you're going to use a long hand lever to operate the clutch it makes little sense to convert to hydraulic when the stock mechanical setup will work just fine. If the builder wants to use a motorcycle type lever then a bit more engineering is going to be needed.
If I were to build this car I would use a similar setup to the one that I built with a M/C lever and an integral twist grip similar to a Vespa shifter where the grip and lever twist as a unit. Mount it to the stock shifter in place of the knob and you can clutch, accelerate and shift with your right hand. Once you're in high, you can use the standard single lever hand control to cruise around. Keep the hand control on the right side of the column so you can rest your elbow on the widow sill and show the pack o' Luckies rolled up in yer sleeve. Just because you're challenged doesn't mean you can't be cool.

 

Thanks for the clarification on that Carl. After Giving it much thought, I think I may just put a damn automatic in it when I can scrounge up the funds. Until then I just hafta get it low enough to get my *** in it, then make my buddies drive me around!!!! I will only do this auto swap if I can make the stock shifter operate the auto trans..... Which shouldnt be too hard...... Just have to make some linkage or find the right setup from a donor vehicle..... I bet there is some required, but I am hoping for no sheetmetal modifications to be necessarry, as I want to keep this car as a survivor, and Just hop-up the 'Banger and drive the wheels off it, until I can no longer resist the urge to chop it..... I will try not to but we shall see.......

Any body have an adapter for an auto (maybe C-4?) to 'Banger swap I can borrow to do a little R&D on? (Rob and duplicate) I have an older friend who is retired from 35 years at GM and can make ANYTHING in his machine shop......

Thank you so much guys!!!

James

 

car looks great.

if you get an electrically controlled auto trans you could set it up so you could have total manual (via electrical) control of shifting and lockup. a little more interesting that driving a slushbox

also if you decide to mod the car i think you should think about weight. lightening the car will make everything (steering, braking, clutching) via hand control easier.

 

Wow that's a cool car! Of course if you can figure a way to put an auto in there that'll put you light years ahead. One of the problems I had with "hand brakes" on my Jeep was the sheer force needed to stop the thing from any speed with those antique brakes. I've never driven an A but I imagine it's similar. Even with the auto you'll probably want to figure a way to boost the brakes.

 

Ok guys, I changed my mind back to a hand clutch.... The little stocker A Banger probably has barely enough HP to spin the automatic!!! Making a hand clutch setup will be the fastest and best way to get me on the road at this time.... Now I need a dropped front axle and T rear spring to bring her down out of the clouds....... So I can even get in!!! I cant even have my buddies take me for a cruise because the car sits too high for me to get into!!!! Anybody in MI got a decent price on a dropped axle and or T rear spring??? Still looking for good ideas for the clutch setup..... Maybe something like off of an old ford tractor?

Thanks Guys!!!!

James