Clutch Cable Install

[sperold]

95 SHO MTX
My current clutch cable actually broke in the engine compartment, right at the attachment point at the transmission wig-wag arm.
So that part is pretty straight-forward.

I got a new cable, and a copy of the clutch mechanism diagrams for the apparatus under the dash.
I squirmed around while upside down under the dash, after lowering the fuse panel.
I am having a hard time understanding this part of the removal and replacement of the new cable.

Do I have to dis-assemble the quadrant thing from the pivot point to get the new cable on the quadrant wheel, or can I lift the pawl up and pass the nub on the cable end between the wheel and the pawl.

I simply do not understand the instructions on the necessity of holding the petal up with a piece of wood or whatever and to not allow the quadrant to swing forward while the old cable is removed. It is portrayed as a fatal mistake.

Any help would be appreciated. My front seat is as far back as it will go and I still can hardly see this stuff, let alone get my hands in there to do anything.

I am hoping someone has some advice that makes this job something I can do myself.

Thank You.

 

[Bryan]

I think the reasoning for blocking the clutch petal up is to make sure that you don't break the auto clutch adjuster mechanism. At least that is what I have heard.

 

[zoomlater]

this thread might help

Clutch cable

Hello & Happy Holidays. The clutch cable on my 91 broke & trying to have it replaced. The guy I have doing it is having a difficult time with it. Anybody have a link to the procedure to replace it? Thank you

shoforum.com

 

[sperold]

Section 16-03 Clutch Linkage, Mechanical in the Helms Manual has a lot of information on what each part of the system is doing and has a lot of depictions of the parts. Their purpose is to show how the whole assembly can be removed from the car and how to rebuild the unit.

However, there is no description on how to thread the cable through the quadrant wheel, but under the pawl.

I will figure it out by trial and error, now that I know there are no horrible consequences for doing something out of order. And if I can twist myself into a form to get a look at the parts.

Has anyone removed the pull down fuse panel to get access to the area, and would it help?

Thanks

 

[sperold]

I used to have access to the V6 SHO part of WikiSHO, and I believe there was a section on replacing the clutch cable. I can no longer find it.

Also, if anyone has done this job, were you able to access the area in question from the drivers door opening, or did you somehow lay across the console after entering from the passenger side?

I tried taking the flop down fuse panel away from the area, but it would not budge after removing the dash mounting screws on the dash bottom.

I am failing badly!

 

[zoomlater]

you could remove the front seat to provide you more space

 

[sperold]

I have not done it yet, but I got more information.

I found the wiki website that has the clutch cable replacement instructions:
http://wikisho.com/ then go to Care and Feeding of the SHO, then 5 speed transaxle, then replacing the clutch cable.

My key learnings are:, once you tie the pedal up to the steering wheel, the pawl is released from the quadrant and there is enough space to pass the cable end back through the space between the pawl and the pedal opening. I am going to tie a string on the end of the cable, so that when it is pulled into the engine compartment, the string allows you to pull the NEW cable through the tortured maze under the brake cylinder, back into the passenger compartment, after you put a grommet on the string.

There is a tricky exercise that has you pushing the quadrant back towards the front of the car before you cinch the cable end to the quadrant end (which you can see).

I don't seem to have a clutch shield that attaches to the mounting plate bracket, so my guess is, it is gone, and I am going to stop looking for it.. This kept me busy for quite a while.

It appears I do not have to contort myself into a pretzel shape to do this job, which is great, as there is no room for my head, arms, tools, a light,and a mirror, down in that foot-well.

Hope this helps, and I will report any new findings as I continue this task.

 

[Carlos J]

95 SHO MTX
My current clutch cable actually broke in the engine compartment, right at the attachment point at the transmission wig-wag arm.
So that part is pretty straight-forward.

I got a new cable, and a copy of the clutch mechanism diagrams for the apparatus under the dash.
I squirmed around while upside down under the dash, after lowering the fuse panel.
I am having a hard time understanding this part of the removal and replacement of the new cable.

Do I have to dis-assemble the quadrant thing from the pivot point to get the new cable on the quadrant wheel, or can I lift the pawl up and pass the nub on the cable end between the wheel and the pawl.

I simply do not understand the instructions on the necessity of holding the petal up with a piece of wood or whatever and to not allow the quadrant to swing forward while the old cable is removed. It is portrayed as a fatal mistake.

Any help would be appreciated. My front seat is as far back as it will go and I still can hardly see this stuff, let alone get my hands in there to do anything.

I am hoping someone has some advice that makes this job something I can do myself.

Thank You.

I just did this on my 89 the easy way disconnect electrical connections clutch and brake clutch you said lower the fuse box remove the clutch pedal 2 bolts and a nut hold it in place don't take a part the quadrant, you are going to want to clean and **** the the quadrant you also want to get cable **** the clutch cable is a bigger version of a bicycle cable I found the **** at walfart at the bicycle section sporting goods, install the new cable go through engine firewall be sure to put all the spaces how they go atouch cable to trans shift fork 1st and pedal 2nd use needle nose locking pliers to hold the cable part as it sits on the quadrant install the pedal back on the car pliers still hanging on the cable this is done so the cable doesn't came out of the quadrant and really **** you off when done with the pedal cable on the quadrant with the pliers hanging make sure the cable still on the shift fork at the transmission, push on the clutch pedal with your hand till you see the pliers start to get trap, remove the pliers and push the pedal the rest of the way you will hear the ratcheting sound of the quadrant engaging the teeth this will take out the slack on the cable and self adjust and your done plug all the stuff you disconnected brake switch clutch switch, good luck.

 

[sperold]

I am embarrassed to report that I have not installed the clutch cable as of yet,
I have the old cable out of the car, and I did tie a string onto the departing end, and used the string to pull the new cable into the cab compartment. The old cable exited the quadrant with no issues and I thought the new cable end should come back into the cab compartment the same way, The string was a way of making sure no grommets, cushions, got lost and it formed a path to do some complicated routing in the engine compartment under some brake lines.

The string was not up to the task and broke, but no problem, I thought, I will just run a wire in the groove over the top of the quadrant and connect it to the end of the clutch cable. This has not worked.

Can anyone inform me as to why the cable end will not come over the top of the quadrant when i pull the wire? I am not able to see well at the cowl end of the quadrant.
Another confession is i have not been able to get the cover off that hides the quadrant and I thought this wire thing would allow me to do the job without doing the cover removal. I do not see how I can take the cover off as there is not much room up there.

Tie-ing up the clutch pedal and pushing the quadrant towards the cowl has not happened yet as well.
My instructions said not to use any mechanical lever (like a screwdriver) to push the quadrant back, but I don't see any other way, so I am stopped.

I am hoping someone can tell me what I am doing wrong.

I am considering uncoupling the clutch pedal from the pivot, bringing it down to where I can load the cable; but I am not sure if there is enough cable length for me to do that, so I am not trying that just yet.

 

[sperold]

you could remove the front seat to provide you more space

As a near last resort, I took the front seat out. Even that was a chore - left front bolt had a 12 mm head, front right was 13 mm, left rear nut was 13 mm and the right rear nut was 18 mm. Oh, and the left front bolt broke off! You can see a lot better and more comfortably, but the problem remains that it is hard to get any tools including a flashlight, a small mirror and access for your hands in the space under the dash.

The fold-down fuse box is a real obstruction. Turns out the bracket is not removable, and whether down or up, it is in the way.

I resolved to remove the plastic cover that shields the clutch quadrant (I don't know from what)
Using a standard 1/4 drive ratchet, a 3" long extension and an 8mm socket, I was able to remove the 2 hold down screws. I took the cover off the assembly, as I had a hard time seeing anything with it on.

All my attempts to run a wire up over the quadrant from the bottom and hook it to the clutch cable failed. So I fed the wire rope cable into the back of the quadrant (which is actually the front side of the quadrant) and because the plastic cover was off. I could guide it over the top until I could see it near the end of the quadrant where it will be eventually anchored (actually straight up from the floor).

There I hooked the end of the cable with a wire and dragged it down towards the floor, to the point that if I rotated the quadrant up, I could anchor it in the anchor pocket of the quadrant.

Sensing victory, I move out to the engine compartment and stuck the free end of the cable through the mount on the transmission housing and grabbed the wire rope cable with pliers and pulled it towards the rad while standing on the passenger side of the car. I turns out that the cable is as short as physically possible, and it took a herculean pull on the cable end to pull it over the end of the throw-out-bearing arm.

My advice is, do not try this job while the front seat is in place. It is nearly impossible even with the seat out.
You cannot see the screws holding the plastic cover and first you must feel the heads with your fingers, while being scrunched into a near impossible location, even with the front seat removed. While you have your head under the dash, when you look up, while holding a light, the wires closest to your eyes force your eyes to focus on them, leaving you unable to clearly see to the top of the space, where all your activities are taking place. The wires that are in your way, tend to be so tight you can play a tune on them, or so large a wire harness that your cannot push them aside to get at the upper location,

All in all, it was a difficult job that had me beat for a large part of the time it took to do it.

 

[zoomlater]

Glad you got it done and wrote it up so anyone else can see what is involved. I haven't had to do one yet, but good to know how to do it now.

 

[Devin]

@sperold @zoomlater I have no idea what those engineers were thinking, but the scitzophrenic nut/bolt arrangement on the seats is ridiculous. I 100% agree taking the seat out to make this job easier, especially as it only takes 10 minutes to move it out and back in.

I also found that taking the steering trim cover and steering brace helped a lot to be able to see various things.

I had no trouble disconnecting the old cable from the clutch arm or clutch pedal, but reinstallation was a pain in the donkey. With the old shift cable out I neglected to tie a string around it and spent five minutes poking around under the booster to no avail. I eventually grabbed a wire coat hanger, and just fed it through from the passenger compartment into the engine bay and after a few tries got the new cable end taped to it. Pulling it through was not too bad but would've been great with another set of hands. A few back and forths and I got the cable into the passenger compartment. There is apparently a boot-like grommet because it pulled that through as well, but I was able to poke it back in.







That last picture is the plastic end of the cable assembly that the actual stranded cable extrudes from. Once that was popped in I contorted the cable end around into the cup-shaped grommet that the plastic piece rests in.



I bent the coat hanger end into a hook and it was able to grab the ferrule on the end of the clutch cable. That stupid shield blocked the ferrule/cable from coming over the top of the quadrant, but I found that if you remove the closest screw from the shield the unit will move enough that the cable can come back. Then it is fairly simple to pull the ferrule forward and move the quadrant backwards to get it locked into place.


You can see the screw that my socket is on in relation to the cable and the quadrant. This is when I was reinstalling the shield screw.

 

[zoomlater]

looks like fun, thanks for the pics to help in the future when my cable fails