Clutch Pedal Reinstall

[tgulden]

Last Saturday, the top plate sheared off of the clutch pedal in my '81 Spider 2000. That is, the part of the pedal with the fork one one end the holds the clutch cable and the pedal stop on the other end separated from the rest of the pedal. This made for an exciting ride home through about 10 miles of traffic lights in Washington DC. Speed shifting was easy enough, but navigating the whole way without coming to a stop on anything other than a downhill was a real challenge.

Now, with a re-welded pedal and a new clutch cable (for good measure) I am facing a new challenge.

Getting the return spring off of the pedal to pull it was a major drag, but the famous penny trick (discussed in other posts here) made it possible. I have added more pennies now that it is loose (by bending it in the other direction) and I think it won't be too hard to reinstall it.

Before I get to reinstalling the dreaded spring, though, I have to get the pedal back in place. After a fair amount of messing around upside down under the dash, I am wondering if it can be done! I was (just) able to remove the pedal -- but now I realize that this was because the top part was sheared off. Now that the fork is back in place, I don't seem to be able to get the pedal back on the shaft and straitened up so that the top of the pedal can move in the rather narrow hole that is above it. I've tried it with with the bushing in and with it out and with the pivot bolt in as many configurations (mostly out, mostly in, etc.) as I can think of. Space is really tight for both the bolt and the pedal.

Does anyone have experience with this? Any tips? Can it even be done without cutting big holes in metal parts under the dash?

[mbouse]

hi, and welcome to the site. please stop by the introduction page and tell us something about yourself and your car.

italian curse words work great for this project. learn some italian. i currently know none, but the car doesn't know that... it accepts near italian curse words like:
Spaghetti
Lasagna
Minestrone
Linguini

and, my all time favorite... fork... fork... FORK...

Spread these words liberally throughout the process. I know that the installation is made more difficult because you are generally on your knees with your head bowed low under the dash; but this gives you the excellent opportunity to do what otherwise comes natural in this situation.... PRAY

honestly, if you are set with a method on the spring installation, the rest of the process is exactly opposite of dis-assembly. it is cumbersome, but there are no special tricks or tools needed. Just a lotta determination. YUP, the clearance is near zero, and some persuasion will need to be applied to the main bolt, but go ahead and curse a little. it just might help.

[tgulden]

Yeah, it does turn out to be possible -- though considerable cursing was required. The primary insight was that the pivot bolt can be fully retracted. I really thought there was not room to do that, but I finally found the right angle combined with a bit of force. This allowed the pedal (bushing removed) to be slid up into place vertically and the bolt slid back through it. Replacing the bushing with the pedal and bolt in place required more cursing, but proved possible as well.

I actually found that the best work position for parts of the job was to put the top down, recline the seat, and lay back with my feet on the boot and head under the dash.

Now the exciting part -- after all that reassembly, I fear that the welding to reattach the plate to the pedal arm was not quite right. The pedal now stops about an inch lower than it should and the cable comes out something close to an inch short. In order to attach the lower adjustment nut, I had to use up all of the play in the lever that comes out the clutch -- and perhaps another 5mm -- maybe a little more. I haven't tested it yet (as I finally got things back together at about 11:00pm last night and had been working by flashlight all that time) -- but I fear that the clutch is going to slip or other, worse, things.

If that proves to be the case, a new clutch pedal would be the easy way out (leaving the prospect of reinstallation aside). This is not the sort of thing one can order from IAP -- any thoughts on where I might lay hands on one? Or, how I might avoid needing to do so?

[So Cal Mark]

I think the new pedals were discontinued about a year ago. You might have to search vendors for a NOS item

[tgulden]

Ha! False alarm -- the welding appears to have been okay. When I took the car down from the jackstands after work today and tried it, I found that the clutch was engaging too close to the floor -- not too far out as I had feared. When I tightened the nut on the clutch end of the cable to the same place where the old one was (locking nut about 1cm from the end of the threads), it felt just right.

This made me realize that the reason there was no tension on the cable when I took it apart was -- drumroll please -- because the pedal end was broken! Duh.

So, it appears that all is ending well. The clutch pedal may be just a bit low, but not by much, and the cable travel seems to be just as it should be. I have yet to reinstall the dreaded return spring. I will get to that over the weekend after I jam a few more pennies between the few coils that don't already have them.

There are actually a few clutch pedals for sale in ebay stores, both NOS and used -- but it looks like I won't be needing one. w00t!