steev

Yep, the clutch master cylinder is also the same plastic part for all S197 Mustangs too, even the GT500 has it.

Boneman

Hey, y'all will NEVER GUESS... what happened to ME this morning? At least it was whilst backing out of the driveway... I got her back in the driveway. 148K miles... I guess it kinda held up OK?

Now, on to more pressing things...

I am going to attempt to FIX this Trunnion... procured, at no small expense, Devcon 2 TON Epoxy. Seems pretty major league heavy duty... and let me reiterate... NOT CHEAP.

Stay tuned!

Boneman

Well... the epoxy FAILED... and not so much because of what it is... but moreso that the tight quarters up there disallowed the best access and I'm pretty sure the matching halves of the trunnion were not mated up properly.

Onward.... I will be making up SOMETHING to replace this silly P.O.S. as I refuse to hork up the money and go through the contortions of replacing the entire master cylinder for what appears to be a 50 cent piece of plastic.....

imtryin67

My small chunk of steel that I ground into shape and drilled to look like the cheap plastic p.o.s. is still doing fine. Its the way to go.

Boneman

I'm thinking along the same lines. Actually, was going to attempt aluminum.... as it's a little easier to... "machine" with rudimentary garage tools (belt sander, drills, etc.). I did the epoxy trick to the plastic part again... this time OUT of the car.... and it seems much more robust... I will attempt to re-drill the pushrod hole and re-install.... but will be fabricating a metal unit as... well... I feel that's the best way to go.

Boneman

OK, enough what that plastic thing... it's a "miracle" plastic... which means NOTHING sticks to it so....

Plan B ended up being to fabricate something more robust. Went to a bunch of different places looking for an alternative... and found THIS thing:



Yes... a doorstop. Got it at Home Depot. Surprisingly, it's BRASS. So, you can kinds see where I'm going here:



Pop it apart and HEY! This looks very promising indeed:



Let the chopping begin:



All this was done with and angle grinder and a drill. 1/2" diameter for the large through hole and 19/32 for the pushrod hole. That I kinda wriggled the bit in there to get it large enough to fit over the knurling on the pushrod shaft but with a slight interference fit. I used the 2 ton epoxy to affix the trunnion to the pushrod once I was happy with the way it all was working.

Basically, make it match the original POS that comes out in two pieces. It functions PERFECTLY. In fact.... once I got to driving the car, it was immediately obvious some of the "symptoms" I was having prior to the trunnion breaking. 5th gear was getting very clunky. I kinda attributed that to age / mileage... but with the new trunnion... it's shifting perfectly once again.

Hopefully, this wee write-up may help others in the future to fix this issue.

steev

Just saw this - awesome work! How's it holding up?

Boneman

Thus far, it's holding up just fine! Though... I dunno if I'll ever uncross my fingers. ;-)

pascal

Good job Boneman!
That will give us some to think about when fail occurs...

Boneman

Thanks! LOL.... I find it a bit funny that if not for a doorstop.... The Mustang wouldn't GO!