tangystang

Ever since i bought my car it has had a super stiff clutch. I am expecting that to be the clutch and that doesn't really bother me, but when I'm in stop and go traffic after the trans has warmed up, it seems like my clutch is binding up. Like if I put my car into 1st and try to ease up a few feet without taking my foot off the clutch then press down on the clutch to take it out of gear, it won't let me press down any further and I have to REALLY put my body weight on it to go down to take it out of gear before I ram someones rear end. but when it does this, it makes a pop noise. I bought my car with this setup on it. The previous owner did it, so I know nothing about it.

someone tell me more about it, and what it might be?

71_340

Did you check if you plastic quadrant is still serviceable? It might be worn out where it pivots on the shaft and get stuck at times.

Another item to check is to make sure you clutch cable isn't to close to the exhaust components and is starting to melt.

Last, if you put the car on jack stands you can look inside the bell housing at the shaft where the throw out bearing rides back and forth. You can apply some high temp grease (very little) with a brush while somebody operates the clutch.

tangystang

Okay, I will try the grease, and its an aluminum quadrant. Forgot to throw that in there.

Lackey'sGT

It looks like you have the maximum motorsports firewall adjuster and probably quadrant with he stock cable. Have you tried adjusting it at all? Also where does the clutch release?

With this type of set up you have to adjust it periodically as the clutch disk wears out to insure that the clutch it properly adjusted.

tangystang

I tried adjusting it but it does nothing, but change where it engages at. It still does the same thing.

dawson1112

I would look up into the bell housing and check to see that the clutch fork didn't come off the pivot ball. Its not uncommon for the little metal fingers that hold it in place to break or bend.

You may also want to pull the cable off the pedal and take it out of the firewall and check that adjuster that's on there. The cables have been known to bind in firewall adjusters and chaff or break all together.

tangystang

I just crawled under the dash and looked at the cable going into the firewall, and trying to press down on the clutch my and that is nearly impossible, but when I got it to press down I saw that the cable looked like it wasn't center going into the adjuster. There was more room on one side of the cable than the other. Is that normal?

Thatsweetstang

I would unbolt the shift fork cover at the bottom of the trans and take off the cable and inspect it. Once the cable is off can you pull it and get some slack or is it stuck? You should be able to pull on the cable and bring the clutch to the floor. If you can't do that then I would take the cable off the quadrent and push on the clutch pedal to see of if it's the pedal itself. If the pedal can move freely but the cable can't on either end then something is wrong with the cable or how it is routed. If the cable is off the quadrent and the clutch is stiff look to see if the clutch pedal is binding somewhere. If all that is good then grab the clutch fork and see if you can move it, it doesn't take much effort. If you can't move it or it takes a pry bar and a lot of force then something might be wrong with the clutch etc. also the quadrent should be able to freely move with no cable on it.

tangystang

yeah, i can feel it in the pedal, it really feels like its coming from underneath the dash somewhere. and by the way, i'm sure this isn't good, but there is no shield covering the clutch fork and cable on the trans. previous owners bright idea

Thatsweetstang

So with the clutch cable off the quadrent the clutch pedal is stiff? Because it shouldn't be. Take off the clutch quadrent to make sure that isn't causing the problem. Then your gonna have to find out what has slipped or broke on the pedal assembly that is causing the clutch pedal to be stiff.