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Posted by: BigDBass Jun 16 2006, 09:23 PM

After 26 days dealing with the brakes etc, I finally go for a drive with my wife.
Car's running great. Beautiful night, Herbie Hancock competing with the revving 2.0...

Then all of a sudden, shifting goes to hell. Grinds nastily into first, have to muscle into 2nd 3rd etc with a surprising amount of force.

By the time I got closer to home, I could barely get the car in gear at all.

So um, help...

Posted by: mikez Jun 16 2006, 09:34 PM

Cone screw(s) loose in the shifter rod?

Posted by: Dave-O Jun 16 2006, 09:35 PM

Good news! It's not the transmission.

Sounds like you have to adjust the clutch cable. These do require periodic adjustment on 914's.

Pull back on your clutch cable and see how much free play there is on it. If it is more than 1" it is too much (in my opinion). To adjust crawl under the car. Look on the passenger side of the transmission. You will see a cable wrap around a pulley. On the end of the cable there are two jam nuts. "Unjam" the nuts using two 11mm wrenches. Then tighten them until you have the slack in the pedal that you are looking for.

You will be able to feel in the throw of the pedal that the clutch is fully dissengaging. Go for a drive and try it out.

Give me a call if you need a better explanation 9203196954

Posted by: So.Cal.914 Jun 16 2006, 10:29 PM

QUOTE(Dave-O @ Jun 16 2006, 08:35 PM)

Good news! It's not the transmission.

Sounds like you have to adjust the clutch cable. These do require periodic adjustment on 914's.

Pull back on your clutch cable and see how much free play there is on it. If it is more than 1" it is too much (in my opinion). To adjust crawl under the car. Look on the passenger side of the transmission. You will see a cable wrap around a pulley. On the end of the cable there are two jam nuts. "Unjam" the nuts using two 11mm wrenches. Then tighten them until you have the slack in the pedal that you are looking for.

You will be able to feel in the throw of the pedal that the clutch is fully dissengaging. Go for a drive and try it out.

Give me a call if you need a better explanation 9203196954

I agree, this is such a common thing that the tool kit in mine has a small

pair of vise grips I use just for adjustment. I'll let you in on a little secret for

emergency adjustments. If it is going out of adjustment, pull to the curb and

find an egress (driveway entrance) put front tire on curb line and drive forward

keeping tire on curb. Car will raise up on passenger side enough for you to get

under and adjust clutch. Just don't touch exaust.

Posted by: elwood-914 Jun 16 2006, 10:32 PM

Mine only had one nut. It kept loosening up and I had to readjust it again. Bought another nut to "double nut" it and never had a problem since.

Tim

Posted by: SGB Jun 16 2006, 10:59 PM

If it isn't the clutch cable, or the cone screw (my first two guesses), next would be the shift linkage bushing at the firewall. Mine disentigrated all at once about a year ago. Suddenly sometimes the shifter just would NOT go into the slot.

Posted by: BigDBass Jun 16 2006, 11:06 PM

Hey,
Crisis averted. It was the clutch cable adjustment. In fact, it now shifts better than ever. Dave-O graciously ran through it on the phone. He is pulling ahead on my list of 914 heros. So now I know how to adjust the clutch cable. I can't wait to have more interesting questions.

Does it mean anything that I could've done it by hand? The nuts are still lose enough that I can tighten both down by just turning the locking one with my fingers.

Sweet, this is my new record for shortest downtime

Thanks all for chiming in. Joining the 914 caravan to the WI gathering in 8 hours.

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