Well, I got the car registered with a clear title. I just got back from my first test drive and I am not a happy camper again. The clutch is slipping quite badly. I can eventually get it up to speed but have to be very careful or the engine will rev very high while the car does not accelerate. What was originally a great purchase has just become very average as I have priced a clutch kit already. The worst part is, after I paid for the registration and stuff, my budget is at zero. My agreement with my wife was $100 a month so looks like the car won't see the road again until November. I would go and get some beer to drown my sorrows but I have to save for tha clutch now.

Are you sure the clutch cable just isn't too tight?

If it is too tight, of course it won't disengage all the way and thus slip...

i feel for 'ya.
my clutch started to slip so i decided to take it to the shop and have it fixed.
check out what was supposed to be a easy one weekend "put in a new clutch" ...

May 2002, probably the most labour intensive clutch replacement in history :-)

July 2002, almost ready to be put back together

Early September 2002, she got a nice new roll-cage ...

April 2003, the car got some fresh paint (Guards Red).

1 year and 6 month later, she's back on the road!

moah pix here, just click on the "Pictures" link:
My Car


when you get to the clutch, make sure the tranny main shaft seal isn't leaking.
that's how it all started on my car, one faulty $5 seal ...

Andy

That's all my V8 needed. Have you checked the slack in cable?

So how do I check the clutch cable? It did seem that there was absolutely no slack when I was reattaching it to my pedal cluster after rebushing it.

new bushings can change the clutch adjustemnent.
basically, people will adjust the clutch (tranny side) more and more while the bushings wear out to compensate. then, with new bushings, things are too tight.

does the clutch engage close to the top of the pedal right now?

back off the double adjuster nuts on the tranny (11 mm) about 5 mm or so and see if that makes a difference. this should move the engagement point on the pedal down quite a bit.

Andy

tell her that you need the first $1200 upfront.

if you have no slack at end of pedal it is very likely that's why your slipping... there should be a little free play at cluch pedal all the way disengaged. If there is not then your clutch cable is holding your pressure plate partially disengaged.

I just changed a shot clutch in a 73 2.0 liter and I can tell you that even when it was completely gone I still had pretty good coupling of the trans to the engine.


Nate makes a legitimate point you basically agreed to $ 1,200 over 12 mos or an average of $ 100.00 /month... that's reasonable

rob

The agreement was $50 every payday (2 weeks) until the total reaches $1500. After that normal maintenance costs would be a given. I'm at nearly $1300 right now and no money currently available and the car isn't completely road-worthy yet. Drove it a bit more today to see what other issues might turn up that could only be found on the road as opposed to idling in the driveway. Seems now I also neet a CHT sensor or something too. So I'm currently broke with $200 more dollars in the future budget and possibly $400 worth of parts to buy to make the car barely road-worthy. Then of course there are the other little things like the leaking master cylinder, bad headlight relay, oil cooler leaking, rusted exhaust etc. I just want to be able to start driving it once in a while. Hard to do with a bad clutc h and CHT. I'll be looking into the cable adjustment ASAP though.

All your troubles makes me look at mine in a different light now. I feel for ya man. Just last night I was contemplating selling Punkin for a Miata. I woke up thinking, "why would I want to have a car that everybody & his dog has?" So, as soon as I got to work, I looked on line & found the cheapest TPS available and ordered it. It might not fix all the problems but at least it'll get rid of one. Just hang in there and one day you'll be down to driving it looking forward to the next repair that YOU can do yourself. Just like what your going to do when you crawl under and re-adjust the clutch.

Now JUST DO IT & go DRIVE

.............b

Question I would ask is where is the friction point. With pedal depressed, slowly let it out and see where the car wants to start moving or engine speed slows down. If the pedal is at the top of travel (outwards), I would say it's to tight.

Going to check that right now.

Clutch engages in the top 1/2 inch or so of pedal travel so it sounds like a simple cable adjustment should work. Now on to the hot stalling problem i yet another new thread.

Don't dispare too much. Best I can help out would be to get you the 3 main peices if you need them for $300 plus shipping from Seattle. Disc, Plate and Throw out bearing. Not sure if that is a good deal these days. But they are all three new peices. Keep the chin up. The first time you can drive with the top off on a sunny day will pay for all the hard work you put into the little 914.

PP has their super kit with the 911 disc for like $355. The cable adjustment helped a lot and as long as I really go easy on the throttle, it doesn't slip so I'll be driving like grandma for a while while I save for the kit. The bad news is that my exhaust is so bad that if I take it apart to do the clutch, I probably won't be able to reuse any of it. So $355 for the clutch and $750 for SS heat exchangers and 2.0L Bursch exhaust. Wow!! $1100 is real close to what I paid for the whole car.

Adjust your valves before you go chasing after anything else. There's a 99.9% chance that they are too tight.

Alright man I can hook you up. I have a rebuilt 2.0 clutch that I took out of a car i just stripped. Let it go for 150 and I'll even through in a CHT sensor. I have a set of catory heat exchangers but they have all but rotted the heat exchanger off. Just do without the heat for awhile.

Change your plugs, put NGK plugs in there, run some Regane through the fule system, check the valves and timing. Then start worrying about the other problems. Drive the car if it has been sitting for awhile and a lot of the problems will clear themselves up. Make sure the front seal on the tranny is not leaking and coating the disk in fluid. You can pick up a new disk from Kennedy for 100$. I did that if there is no damage to the pressure plate or throwout bearnig it is worth the gamble.