I had the pleasure of experiencing stop and go traffic without the luxury of a clutch yesterday. Seems my 33 year old clutch cable has had enough.

Does anyone have any tips for making the replacing of this go as smoothly as possible? Any special tools I might need? Etc?

Thanks in advance

Attach your old cable foward end to your new cable aft end and pull it trough (or vice versa I forget which way you pull it out), when you pull your cable out the new one is in place. This way you won't have to feed it blindly.

other than that should be straigh forward.

Tie a string to the end of the cable to that when you pull it out through the tunnel you can fish the new one through easier.

And this will still be possible even though the cable snapped somewhere in the center?

Step 1: Check to make sure your clutch tube isn't broken/ripped out.

Then -
Undo the clutch cable at the transmission. If the hardware is original, you'll need two 11mm wrenches. A ratcheting wrench (GearWrench™) is a godsend here.
Loosen the pulley wheel and free the cable.
Undo the ring that holds the cable housing to the pulley bracket. (for pictures of these steps, read the engine removal article in the 914 Info section, link at the top of this page).

Inside the car:
Remove the drivers side floor carpet.
Remove the pedal board.
Pop the throttle pedal off the pushrod by pulling the whole pedal toward the back of the car. If your hardware isn't rusty, removing the whole pedal can make things easier.
Reach into the center tunnel and pull the clevis pin out.
Pull the cable end out into the open.
Unscrew the end piece from the cable.
Pull the old cable out the back.
Slide in the new cable.

Reinstallation:
Getting the pin back in place can be a real PITA.
Make sure the clutch cable doesn't get twisted up on the throttle cable. A mirror and a flashlight are handy here.


Good Luck!

It will if you're replacing the cable AND housing.

Awesome, thanks everyone.

I had a sticky clutch cable due to rust and some ding dong (during PO) jacking up the car from under the tunne. - bent tube.

If the cable gets stuck or you detect rust, clean the rust out first.