mbonner

Well the old girl rolled over 100,000 miles on a trip to Spicer, Mn, today to get a competition Perazzi shotgun fixed by a top US gunsmith, Pat Laib.
When I got to Grand Forks ND on the home trip, seems the clutch pedal has a lot of travel. I push it down, fine, put into gear, fine, let clutch out,fine. Then the pedal comes up a lot after clutch is engaged. More than before I think. Anything I should worry about? New master/slave cylinders 1000 miles ago.

Probably the original rubber pucky type 22 year old in there. Already on verge of ordering clutch repair kit anyway as Can $ good value against the greenback.
Mike

IceShark

Mike, you should have let me known you were down here and we could have gone for lunch while Laib worked on the gun. I'm not so sure I would spend too much money on that as a Canadian, especially since they now know you have it. Long guns will probably be made illegal in a few years.

I know enough about our clutches to get myself in trouble. But if you are now getting extra travel I would suspect the disc may be worn down (the friction surface is shockingly thin to start with), the pressure plate spring fingers are failing so it seems like you have a lot more travel, or the TOB fork.

I wouldn't worry about it too much if you can still shift without stressing the synchros. I don't think you could hurt the flywheel anymore than I did with my clutch failure and a machine shop cleaned that up with a resurface of 0.025". Maybe the clutch fork has something goofy going on, like it is bent or sort of broken. The point being if you can still shift smooth and not hurt the transaxle you probably can't do too much more harm other than getting stranded when it gives up the ghost.

If you have the original rubber center at 100,000 and 22 years old, well ..... The other item is check clutch pedal play adjustment. There is a stud fitting on the pedal with a jamb nut to adjust when the pedal engages the master piston. If that is loose and moving around that would cause problems. It is supposed to be set so you have around 1/8" play at the lower pedal face before it engages the master piston. Sort of trickey to adjust as you have the return spring fighting against you. But press on the pedal 20 times with your hand and you will finally detect when you are engaging the master piston. As the Porsche workshop manual says, "There is no objective method to measure this", or something to that effect.

Aren't these cars GREAT!

KuHL 951

Second the pedal travel suggestion..it really helps especially if it's never been done and your rbber center clutch is wearing down. I replaced my original failed rubber center on the N/A at 160K, I was still able to shift smoothly without grinding even though it had been in limp-home mode for 6 months. Believe it or not the disc had at least 25% of the friction surface left. Try the pedal adjustment first and see if it buys you some time. The adjusting jamb nut is 13mm I think and not easy to get to unless you are a Bavarian elf.

smokey

It's easier to adjust the jam nut looking up. Move the seat back, then work on your back, with safety glasses and a light. The easiest way to check the engagement point is to turn on the engine: when the pedal lever touches the master cylinder, you will hear the clutch fork engage the release bearing. You should have 1/8" movement at the pedal before you hear the release bearing start turning. Don't leave the engine on when you're adjusting the nut! Adjust, then check.

IceShark

Yeah, getting under the dash with a normal body and arms feels like you are some sort of tunnel rat in Vietnam. After the first time I did it, I went and bought a fluorescent shop stick light for the future. Besides being generally better than incandescent bulbs, it won't burn your skin off when it rolls against your head. OUCH!

smokey

So THAT'S why they make flourescent trouble lights........Next on my to-do list.

mbonner

Thanks, guys, pity about lunch, Iceshark, I have another gun to get done some time, I'll let you know when I'm down. The car ran like a sewing machine the whole trip.
This is rather a sudden occurrence and suspect the loose jam nut is responsible. Sounds like fun getting at it, I luckily have a flourescent trouble light after I burned myself with the regular one.
The clutch is not showing any signs of grief yet. No records when I bought the car, reflected in price, cheap.
Mike

IceShark

Good ones are sort of hard to find.

The standard is a 13 watt bulb which is around 60 watt incandescent. Not that great, but better than a cigarette lighter. So, you want the dual bulb 26 watt. Then cord length and if a spring roller and having an adjustable magnet on the housing. The normal trouble light hook has the amazing feature of never shining light where you want it.

I haven't found the right light but I bet if we got 20 guys together we could get a spec light made for around 25 to 40 bucks. With everything you would want.

Guys on 220 volt, I'm sure they could make that.

KuHL 951

Those new multi LED trouble lights look real promising, no heat, plenty of light and just about unbreakable. I haven't found the right one yet but saw a real nice 30-bulb unit that looked like it would do the trick.

IceShark

I don't have a dog in this fight, but current LEDs are not the way to go if you have AC power at hand.

30 bulb LED to do the trick? Hell, I have a 4x10 array, 40 "bulbs", for my 3rd brake eye. Made by the guys that suopply cops and such. I would not go that way for a shop light.

But if you want to do it, go ahead. Then tell us how bad it turned out.

Oh, as an edit, LEDs actually put out a fair amount of heat when you get them up to same light levels.. Just talk to an engineer. Usually, never as much as a filament bulb, though.

KuHL 951

Thanks for the warning on the LED types, I've never really tried one and doubt if I will now.. I do know I have broken 4 flourescents and lost track of the broken bulbs and burned arms from my usual clamp/magnetic types using incandescents. There has to be a "Ultimate Shop Light" out there somewhere...say aren't you in the lighting business?

IceShark

There are some good fluorescent ones that have all the features you would like on the market but they cost around $150. That price for a trouble light puts most people off, myself included.

Though, as I think about it, I've been burned, bashed my head against something hard and sharp jerking away from a burn, broken so many incandescent bulbs, melted things, etc. that forking over $150 30 years ago would have been the smart and cheaper idea.