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65 Mustang Clutch Help

756 Views 35 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  Nos681
All: Could use some help here. I am doing a 6 cyl to 302 conversion with T5 transmission. I am working through + and - of clutch options. I am going with the Borgeson power steering set up and do not want to limit my option of doing a power assist breaks on the 4 wheel disk set up I am using. What I understand is that I have 3 options for clutch set up. I can do the traditional linkage with the Burgeson modified Z bar; I can do a clutch cable; or I could do a hydraulic clutch set up. My concern is making sure I got the space for everything to fit and not have issues with headers and exhaust. From what I read the Burgeson Z-bar set up is somewhat tricky to get aligned/adjusted but works fine if set up properly. It also adds a bunch of moving parts in the engine bay. As to the clutch cable option I have read issues with melting cables. I have watched videos and am concerned with placement on where the clutch cable exits the fire wall and conflict with power break booster if I go in that option. As for the hydraulic clutch option, I have never done or used one of those. Seams to be best option for conserving space in the engine bay and deconflicting with headers/exhaust but you have the issue of hydraulic lines and leaks. Could really use some help from you all that have done this before. Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide.
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Mustang Steve cable clutch was my choice.

I didn’t have any clutch linkage components at all when performing my 5.0/T5 swap.

Just be aware that most long tube headers were designed for the stock linkage assembly and not a cable clutch.
It is a nice setup takes the firewall right out of the equation. but they dont tell what slave to use with it or hyd bearing.
master and slave almost $1000 i will keep my z bar
I’ll keep my cable.

I do like the fact that it is compact.

It appears to reuse the factory supprt bearing and plastic bushings instead of precision sealed bearings like the Mustang Steve setup.

Additional upgrades would make it mo betta as a famous person said to me.😁

I’m not really keen on hydraulic system inside the car…a track car without an interior is perfect.

As for me, I know I would end up with hydraulic fluid (brake fluid, I assume) on the carpet.
I finally found the old article that describes how to perform this.

I had nothing for the manual transmission swap at the time.

I know there are adapter plates to use TL bell housing with T5 transmission

I figured the separator plate should match the bell housing on SBF.

It gave me enough information to convert a T5 bell housing to stock setup.

In the end, I decided to go cable.

I drove a friend’s Mustang with the stock setup it’s just as nice. As I recall, he also has a Mustang Steve roller bearing conversion…very smooth.

Clutch engagement is a little different than the Mustang Steve cable.
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I did not like the hyd option they push against the firewall and i had heard the slave cylinder options leak after a while also i am cheap and wont spend that much.

cable too many new holes and still pulls on the firewall. header melting issues

z bar is simple. it is upgrade-able and will work with either bell housing. also less expensive.

All i had to buy to do mine was the spacer / adaptor plate. I modified a stock crossmember.
only thing i would have changed would be to rotate the transmission a couple of degrees ccw to center the shifter better.
Dont forget to ck and fix your bell housing alignment.
The Mustang Steve cable clutch has a cable adjustment block that attaches on the pinch weld at top of firewall.
A single hole for cable to pass and slight cowl dimple for cable clearance (as needed in my case).

I will agree that there are other cable designs that place the force on the flat portion of the firewall that can flex.
I didn't like those designs.

The z bar was my second choice due to cost of having to purchase all of the components for the setup.

Any future replacement parts simply fall in the "fox body" category that has plenty of aftermarket support.
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