Clutch in, What went wrong??

How much shorter was the new rod than the old one?? Probably hard to say since it ended up on the road somewhere...*G*

All I can say is that the pressure plate fingers are never more shallow than when everything is new....as everything wears, they push back more and more on the throwout bearing and fork....

Question: what do you use now to set your throwout bearing freeplay (aka clutch pedal freeplay) since the threaded rod is gone?...is the pivot stud on the bellhousing somehow adjustable?

Did you check your new throwout bearing against the old one for consistency?

Tell me what happens if you put the car in first, depress the clutch, and try to crank the engine....

I'm stalling for time until the manual trans gurus get here...*G*

Pat
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1570936&a=11937754&p=42910787.jpg

Some vital info is missing here. Does the release arm move properly when you opperate the pedal?

If so, remove the rod from the release arm and manualy push it towards the rear of the car until it comes against resistance. That's where the clutch is contacting the TO bearing. At that point, where does the rod fall in comparison? It should be very close to right. If not, the arm is too short.

I would want to go with the adjustable rod anyway, just for the convenience of adjusting it at the bellhousing where you can see what's going on.

Hal
Love hard, drive fast, wear your seat belt.

PS, that's my 'bird...... My Mustang is too ugly to take pictures of yet........*G*.

http://www.teleport.com/~cosa/bird2.jpg

The question is.....
Is it an adjustment problem only, and every mechanical part is correct and correctly installed?????
OR
Is it a parts and/or installation problem?????

I would find a way (i.e. source out) a long enough bar to fully depress the pressure plate arms. Either this or just fabricate some mechanism to achieve full throw. This will answer the question whether it is adjustment or mechanical.
If you cannot get the clutch to disengage, you'd better pull it apart. Perhaps you have the wrong parts. Are you sure the parts you ordered exactly matched the parts removed? Are you sure the parts ordered are for the correct year for the assembly (in case it differs from the year of the vehicle)?? You know...... some times people do switch drivetrains.
Lastly, are you certain that there is no bind between the tranny input shaft and the crank pilot bushing. Perhaps there's some sort of direct drive thing happening here.

Pull off the rubber boot and look inside at the clutch fork with the bearing riding on it. You should be able to push back against the fork with your hand and watch the TO bearing come up against the pressure plate.

My vote goes for the bar being too short; if you're not feeling any pressure at all in the pedal then you're not even contacting the pressure plate. I can't imagine even a wrong TO bearing being so small as to not even butt up against the pressure plate. On my tranny, with a new disc & pp installed, my adjustable rod only has a few threads left on it to give enough free play. I didn't know that about the relaxing of the fingers like camachinist said, but it makes sense. If you need the maximum distance out of the bar when everything's new, it's quite possible that you just don't have enough length.

Visit my repair page for Repair info, with pictures! http://home.dencity.com/mustangcub

I'll throw a wrench in the works with the following:
The correct rod for a 65 6cyl is 5 7/16" long. It is not available. I usually suggest using the Ford 66 adjustable rod as it can be shortened to the 5 7/16" length ( the repro cannot be shortened this much). Or take the 65 8 cyl rod and trim it down.
But for you it seems you do not have enough rod. I would suggest loosening the upper rod and start the adjustment process from scratch. Once the clutch is adjusted to specs one of two things will happen. It will work or it won't If it doesn't you'll need to look inside the bellhousing for problems. While I'm thinking about it check to make sure the release fork is correct for your car. All 8 cyl. and late 66 6 cyl. are different than yours. I'm not concerned about the late 6 cyl but the 8 cyl may screw things up.
The difference in rods from 65 to 66 shifted the adjustment from the top to below where it is more convienient.

Scott
National Parts Depot
1965 Conv:Street driven concours
1966 Coupe: Daily driver and toy

Hi Scott,
Glad you wrote as I had a question about the rods.
I originally had the adjustable rod on this car and was shipped a stationary as that was "what the catalog called for"
My rod coming off the pedal is the 16" threaded and I have the adjustment all the way out towards the front.This is also where it was on the old clutch.
Now I am sure that I had to adjust it there when I was shipped the stationary rod a few years back.
Why is a 65 and 66 different? Maybe my tranny is out of a 66, How can I tell?
I am still very confident that I have the pp & disc and all related items installed correctly.
Do you have the adjustable rod in stock? If so please call me at work.
Rob
Mercedes of Cincinnati
1-800-966-1580

1965 Mustang coupe
1961 Thunderbird
1983 Monte Carlo Conv.
Yeah, thats right...Convertible!!