clutch cable snapped....any improvement possible?

[micha]

hi. when i wanted to leave my house today, the clutch cable snapped....when i will put in new one i want to improve the system. are there any ideas what to do?

[350zwelgje]

The original part and setup seems not too bad, considering the years and beating it took before it snapped. Don't think that improvements are necessary.

Hopefully you can find a cable supplier in Germany to get a replacement, as very often TVR stuff is unique to TVR. The ford taunus used a cable to operate the cable as well, so perhaps the supplier you promoted for taunus(=cortina) parts can help you. And even advise on "improvements".

Rob

[micha]

i think snapped clutch cables are typical for tasmins....and when i watch the construction i must say: it "must" snap...later or earlier.... (mine lasted 2000miles aand around 6months!!). but before agonise my mind for developing any improvements, its often easier to ask others who exactly had the same problem.

[James MK]

Mine used to snap frequently, every year or so. Always in the same place, right at the top bend. I had mine converted to a hydraulic set up, not a cheap option but at least has been one failure I don't have to worry about!

[micha]

ok...conversion to hydraulic is 1 possibility, but i would rather try to optimize the original system...any ideas? thought about a differnt angle on the top-bend and a teflonized surface.

also the fixing point should be higher, the cable should run down straight for minimum 20mm , before going around the bend.


what do you think about that?

[James MK]

Anything that reduces the strain on that top end is a good thing, keeping it at the right tension would be good too. Otherwise, it is a flawed piece of engineering that the factory only used for a short time. I always used to keep a spare after the first failure (it's a granada 2.3 item I think)

[taz turbo]

Had the same problem on my wedge, I snapped two or three cables in quick sucsession, always breaking at the same place. There is a radiused plate on the pedal box, when the pedal is pressed (moving the cable outer, the inner being fixed!) the cable always snapped at the end of the radius of the said plate as the radius was to large and the cable was then being bent through an angle at the same place, you used to be able to hear the cable strands breaking one at a time over the course of a couple of months untill BANG it lets go.

I removed the pedal box, ground the weld for the radiused plate away, tightened up the radius and re welded it. The cable now does not get bent,but runs through a nice arc. That was about 15 years ago, pleased to say no trouble since.

Regards,

Chris.

[leorest]

A number of vehicles over the years started with cable clutch actuation and changed to hydraulics. This was obviously done for cheapness originally but no doubt warranty claims proved the cable design was flawed/badly implemented. Also cables give greater problems over longer runs and a vehicle designed for one market and later re-designed for driving on the other side of the road will inevitably have cable problems unless the switch is made to hydraulic or the cable run is thought about very carefully.

Two options
* Redesign the cable layout
* Convert to hydraulic

[kevsmev]

When I converted my 2.8 auto to manual last year I designed and made a new clutch pedal and bracketry to pull on the inner cable and not push on the outer. I have submitted an article about the conversion to MikeB for putting on the wedgepages. Not having tried a TVR version of the cable clutch I dont know how heavy they are to operate but my version is better than I had hoped.
Kev

[blackspider]

Im about to wizz out the engine and box to convert from broadspeed internal hydrolic to cable.

I was thinking about sourcing a longer cable perhaps from the old skoda estelle which is really long.This should over come the angles.

Has anyone got a spare clutch fork/arm for the type 9 bell housing?Or a spare bell housing.If not ebay it is