FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum

Hi,

Hoping for some advise with clutch adjustment.  Application is red six - Toyota steel came 5 speed.

I have just reassembled clutch after motor rebuild. Clutch is about. 8000 miles old, and conventional single plate set up with increased clamp pressure and std hydraulic master with FC slave on hadfield adaptor.. I did not install it last time, but it has given trouble free service to date. It's been sitting on the bench for about a month while I've been working on the motor.

Question is how much pre- load should be on the fingers? My throw out bearing seems hard up against the fingers.

The ball pivot position has not changed. It may have always been like this, however I'm not sure. The pushrods on the slave is adjustable, so I have the opportunity to adjust if required.

I would have thought you would want zero pre load with very minor clearance between throw our and fingers?

Cheers
Dave ;)

Dave,

Given that you're using a lot of Holden equipment, particularly the hydraulics, I'd be inclined to adjust your clutch like a standard FE-EK: with your thumb, push the slave cylinder pushrod back into the cylinder, while with your fingers, pull the clutch fork in the other direction until the free play is gone.  There should be about 5/64" (2 mm give or take) clearance between the pushrod ball nut and the clutch fork.

Oh, and you will also need a return spring fitted between the clutch fork and slave cylinder so that the throwout bearing doesn't contact the pressure plate fingers when the clutch is engaged.

Rob

Great.

Thanks Rod. I will have a look this morning.  I have the return spring set up.

Thanks for the help :D

Dave

The return spring is very important and in most conversions they state at least 1/8 to 1/4"clearance which is just over 3mm minimum. If it's been redone to have more clamping pressure, then its probably got tougher springs allowing for less travel. Is there a spring? There should be. If you think it was tight previously then I would change the thrust bearing before reassembly. If it looks slightly blue, then it's previously overheated (most likely). Adjust the rods.

Oh forgot to say that I agree with rob also that 2mm is enough cos sometimes if mixing and matching the hydraulics, then a lesser gap is needed but I wouldn't go less than 2mm but that's why Rob emphasised the spring. Also, just because it worked ok before doesn't mean it's completely ok so what I would also check is your tailshaft yoke and clearances once the car is on the ground. But unless you change things physically this should be ok.

Thanks again guys. Have continued to get the right advice here for ten years now!

I have just adjusted pushrod, and can spin the throw out freely now. It may have just been some very minor casting differences (e.g. new YT flywheel) that caused this to be tight, or perhaps as you say it wasn't right in the first instance. I do recall being able to wiggle the free play on the fork in the past, and when I couldn't do this after reassembly it rang alarm bells.

Have never installed a clutch before, so just wanting to double check!

The throw out looked OK when removed.  Too late to change now as I've assembled :o

I reckon I've got a little more than 2mm. Have got return spring set up.

The only thing I can think of is I've got the throw out bearing on backwards, but I'm sure I double checked this and I've also looked with a torch and it looks right.

Forgot to mention that I checked the tailshaft yoke some years back, and despite getting a bum steer on the first shaft length, I've now rectified it.

Haven't pole vaulted yet ;D

One very annoying thing I have just noticed, is that the bronze CRS fork I supplied wasn't used, and a pressed steel fork is in place. The hole for the slave pushrod isn't in quite the right spot on the steel fork so the pushrod has to kick away from a straight line push.

It's sort of satisfying getting something to work better than when u started. There's so many variations that one bit of advice needs to be generally taken. All sorts of combos like v8 forks and thrust bearings on some and pbr hydraulics  etc. It would be ideal like you say to have it straight. There are some old ford manuals that say no finger clearance needed but that's never true. Just make sure say in second gear that you ride the brake with full throttle if your worried about too much clearance. You need a keen eye for what the last bloke did to make it fit hey, like different angle fork, thicker bearing, or sometimes the original adaptor was designed only to work with certain packages of the day. It's all good fun though.

Dave,

If the pushrod makes an angle with the axis of the slave cylinder, the slave cylinder will wear out quickly.  It's not really an ideal situation.  If the steel fork has more mechanical advantage than the CRS fork, you might be able to shim the slave cylinder mounting bracket to bring everything back into line.

Rob

Also, if you get it up to say 1500 revs at idle, if you depress the clutch pedal just enough to take up the clearance, which might be an inch or so from memory, then as long as there is no hint of vibration, then the bearing should be ok. The bearings have come a long way. The replacement of the bearing is common practice in a workshop situation if u don't know how old it is cos they are cheap but in your case it's likely to have come with the other kit anyway.

Funny, me and Rob reply at same time not having read each other's comments yet so it might not make sense lol

Thanks guys.

Just to clarify, I bought the kit, clutch and original flywheel about 8 years ago but the bloke that cut my floor pan fitted if. Unfortunately I didn't pay too much attention to his handiwork until now; and to be fair I didn't know any better at the time.

Nothing has done much mileage, but it's not to say it was set up properly in the first instance (although I concede it's given trouble free operation and has engaged and disengaged very nicely.

I could probably machine the slave adaptor to help correct the push rod angle, although I wouldn't want to take too much off it. Agree it's not ideal.

Dave

Might be able to use a wedge washer bodgy thingo lol.

i have an aussie 4 speed with dellow slave bracket and its on a pretty big angle too,
mines a daily driver and is still fine after 2 years,
i wouldnt worry too much the slaves are only 50 bucks to replace anyway........

Do your best to get the slave cylinder to line up ,and sounds like you may need to wedge it or grind some away .If the internals get stuck and don't return totally they may wear a ridge inside the cylinder and that will be the return position until you pump all the guts out on the road [its happened to me] .Haydn

Take a break Hayden. It's Christmas