Help! 1985 4+3 Clutch bleeding

[gastank727]

Ive bled and bled and bled.Ive held the slave cylnder at a 45 and still only have minimal clutch.Please help! Thanks,Mike

 

[Toms007]

Mike, I can't help you with your bleeding... but hang tight, someone will be by shortly to answer your question, gmjunkie are you out there?

By the way, welcome to CAC. This is a great place, with great people.

 

[Hib Halverson]

We can't help unless you can be more specific about the problem than just "minimal clutch".

Is it slipping?

Or, do you push it to the floor but you can't select a gear?

 

[Tin butcher]

More questions: Is this a new problem? Did you have a good clutch pedal before? Did you just replace the clutch master or slave cylinder? Do you know how many miles are on the clutch?

 

[gastank727]

I replaced the trans,overdrive unit,clutch ,pressure plate, throwout bearing. every thing is new from ZOOM Kept the old slave and master cylinder.With minimal clutch its hard to shift into gear,Impossible to get reverse no slippage.It was a little clunky before but still shiffted alrright.

 

[muddywaters]

It could be that the Zoom clutch set up is too much for the stock hydraulics. I would stick with stock replacments in that area. I put a Zoom clutch in my 69 coupe (mech. linkgage) and ended up pulling it back out. Racing clutches don't work on the street, very well...................

 

[muddywaters]

Hey,Tin butcher, do you mean Tin Knocker (Sheetmetal Mech.)? I was one of those for 15yrs.............

 

[Tin butcher]

Hey,Tin butcher, do you mean Tin Knocker (Sheetmetal Mech.)? I was one of those for 15yrs.............

I built Street Rods for friends for almost 15 years. More than one piece of vintage "tin" got "butchered" in my garage! I even took a restored '36 Ford P.U., lifted the sheetmetal off and set it on a rodded frame - the owner was tired of his "old" truck. Even my vette is modified - I bought it with a fried 4 +3 (they don't like being driven without fluid) and built my own "kit" to install a Tremec TKO 500.

Mike - this is going to be tough to diagnose long distance. You bought the clutch as a package so the throwout bearing should be the right length - if it is too short it will limit the travel. Look inside the bellhousing and make sure the fork is on the pivot correctly. Is your clutch pedal coming up all the way against the stop - my 85 with a replacement master wasn't. I lengthened the pushrod on the master to fix the problem. There has been discussion about the clutch pedal being bent causing this. Make sure the pushrod between the slave and the fork is correct - mine had been replaced with a bolt that was too short! Have someone push the clutch while you watch the slave/fork and measure how much movement you have. Keep us posted!

 

[gastank727]

Thanks Ill let you know.How much travell should there be?;help

 

[Tin butcher]

Thanks Ill let you know.How much travell should there be?;help

I would have to measure mine - I'll try and do that tomorrow (Sunday).

 

[Tin butcher]

Well I crawled under the car today (still dreaming of that drive on lift) and measured the movement. At the outer edge of the fork, next to the pushrod, I measured only 5/8" of movement. This doesn't seem like much but it works.