Clutch cable clamp

After a fatigue failure on the clutch cable pedal box end I adjusted its mounitng and replaced it. The cable pushed the end stop towards the pedal box and then continued to push the bowden cable outer through the crimped flange part.

My thought was reenforcement - rather than the bowden inner trying to push the end off the flange, instead take some of the load through the grove in the end part, ahead of the cable end, and transfer it behind the flange.

Mk1 simplest option I could come up with are plates to engage in the end groove and behind the flange connected with bolts.

U shaped plates doubled up since I cannot access the clutch end of the cable to slip a plate over - it has captive nuts. A narrower U plate on the pedal box end which matches the grove exactly.

Help from the Facebook GBS Zero page, Henry Simpkin helped convert my Sketchup mockup into DXF files using DraftSight which a friend of his then laser cut in 2mm & 3mm stainless at a very reasonable price (which I assume was at or near cost).

The parts only needed minor cleaning up to ream the holes a little, and some M4 bolts cut down to an appropriate length.

Installed with M4 bolts and nylocs.

If the bowden cable tries to push its way through the flange towards the pedal box some of that force is transferred through the bolts to behind the flange.

Thank you to both Henry & Martin who helped on the project along with David who also offered help in manufacturing.


Potential Development

• This could also be solved with an alternate chassis mount, I wanted a remedial fix which did not require changes to the car.

• The 2mm thick plates were fine in terms of strength.

• I installed a mixture of 2mm and 3mm parts since for some reason I ended up with too many narrow U plates - not sure if I ordered the wrong thing.

• May be possible to use a circlip instead if the narrow U plate that engaged with the groove.

• I was conservative with a 35mm clearance between the bolts and chassis bracket - that could be tuned and reduced in size.

Clutch cable replacement

Lovely run out last weekend, 88 miles, and then within around 50m of home - mid gear change, in neutral and the clutch pedal drops to the floor.

15 minutes later, with the help of a neighbour the car is pushed back to the garage to check for damage.

Just before Ireland reverse and first started getting sticky, just after I had adjusted the tension on the cable, and a good 500 miles on the clock since. It wasn't the cable that snapped - more the mounting flange/end arrangement. Clutch itself feels fine/smooth and free - so I'm putting this down to long term fatigue and misalignment on the top bracket.

The outer cable has effectively pushed through the top-hat end cap and gone on to slide through what is left of it.

I couldn't get a large spanner in to tweak the bracket behind the plenum. This scrap bar with a bolt and washers was perfect though. Let me adjust fore aft and swivelled through 90º left right alignment.

The new cable in place aligned as much as I can.

While the car was on the stands I changed the engine oil and filter - moving now from annual changes to 10k mile changes, the oil coming out is black but very serviceable so this should be fine.

I'm hoping it was more age/fatigue than anything specifically after Ireland, need a few long test drives to check it out and monitor, I also need to order another spare cable!

Potential for another European trip later in the year so want to get this stable and be able to trust it again. Perhaps something a little different - something to sit over the top and engage with the end of the cable rather than all the force through that flange?....

On the way - heading west to Wales

I decided to split the journey out to Ireland, partly due to ferry times, partly just the distances involved, around 200-250 miles a day is a maintainable schedule, any more than that and fatigue starts to catch up with me. I'm also camping to make things a little interesting and keep the overall costs under control - the ferry to Ireland is somewhat steep!

No point rushing across the country to try and catch the ferry, especially on a Friday when I know I'm going to hit traffic at some point.

Lunch

No rush required, so the route is mostly avoiding motorways, lunchtime stop at a random pub in Wiltshire. The Royal Oak Wootton Rivers was ideal - quiet enough for a peaceful lunch after the noise of the road.

After lunch same approach - heading roughly west - satnav setup to avoid motorways. All good until I forgot what a traffic blackspot Gloucester is! Stuck in slow traffic for some time.

Cwmcarn campsite

Arrived at the Cwmcarn forest campsite just as the office was closing, but all pre-booked so no problem finding the pitch and setting up for my first night under canvas in probably 15-20 years. I remember why I enjoyed camping before - everything is pared down to its minimum requirement - no fuss.

A little enjoyable messing with the pressure stove and minutes later all set with a cup of tea while dinner cooks.

Car problems

After eating, my first issue to solve.

When the car was hot I the gearbox was crashing on selection of first and reverse. Especially reverse. 

I posted on the Zero facebook group to hopefully gather some insight/ideas, and in the meantime adjusted the clutch cable - i.e. simplest thing first, if the clutch was dragging that might show the symptoms I was seeing.

Then a wander around the campsite - losing the light now - nice and relaxed.

Camping is fantastic for getting tuned into the planet a little and synced up to natural sunset/sunrise to turn in and wake up.

All good so far, the gearbox problems are not showstoppers, my thinking was - worst case I can pull away in 2nd, and reverse only gets awkward when parking.

Going Home

The last leg - Sidmouth to home, not a direct route, via Lyme Regis, Dartmouth, New Forest.. but not really sight seeing any more, that going home mood takes over and its all about the end result now.

One pause outside Lyme Regis - this view along the coast and early morning sun was just stunning, the photo captures a little of the atmosphere.

The sky was clear and bright today, which also meant - cold, the coldest of the trip.

Fuel stops also now windscreen and headlight cleaning stops and once home mid-afternoon the once clean motor is showing the evidence of its approx. 700 mile journey.

Notes/fixes

• I think the clutch cable needs adjustment - a couple of times its been a little tricky to get into 1st - possibly cable stretched a little?
• The new USB power outlet, replacing the old 12v lighter sockets, also need some attention - its crashing the satnav on ignition off and not cleanly cutting power to the camera.
• Camera is fine for picture, but picking up differential whine rather than nice engine noise - perhaps a mod is required for a remote mic.
• Noticed at night, the shift light starts to glow, very dimly, about 1k revs under its set come on point. May indicate the Emerald sincs current on the shift pin progressively and perhaps an opportunity to build a sequential shift light based on that - i.e. line of comparators (LM3914) converting the linear current sinc to discrete LED indication.

Otherwise - everything ran fine, cannot beat that open to the sky feeling and a little of that pure escapism from a road trip.

Clutch cable

GBS said its possible to notch the bellhousing to get a locking nut either side & hold the clutch cable in place. I decided to notch a nyloc instead; partly because its a lot easier to access than the bell housing for cutting & mostly because its more reversible - i.e. If I make a mistake I am only destroying a nut worth pence.

The M10 nyloc plainly can't be tightened as much as when it was whole - but its a good tight fit on the threaded rod:

The extra nut just helps hold the cable in place. Now there should be no chance of this end flexing when the pedal is not pressed & letting the end of the cable come out of the clutch release lever:

Update - while this works to anchor the end of the cable, its laborious to take off - unscrewing the lock nut from under the car along a couple of inches of fine thread.

Clutch cable - second try

My second attempt with the clutch cable. The bracket is now lined up square so the cable is in line as it emerges from the outer into the pedal box. I also decided to open up the slot in the pedal box and fit the large round grommet which comes with the cable:

The route under the plenum & in front of the engine mount isn't great though - I would really prefer to run it behind the engine mount (bottom of picture) but its not quite long enough:

Its really hard to see from other builds the best way to do this; its just not feeling quite right at the moment - left or right of the chassis tube, infront or around the engine mount...

The current cable is 36" long (inner) and 32" outer. A 37" cable would be perfect - if I can work out where to get one.

Consulting RHOCar & thinking on it...

Confirmed this routing is correct - just needs some cable ties to hold it in place.

There is also an option to notch the bell housing to allow the locking nuts to sit either side, I might do that in due course - alternatively - a cut through a nut would allow it to slip on the threaded end to the same effect.

Clutch cable

The clutch cable hits the plenum whichever way it is routed. This position looks possible - i.e. for straightest line route for the main cable and square as the inner cable emerges and goes through to the pedal.

The bracket is not quite at the correct angle though, so the clutch end 'flange' doesn't sit square against it. I can't bend the bracket, but I may be able to make an offset washer to tidy this up a little.

Needs a little more playing...

The flange is 30mm outside diameter, 14mm inside. Either some pipe - which doesn't seem to come with thick enough walls, or some aluminium bar to turn/drill a hole through might be possible.

Adjusting the bracket

The bracket will actually bend - I just needed a couple of metal offcuts to prevent marking the powder coat and a large adjustable spanner to carefully change its position and let the clutch cable flange sit square against it.

Routing

I'm also offering up clutch cable, HP fuel lines & engine loom at the same time to work out the best way for them to co-exist in this area. Ideally I want to run the fuel & loom on one side of the chassis tube and clutch cable the other - the clutch cable will flex in use & this way it would avoid any chance of it rubbing/chaffing on the other services.

Engine side of the round chassis tube:
    Top - Engine loom
    Bottom - Fuel lines

Other side of the round chassis tube:
   Clutch cable

Bell housing and gearbox prep

I received the replacement clutch release bearing from GBS so all set now with parts to prep the gearbox & ultimately join to the engine.

Type 9 gearbox requires part of the starter motor bulge on the bell housing removed to clear a chassis member. I'm taking a chance - working from reference to other peoples builds and some rough measurements to decide where to cut. I'm not going to install/mark/remove the gearbox - this might come back to bite me later :)

I thought the bell-housing might be ally, but by the time I had finished the dust was plainly magnetic so looks like a steel cast iron housing. I cut through with the Dremel and the abrasive cutting discs - of which I managed to get through 6-7, especially when the cut got deep its easy to put accidental side pressure on the cutting discs and shatter them.

I emerged from this job looking like I had been mining for coal - black steel dust everywhere - eye and breathing protection a must! (See later posts, I should also have taken some off the lower start motor mounting point to clear the chassis tube sufficiently)

I painted over the cut edge with black hammerite, played a little with the original & quick shift levers to find all the gears, then went on to install the clutch release lever and bearing:

2x gearbox mounting collars go at 3 & 9 o-clock on the housing, they needed a little grinding to get an interference fit then pushed into the holes on the engine with a little help from a rubber mallet:

(To the right of the picture below you can see the window I smashed with a flying Dremel tool when opening up the spare wheel panel holes)

Minor snag - the gearbox mounting kit is 1x M10 bolt short - I think it must drive whomever packs the bolts crazy counting them & they just miss one here & there.

I need to think about plan the next steps - once I mount the gearbox to engine it becomes very difficult to move which means probably doing this just before install in the chassis.

Plan:

1. Chassis back onto its wheels
2. Chassis into the drive
3. Mount gearbox to the engine
4. Fit gearbox/engine (in the drive to give vertical room to work)

Spigot bearing

To run the engine lengthwise rather than transverse the crank end needs a small spigot/needle bearing inserted which the gearbox shaft rides in. You could probably just about get it into place without removing the clutch - but its easy enough to remove and re install.

6x bolts on the clutch remove the housing and pressure plate:

The spigot bearing is inserted, rubber seal (top in this picture) facing outwards, to stop ingestion of debris/dust from the clutch.

It is carefully driven home with a hammer & drift (I have a 5cm long wooden dowel which did this perfectly):

I bought a clutch alignment tool which grabs hold of the clutch casing and clutch plate and keep them all central during mounting. Taking care to keep the clutch plate the same way round - it has a front &  back. 

Hindsight - I could probably have attached the tool before removing the housing to keep perfect alignment, its easy enough to line up the clutch plate by eye though.

6x bolts, they have splines on the heads to stop them shaking lose, torqued, alignment tool removed and all set:

The engine crank shaft actually rotated slightly whilst loosening/tightening the clutch housing - so good news anyway, its not seized since it was manufactured 8 years ago in Feb 2004! :)