clutch quadrant

[Warren Rhen]

I read somewhere that the SVO requires a different adjustable clutch quadrant than the V8's. I don't know where it was. Can some one educate me as to what I need, where to get it, how much, etc. I can't get my big wide shoe close enough to the floor to get it to release properly .

[DinomiteDave]

yup

Mine broke 100 mlies from home. If your quadrent is still good pull up on the petal to the desired location. try it. do agian till you got it how you like it. If it is broke do not order the Ford motor sports quadrent. I dont have a link so go to this web sites home page/ SVO links/ Motion Dynamics/ Products/ SVO products. scroll down about 2/3 the page and there it is.
Hope this helps. These guys Got alot of good stuff. 185 deg. fan temp. switch... ect.

[SVOeric]

Not to mention they give a 10% discount to SVOCA Members!!

That came in handy when I rebuilt my engine!

Eric

[BigNBlue]

I replaced my cluth quadrant with an adjustable one made by Steeda, can't remember the part numer but I can get it if you want. It was for a regular mustang. But with some very minor modification it has worked great on my car. I had to modify the end of the cable and fabricate a new Clevis.

[Warren Rhen]

Yea that steeda thing is what I heard about, thats why I wanted one specifically for the SVO. I'll check out the mtion dynamics site. On the stock quadrant, if I keep pulling the pedal up will it grab out further or in futher?

[SvoTy]

Originally posted by Warren Rhen
Yea that steeda thing is what I heard about, thats why I wanted one specifically for the SVO. I'll check out the mtion dynamics site. On the stock quadrant, if I keep pulling the pedal up will it grab out further or in futher?

You can use the one from Steeda that has the double hooks. It reuses the stock cable and a firewall adjuster.

Also when you are under the dash check the pedal assembly for side to side motion. That is what killed my stock quadrant.

[svoson]

Low clutch catch point

Hey guys!

I am almost not wanting to drive my SVO (!) because the clutch catch is so low I have to bully the thing into first, second and sometimes fifth (if I'm going fast).

DinomiteDave, you mention that you can just pull on the clutch pedal... can you explain further what that does? Can anyone corroborate?

I had thought about getting a new one... I am definitely wearing on my clutch (I stopped after a heavily trafficked commute home from Detroit and the thing smelled strongly). If I should just use the existing one, I will do that and get an extra (cable? quadrant?) for replacement. I would like to drive the car this weekend on a Fall Color tour with a local Turbo Ford / Merkur club...

Thanks for the help!

Bobby

[SVOeric]

yea.. the original quardrant is plastic, and the teeth break off (as old as our cars are.. that plastic tends to get brittle)

if yours still has all the teeth on it, all you have to do is pull up on the clutch pedal, and that will let the clutch adjust.

if the teeth are broken, it allows the "paw" to slip, and that may be why your engagment is so low...

in which case, you do need to follow the above instructions and replace it with a new metal quadrant, not the plastic piece that ford originally put in there.

[svoson]

Under the dash

I am a bit confused. I looked under the dash, and saw that the clutch pedal was connected to a plastic rod that went through a box that looked like it had electrical contacts on it. At the end of the plastic rod was a plastic clip. That clip pushed up a plastic sleeve inside the plastic box. I took the plastic clip off and moved it up. I thought maybe the point was to make the plastic sleeve go all the way in the box..? I was able to get this to work, but it didn't seem to help.

When I pull the clutch pedal up it makes a dull pop noise, like maybe a piece of plastic popping into place (half-heartedly). That didn't seem to work either. I tried to look under the car, but I had no idea how low the ground clearance was! I could get my head under there, but I couldn't look up!

The quadrants I find online are big metal pieces that I assume go under the car... What is the connection between those and what I described.

Also I get a rattling noise when I let off the gas at speed. In one of the other quadrant / clutch threads the writer thought it was time for a transmission rebuild. Is this the first sign?

Thanks!

Bobby

[SVOeric]

actually, the big metal piece you see goes under the dash, not under the car...

It does sound like your plastic gear has some teeth missing.

I have something that may be a short-term fix for you, but it is kinda shady...

take a small hose clamp, and put it on the plastic arm that sticks down. Don't get it tight or anything, just snug. Tthis is the arm that goes in when you push down on the clutch. What this does is chang where the paw engages on the gear. If there are good teeth in that place, it will get you buy for a few, until you can get the a new clutch quadrant.

The box you were seeing with wires on it was the clutch switch. This is what tells if the clutch is pushed in, so you can't start the car without the clutch pushed in.

[svoson]

Plastic

I'll take a picture tomorrow, so you can see where things are... I have a plastic clip on there that I can move around... would I put this clamp (the one you suggest) above the plastic piece? This would push the slider (that says the clutch is in) in more?

I didn't see anything that looked remotely like a clutch quadrant when I looked under there. Am I going to need to take the dash out?

Thanks for your help!

Bobby

[svoson]

Plastic clutch piece

Here is a picture of the plastic piece activated by depressing the clutch.

I put numbers on the pictures for my questions...

1) The quadrant. Does it go up past here somewhere? As in, above the plastic piece I am messing with?

2) Should the hose clamp go here? Above the plastic clip?

3) This plastic clip I can take off and put back on higher. But that didn't really seem to help. From what you said, too, this would just seem to tell it "Hey the clutch is in, you can start..." So I'm starting to guess that the hose clamp doesn't go on here..? It should be somewhere else? So they have several plastic pieces?

Sorry for the not-so-good picture...

Also, I posted a comment in the Ford News section and now the whole section is gone!

Thanks for the help!

I forgot... is this something where I will need to pull the dash, particularly to put in a new quadrant?

Bobby

[svoson]

Pic

I previewed the post and that seemed to strip the pic out. I'm trying again...

Bobby

[svono50]

Bobby,

You are on the wrong side of the rod. The quadrant is over above the gas pedal (about 6" right of where your picture is centered). The plastic piece you are looking at is for the clutch interlock switch, where it prevents the car from cranking over w/o depressing the clutch pedal.

If you look up above the gas pedal you will see the white plastic quadrant and its locking pawl. The pawl is located on the top of the quadrant. The quadrant is spring loaded and wants to rotate its top toward the driver, which is against the direction of the firewall and clutch cable. When you lift up on the clutch pedal, the pawl hits a piece of metal that lifts it off of the quadrant and allows the quadrant to tension itself against the cable. Over the years the teeth on the pawl and quadrant get brittle and can strip (I had this happen ~7 years ago to mine).

When the first few teeth on the quadrant get stripped you effectively move the clutch pedal toward the floor. This causes the clutch to not disengage completely and cause all kinds of problems. When mine went out I had to drive ~20 miles w/o using the clutch through suburban areas. This was fun, since I couldn't come to a complete stop. Luckily I was able to find a few parking lots in front of red lights to circle for a couple of minutes until the lights turned green. HTH.

[SVOeric]

yes... there is a lot more of the clutch quadrant up there. it is a half moon looking thing with teeth all across the top (well, it is suposed to have teeth on it)


You would put the clamp between the plastic piece, and the end of the white "rod" you see sticking out.

I'm looking for a pic of the full stock quadrant, but I can't find one just yet.