[DeTomaso] Cluctch Adjust - How To

[SOBill at aol.com]

Chuck,
 
 
FWIW, here is how I do  it:

Put the ebrake on or chock the wheels.

Put the car in  neutral.

Start the engine.

The reason we are running the engine is  so we can readily feel the release 
bearing touch the pressure plate release  fingers.

Disconnect the return spring at the slave cylinder. Be careful,  that sucker 
can bite your fingers. Use Vise Grips.

Move the clutch  release lever by hand until you feel the throwout bearing 
touch the pressure  plate release fingers. On later cars, the release lever 
should move freely. On  early cars, there is a spring inside the bell housing 
which acts to retract the  throw out bearing and this spring makes it more 
difficult to move the lever  (Vise Grips can assist here, also). The point where the 
throwout bearing touches  the pressure plate release fingers will be quite 
distinct. Note the gap between  the release lever return stop bolt and the return 
stop plate.

Adjust the  release lever return stop bolt to remove as much of the gap as 
you like. This  can be done with the engine running so that the above step can 
be repeated. What  ever gap you do not remove, will be the approximate distance 
between the face of  the throwout bearing and the pressure plate release 
fingers. There must be some  gap or your throwout bearing will spin at crankshaft 
speed all the time and die  an early death. Remember that things expand as 
they get hot.

This method  works with whatever clutch/pressure plate/throwout bearing is 
actually installed  on your car.

Adjusting the slave cylinder shaft length controls the  position of the 
piston inside the slave cylinder.  The shaft should be  adjusted so the piston is 
well up inside the cylinder. If the retracted (i.e.  up) position of the piston 
is such that it does not bottom out when the clutch  pedal is fully depressed 
(i.e the full slave cylinder travel is being utilized),  this adjustment will 
have no effect on the freeplay or the slave cylinder  release stroke travel.
 
Piece of cake. Twenty minutes  max. 
If the  freeplay and the full travel cannot be set by the above method, the 
clutch  actuating arm on the bell housing may need to moved to different spline 
and the  procedure repeated.
Have fun.
 
SOBill  Taylor
sobill at aol.com



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