[DeTomaso] Clutch return spring info

[jtaphorn at kingwoodcable.com]

Nice work Mike, That is good to know.

JT
---- MikeLDrew at aol.com wrote: 

=============
Hi guys,

While working on Lori's clutch (replacing a junk clutch master 
cylinder--one of hundreds of bad ones out there, or so it seems), we discovered that her 
stock slave cylinder return spring had broken.   It was just dangling from 
the non-broken end.

I know the vendors sell replacements, but they tend to be rather expensive, 
plus shipping charges are exorbitant on small items like that.   I decided 
to try to find a local replacement.   I wound up hitting all the hardware 
stores in town and buying numerous different springs in the hopes that one 
would do the trick.

I had ambitions of doing some scientific testing of the stock spring in the 
hopes of determining the strength/tension, and then comparing my newly 
purchased springs until I found one that came close.   My neighbor is the 
facilities manager for the nearby Kaiser hospital, and he told me that they had a 
special tool used to measure the tension of doors.   By law, hospital doors 
need to require no more than X pounds of force to open them, and this tool 
ensures that all doors are in compliance.

So off to the hospital workshops we went.   I decided to put the spring in 
a vice, and pull on the other end, and measure the amount of force needed to 
stretch it exactly one inch.   That figure turned out to be exactly 11 
pounds.

I then randomly drew from my collection of springs.   The very first one 
that I sampled is exactly the same length as, and just slightly larger in 
diameter than than the stock spring, and testing revealed that the pull figure 
was--11 pounds!

Test over!

I had actually purchased a pair of likely-looking springs from Lowe's, 
along with a larger assortment of springs that included what appeared to be 
these same springs.   Oddly, the pair cost $4.03 while the assortment of about a 
dozen different springs, which included this same pair among them, cost 
only $3.97?

The spring in question measures 5/8" x 2 1/2" x .072".   The ends of the 
spring loop completely around, so for ease of installation Lori took a cutoff 
wheel and cut about 1/8 inch off the ends.

Once in place, it works flawlessly and is indistinguishable from the 
original, other than the shiny new finish.

Photo of the original (with one end broken off), the replacement (actually, 
the spare of the pair, without the ends cut), and both packages is here:

http://www.poca.com/index.php/gallery/?g2_itemId=36305

Bill--one for the database!

Mike
_______________________________________________

Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA

Archive Search Engine Now Available at http://www.realbig.com/detomaso/

DeTomaso mailing list
DeTomaso at list.realbig.com
http://list.realbig.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso