[DeTomaso] Clutch return spring info

[Pantdino]

A woman who knows how to use a cutoff wheel?
How cool is that?

I'll compare those stats to the spring I'm using, which was also hardware store sourced. :-)

Jim



-----Original Message-----
From: MikeLDrew <MikeLDrew at aol.com>
To: detomaso <detomaso at realbig.com>
Sent: Fri, Jun 8, 2012 8:57 am
Subject: [DeTomaso] Clutch return spring info


Hi guys,
While working on Lori's clutch (replacing a junk clutch master 
ylinder--one of hundreds of bad ones out there, or so it seems), we discovered 
hat her 
tock slave cylinder return spring had broken.   It was just dangling from 
he non-broken end.
I know the vendors sell replacements, but they tend to be rather expensive, 
lus shipping charges are exorbitant on small items like that.   I decided 
o try to find a local replacement.   I wound up hitting all the hardware 
tores in town and buying numerous different springs in the hopes that one 
ould do the trick.
I had ambitions of doing some scientific testing of the stock spring in the 
opes of determining the strength/tension, and then comparing my newly 
urchased springs until I found one that came close.   My neighbor is the 
acilities manager for the nearby Kaiser hospital, and he told me that they had 
 
pecial tool used to measure the tension of doors.   By law, hospital doors 
eed to require no more than X pounds of force to open them, and this tool 
nsures that all doors are in compliance.
So off to the hospital workshops we went.   I decided to put the spring in 
 vice, and pull on the other end, and measure the amount of force needed to 
tretch it exactly one inch.   That figure turned out to be exactly 11 
ounds.
I then randomly drew from my collection of springs.   The very first one 
hat I sampled is exactly the same length as, and just slightly larger in 
iameter than than the stock spring, and testing revealed that the pull figure 
as--11 pounds!
Test over!
I had actually purchased a pair of likely-looking springs from Lowe's, 
long with a larger assortment of springs that included what appeared to be 
hese 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 
nly $3.97?
The spring in question measures 5/8" x 2 1/2" x .072".   The ends of the 
pring loop completely around, so for ease of installation Lori took a cutoff 
heel and cut about 1/8 inch off the ends.
Once in place, it works flawlessly and is indistinguishable from the 
riginal, other than the shiny new finish.
Photo of the original (with one end broken off), the replacement (actually, 
he 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
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