Steve Robinson Posted January 16, 2002 Share Posted January 16, 2002 Apologies for the basic level of this question, but I am mechanically inept you know. Anyway hiope someone can help me with the following: Have just changed my pedal position which means my clutch now bites at the top of its travel. Looking at where the cable enters the pedal box it appears I should be able to use the two gold nuts to adjust the slack. As I can't shift these (the cable outer rotates with the bolts) am I attacking the wrong part, or is there a simple explanation I am missing. TIA Robbo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captain chaos Posted January 16, 2002 Share Posted January 16, 2002 I am just converting to a cable clutch so i do not have the installation yet but i thought that the nuts near the pedal box allow fine adjustment of pedal position and the bite is adjusted at the point where it enters the bellhousing. Someone else will be along shortly to confirm I am right or to correct me. Have you tried adjusting at the bellhousing end or is your set up different? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gridgway Posted January 16, 2002 Share Posted January 16, 2002 I have always adjusted at the top. You just 'unlock' the two nuts and they are pretty free on the cable. Can be adjusted by hand unless it's corroded in some way. Make sure you don't have too much of the threaded piece sticking through into the pedal box though. This is the cause of cable failures I believe. Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Robinson Posted January 17, 2002 Author Share Posted January 17, 2002 Thanks guys, good to know I'm on the right lines. Problem is that the two top nuts don't seem to want to budge, am loathed to use too much brute force, so any ideas on best way of unlocking them? Robbo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Sewell Posted January 17, 2002 Share Posted January 17, 2002 Be careful adjusting the cable at the top - the reason is that if you restrict the movement of the cable within the pedal box by allowing the outer sleeve too far beyond the bulkhead, you are likely to be premature failure of the cable at the pedal end because of the angle of the dangle when you press the pedal. However, there is a knack to adjusting at the bottom. Using two spanners 'unlock' te two large nuts, then - while pulling gently on the cable to take any pressure off the nuts - they can be spun by hand until you have the correct pedal position. THen 'lock the two nuts together' with two spanners. There is a final caveat, that if you are allowing more slack in the cable to allowing it further into the bellhousing make sure that you can still fully press the pedal without the activating fork hitting the cable outer sleeve - other premature failure will result again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captain chaos Posted January 17, 2002 Share Posted January 17, 2002 Which engine variant are we discussing here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Carmichael Posted January 17, 2002 Share Posted January 17, 2002 There is no adjustment of the bite point. It should always be close to the top. As the clutch wears it will come closer to the top. You want this from the driving point of view. The only way you get to adjust bite point is to add some latency (pedal travel that doesn't actually actuate the clutch) at the top of the travel. This is only useful when setting up the clutch release bearing with clearance from the clutch plates for longevity reasons. Many production cars have this, with automatic adjustment to maintain a clearance as the clutch wears. The Caterham design doesn't have this which gives a much better pedal feel, but constant contact can wear out the bearing more quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Robinson Posted January 17, 2002 Author Share Posted January 17, 2002 Thanks for all the info guys. Have managed to free the two nuts, and obviously brusied and grazed knuckles in the process! Have discovered that Peter is absolutely right about the adjustment (or lack of it), which is no surprise! So new clutch may be needed soon I guess. Cheers all. Robbo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Robinson Posted January 17, 2002 Author Share Posted January 17, 2002 Sorry Captain Chaos should have said - it's a k series in a superlight. Robbo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyS Posted January 21, 2002 Share Posted January 21, 2002 Graham Interesting point about having too much thread going into the pedal box being a cause of clutch cable failures. I'd say I only have 2 threads visible outside the box. My cable 'went' on Saturday. I could feel it "twanging" about 10 min earlier and was awaiting the inevitable (which was fortuitously outside a very nice pub near Bath). I didn't have a spare, but the friendly RAC man fitted a temporary one. Jonny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHRIS CLARK Posted January 21, 2002 Share Posted January 21, 2002 I have mine set so that the top section (with the two 'gold' [cad plated] lock nuts) has the cable 'free' of the outer where it enters the inside of the car.The outer threaded section aligns with the bushing end. This can easily be checked if you want by removing the ali. pedal box cover.All is then on show. I have had a potential failure where the inner cable that has a nylon sheath over it had torn and 'puckered-up' creating a very stiff action. (yeah yeah; lots of Ooh err Missus' there!). I noticed it when I first bought the car 'pre-owned'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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