2.01.2003
Autocross Barracuda 340 w/ hydraulic clutch - sent e-mail to him asking for more details... Here's what he wrote:
Hi Josh,
I updated the web page to show the part #s I used on the conversion. The
master cylinder is part # 834 and the hydraulic throw out bearing is
#82870, here's a link the the t/o page:
http://howeracing.com/drive/drive12/indexstock.htm
You can see from the picture on the Howe page that it completely replaces
the original throw out bearing. Along with those two parts, you'll also
need to get a few feet of braided steel line, and a pedal set up. You could
get a racing style single pedal, but I had a spare set of automatic pedals
lying around, so I cut those up and made them work as the clutch pedal. Why
not use the original clutch pedal? Good question, IIRC, the master cylinder
wouldn't fit where the original pedal would have placed it. So I had to
come up with some other pedal arrangement. But, if you're doing this on an
earlier a-body, you may find it works out with the existing pedal.
I hope the instructions on my web page are sufficient to mount the
hydraulic t/o bearing on the transmission. It's pretty basic when you see
how it's going to sit on the tranny input shaft. I found I used all of the
shims included in the kit, plus I had to use a short section of pipe to get
the t/o bearing to sit up close to the clutch fingers. Measure the distance
from the transmission input bearing to the clutch fingers, and use that as
a guideline of how far forward the bearing needs to sit on the shaft. Since
the bearing is sitting so far out on the shaft, you might notice at this
point that the alignment bolt included in the kit is now too short to keep
the bearing from rotating. Or maybe not, I didn't notice it! 8^) This is
why you'll need to extend the alignment bolt to keep the bearing from
spinning. Does this make sense? If not, don't worry, I'm sure it'll be
clear when you see it for yourself.
This is a really cool conversion, I really don't know why it isn't more
common. It gets rid of the clutch rod, z-bar, clutch fork, and the over
ride spring in the pedal assembly. This leaves a LOT of room for
headers/exhaust to be installed, and since I first installed it about 6+
years ago, it's been completely maintenance free!
In the future I plan on getting the Spitfire headers, and because of the
hydraulic bearing setup, I can use the better automatic trans. style
headers rather than the more restrictive manual version. A small
improvement in performance, granted, but enough for me.
Anyway, if you have any further questions, feel free to ask.
Patrick
ps. Sorry, I don't have any pics, but if you can wait a few weeks, I can
probably get some for you.
****
Hi Patrick,
Thanks for the in-depth response! I'm starting to lean towards a slave-cylinder setup, mostly because I just got some parts cheap. If that doesn't work out I'll go for the hyd release bearing method.
I'm going to use a pull-type slave that will hang off a bracket I'll attach to the tranny side cover bolts. It loks like it should be straightforward - but nothing ever is.
I agree that it's surprising more people don't do this conversion, especially on auto-to-manual swaps. And that there doesn't seem to be any 833-specific parts out there (that I can find). I have a 4-speed pedal setup but I haven't scrutinized it yet to see if I'll be able to use the stock pedal. if not I might go for one of these kind of setups: http://www.off-roadproducts.com/series_134.html
I'll add this to my list of "kits I plan to make someday so I can retire". Plus I'll post pics on my site: http://www.ultrajosh.com when I do the conversion.
Cheers,
Josh
Hi Josh,
I updated the web page to show the part #s I used on the conversion. The
master cylinder is part # 834 and the hydraulic throw out bearing is
#82870, here's a link the the t/o page:
http://howeracing.com/drive/drive12/indexstock.htm
You can see from the picture on the Howe page that it completely replaces
the original throw out bearing. Along with those two parts, you'll also
need to get a few feet of braided steel line, and a pedal set up. You could
get a racing style single pedal, but I had a spare set of automatic pedals
lying around, so I cut those up and made them work as the clutch pedal. Why
not use the original clutch pedal? Good question, IIRC, the master cylinder
wouldn't fit where the original pedal would have placed it. So I had to
come up with some other pedal arrangement. But, if you're doing this on an
earlier a-body, you may find it works out with the existing pedal.
I hope the instructions on my web page are sufficient to mount the
hydraulic t/o bearing on the transmission. It's pretty basic when you see
how it's going to sit on the tranny input shaft. I found I used all of the
shims included in the kit, plus I had to use a short section of pipe to get
the t/o bearing to sit up close to the clutch fingers. Measure the distance
from the transmission input bearing to the clutch fingers, and use that as
a guideline of how far forward the bearing needs to sit on the shaft. Since
the bearing is sitting so far out on the shaft, you might notice at this
point that the alignment bolt included in the kit is now too short to keep
the bearing from rotating. Or maybe not, I didn't notice it! 8^) This is
why you'll need to extend the alignment bolt to keep the bearing from
spinning. Does this make sense? If not, don't worry, I'm sure it'll be
clear when you see it for yourself.
This is a really cool conversion, I really don't know why it isn't more
common. It gets rid of the clutch rod, z-bar, clutch fork, and the over
ride spring in the pedal assembly. This leaves a LOT of room for
headers/exhaust to be installed, and since I first installed it about 6+
years ago, it's been completely maintenance free!
In the future I plan on getting the Spitfire headers, and because of the
hydraulic bearing setup, I can use the better automatic trans. style
headers rather than the more restrictive manual version. A small
improvement in performance, granted, but enough for me.
Anyway, if you have any further questions, feel free to ask.
Patrick
ps. Sorry, I don't have any pics, but if you can wait a few weeks, I can
probably get some for you.
****
Hi Patrick,
Thanks for the in-depth response! I'm starting to lean towards a slave-cylinder setup, mostly because I just got some parts cheap. If that doesn't work out I'll go for the hyd release bearing method.
I'm going to use a pull-type slave that will hang off a bracket I'll attach to the tranny side cover bolts. It loks like it should be straightforward - but nothing ever is.
I agree that it's surprising more people don't do this conversion, especially on auto-to-manual swaps. And that there doesn't seem to be any 833-specific parts out there (that I can find). I have a 4-speed pedal setup but I haven't scrutinized it yet to see if I'll be able to use the stock pedal. if not I might go for one of these kind of setups: http://www.off-roadproducts.com/series_134.html
I'll add this to my list of "kits I plan to make someday so I can retire". Plus I'll post pics on my site: http://www.ultrajosh.com when I do the conversion.
Cheers,
Josh
# posted by jb @ 12:45 AM 
