My Box Gets Harder When Its Hot....

[Guest david_l_perry]

Got myself Mitches Old 2B and loving every bit of it

 

There is a slight issue with the gears getting harder to change once the car has been running for a while.

 

Its something that Mitch told me about and had a couple of suggestions. One was that the Clutch cable was possibly getting too hot and possibly binding or expanding. But as its the self adjusting sierra clutch assembly I cant see that this would be the case (going off memory here so Mitch may well correct me)

 

 

The longer the run out the harder it can get to get into gear. It never gets to the point that its too hard to shove it in...but needs a little more pressure than normal to drive the shaft home (hard to resist the obvious comments....)

 

I would like to adjust the clutch, but as its go the standard Sierra self adjusting clutch ratchet assembly, I don't think I can manually change anything ??

Mitch suggested placing a couple of washers in between the cable housing and the bulkhead to effectively shorten the cable, but as its a self adjusting clutch ratchet I don't think this could work as it would just adjust itself to suit.....

 

2 questions then:-

 

1) Any body any suggestions on why it would be getting harder to change gear after the car has been running for while ?

 

Can the temp be effecting the gears / Clutch / Cable ?

 

Its a Pinto 2.1 with a 5 speed type 9 box.......

 

Any suggestions on what to look at ??

 

 

2) Can you adjust the clutch cable on the self adjusting clutch.....I certainty think that it wants the bite point adjusting a little. And this in itself would probably solve everything

 

 

Ta very much

 

Dave

[brumster]

It certainly sounds like the clutch is dragging; you could verify this by jacking up the rear wheels and putting it on stands, and seeing how much drive you're getting to the back end (a little drag is normal, mind). Otherwise could it be wrong type of gearbox oil; I hear type 9's are a bit fussy...

 

...but I would suspect the clutch first. Maybe a temporary measure of locking out the adjuster somehow so you can test the theory.

[Longboarder]

Heat damage from the pinto exhaust is a very common problem. Leads to difficulty with gears, particularly selecting 1st and reverse. Simplest to remove the clutch cable to check. Bend the cable 180 degrees. Is there any resistance to cable movement at all. When serviceable the resistance is virtually zero and moving the inner is silky smooth. Any doubt and fit a new one.

I like red Ford ATF in the type 9 box.

 

Nigel

[Mitch]

dave check oil, ( should be fun , hole for filling is drivers side in tunnel, ) but still think routing and heat of cable is adding to it, but do try adding about 5mm thick washer between cable and the mount i showed you,

 

check oil first,

 

Mitch

[brumster]

I run a Fuchs GearSyn 75w90 semi-synthetic and, on my freshly built box, it feels very good. I hear cheap Comma or OE Ford oils are also a safe bet. Main thing is apparently to stear clear of thicker GL5 oils (despite what the Haynes manual says), EP80/EP90 stuff.

 

It's a good point about the clutch cable - on the old Pinto, I had the same problem, the exhaust had fried the outer clutch cable and must have done a similar thing to all the lubrication or nylon sleeving inside. I've lagged it with heat reflective material now (not that the new engine exhausts on that side anyway).

[brumster]

hole for filling is drivers side in tunnel

 

That's interesting - my type 9 is on the left hand side of the casing!?

[Mitch]

old age , thought it was behind the speedo , but your probably right in thinking its passenger side, jack up and get the lamp out dave ,

 

Mitch

[johnlrichardson]

The outter cable is made from steel and plastic, if it gets hot, it acts as a concertina making the outer cable compresswith loss of inner cable movement. Cover with heat resisting matrial or move it from any heat sorce

 

HTH jon

[agent_zed]

mine is the same. On a cold day on start up the clutch is really easy and gears slip in easily. When its hot the cable expands a bit and i notice i have to make sure i push the clutch pedal just a bit more to get the gears (reverse especially - no syncro highlights the problem).

 

as above bit of heat shielding and a few washers to move the cable a little.

 

Do you still have the yellow quadrant on the pedal box as i believe the black quandrant is a common replacement that should give a bit more movement and solve the problem.

 

hth

[speedtripledan]

My b used to be like that I changed the pedal box to a zero one and never had any further problems, you could try a cosworth long clutch cable it avoids Going between the headers also get some heat shield tube from thermal velocity online

[Guest david_l_perry]

I am probably being thick here, but if the clutch pedal is self adjusting, won't adding washers to artificially shorten the cable just get compensated for by the self adjusting clutch pedal ?? Will fabricate some washers and give that a go anyway.

 

It is fitted with a longer cosworth clutch cable as Mitch tried that out, but dont think it made any difference.

 

Will check out the oil !

[agent_zed]

yeah you are correct but i've found that by moving it a little the pawl engages in a slightly different place so gets a very slight advantage. I've seen others add a piece of shaped aluminium over the pawl so that the cable runs up over which makes a larger diameter and therefore pulls further. or you could shape something to fit down in the pawl groove to hold the cable a bit higher.

 

Not sure what you'd need but if you could get a cable with a threaded adjuster end you could put a bolt through the pawl to lock it in place and then just adjust with the adjuster nut as on older cars. think the mk2 escort has that type but i don't know if it fits.

[fry61]

Think the Sierra was known for long pedal travel so I have added an "eyebrow" of aluminium to the yellow groove, this raises the inner cable to the outer edge of the quadrant;gives more cable movement for same foot travel;works well for me & the girl-friend. Just need more education of left foot after driving autos for 12 years.

[Guest mower man]

All above is relevant esp heat destroying the cable ,I run with a cossy cable now and seems to have cured all ills mower man

[Guest david_l_perry]

Think the Sierra was known for long pedal travel so I have added an "eyebrow" of aluminium to the yellow groove, this raises the inner cable to the outer edge of the quadrant;gives more cable movement for same foot travel

 

Bang on.....Had a fantastic result with this today

 

I have added a heavy plastic cam to the Groove of the clutch pedal so that this raises the cable as the pedal is depressed. Its done exactly what I wanted it to do, lift the biting point a little and make changing gears spot on.....

 

Managed a couple of runs out today in between work.....fantastic, gear changing was consistent and loads, loads better.....happy days