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Thought I would post this to save someone the headache of the rabbit hole I just went down.

I've been having clutch engagement issues after about 1000 miles on a new Mcleod clutch and TB.  After going thru all the adjustments several times, I decide to change the M/C even though it was new from Wilkinson.

I knew the hard-line fittings would need to change to make this M/C work.  However, the plunger rod threads are different than the Wilkinson version, so I had to rethread the fork fitting on the clutch pedal.

Once I had the M/C ready to mount I quickly found out it doesn't match the hole pattern on the pedal box.

Now I'm at the point of either sending the part back and reusing the Wilkinson M/C or drilling out the pedal box and force the Wilwood to fit.

John

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@jwelch68 posted

Once I had the M/C ready to mount I quickly found out it doesn't match the hole pattern on the pedal box.

Now I'm at the point of either sending the part back and reusing the Wilkinson M/C or drilling out the pedal box and force the Wilwood to fit.

John

John, rather than modifying the pedal box, just take a round file and carefully “ovalize” the mounting holes on the new M/C. Make sure you enlarge both holes by an equal amount. It doesn’t take much to make it fit.

@davidnunn that's a good idea.  The Wilwood M/C holes are 2.25" center to center and best I could measure was about 2.00" on the pedal box.

Regarding engagement, the clutch had been working fine but someone pointed out that I didn't have enough free play in the slave cylinder.  I adjusted everything back to the recommended settings, slave cylinder rod 3.07" and .107" of free play on the return spring.

It worked ok for about a day and all of the sudden the clutch started releasing when the pedal was completely on the floor.  I've tried adjusting the master cylinder rod/pedal length and slave cylinder throw.  No matter what I try the clutch releases when the pedal is on the floor thus stalling the car.

I hear no sounds from the ZF but now I'm thinking the TB may have an issue.

I can't get enough throw to have the clutch release in the middle or top of the pedal.

Thanks,

John

I noticed the Wilwood MC uses a 3/8-24 fitting which if I'm not mistaken is for 3/16 line.

I ordered .25" hard line to adapt to the existing hard lines on the car.

Just curious what needs to be done to make the MC adapt to the original hard lines?  Would seem that this MC is made for brakes instead of clutches?

Thanks,

John

I was able to get the Wilwood Clutch MC installed and working yesterday.  This solved my clutch engagement issue.

Now it makes sense as why the brake fluid was turning dark so quick.

It appears the seal went bad even though it had about 1K miles on it.  I replaced the slave cylinder at the same time so hopefully it doesn't follow the same failure path soon.  It's difficult to tell but I believe some of moisture in the pic below could be water and instead of brake fluid.  I was using DOT 4 which may not resist moisture as well as DOT3 from what I'm told.

As someone pointed out, who knows how long these parts sat on a vendor's shelf before I purchased them.

Thanks for all the help on this!

John

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