Clutch cable replacement

[thinkfloyd14]

I just picked up my car this morning from my mechanic, he replaced the clutch cable with a brand new one. I sent the car in because I couldn't get into first, second or reverse without constant grinding/balking the gears.

So after I pick the car up, the tranny felt FANTASTIC, the best it's ever felt, it was smooth as can be and I had a constant smile on my face. So I drove down sunset to go to work, and as some of you may know, Sunset Blvd. is a horribly paved street, and all of the sudden the transmission is seemingly going back to the way it was. It shifts good but no where near as smooth as the first hour of driving it this morning. This morning there was no hesitation from 1st to 2nd, now it goes in to 2nd 60% of the time with no hesitation, the other 40% of the time it wont go in at all and you have to sort of gracefully force it to lock into gear.

The reason I am writing this is because I wonder how the sudden change of smoothness happened in such a short period of time. I did drive on a bumpy street, but I really doubt the clutch cable went out of adjustment in less than 2 hours of driving... from being absolutely splendid to "ok". The smile just isn't there anymore, and I want it back.

Any thoughts, help, suggestions are appreciated. Should I take it back to the shop? Did the bumpy road have anything to do with it?

p.s. I really doubt it's the shift bushings or coupler, because there is no way those were affected by that short drive, or am I wrong?

[sc_rufctr]

I suspect that your mechanic may have over looked something.

I own a 78 so my clutch set-up is different. I always had similar issue to yours and put it down to the gearbox being worn.
I checked and replaced everything (or so I thought) on the outside of the gearbox trying to resolve my difficult shifting problems.
But after recently replacing my broken gearbox with a good one (1983) I was still having issues...
A friend suggested I replace this part. It's the holder for the clutch cable at the gearbox.



It holds the cable the correct distance from the release leaver. After I installed and adjusted the cable it transformed the car. It really does shift like new now.

Also... I found the two studs holding this bracket to the gearbox were slightly bent. (I replaced these as well)
It looks like stepping on the clutch pedal thousands of times bent the mounting studs to the point were
they were hard up against the through holes for the side plate...
I'm not talking much here. Maybe only 1.5mm but that combined with the old worn bracket made it impossible
to adjust the cable so it had the correct travel when the pedal was depressed.

[thinkfloyd14]

Great info, I will talk to him tomorrow about this.

Very much appreciated.

[sc_rufctr]

You're welcome.

The reason I suggested the bracket could be the problem is because....

The cable sits in a groove in this bracket. This groove secures the cable preventing it from moving but as our cars are getting older often this bracket has been bent/deformed or the area supporting the cable can become damaged. Your mechanic may have adjusted the cable correctly but one good bump and the cable may have moved in the bracket causing it to become out of adjustment.

Also... The bumps may have caused something else to go out of adjustment.
Maybe the shift rod and bushes need attention. Maybe the engine/trans mounts are worn... ???

Just another thing to check in the never ending quest to get a 915 shifting properly.

[Pazuzu]

I think that the cables stretch over the first couple of dozen uses, and might need to be readjusted. mine did the same thing, smooth as butter for the first day, then slightly worse. Needed a tweaking and it's better now.