Park life!
Good friend of this site Jason from USA, has invested a lot of time renovating his rare lord blue 8v Delta. His reports can be seen in Jason's own section here.
Experience tells us that a Lancia Delta has no respect for a person's feelings, and doesn't care if you've just spent 6 months struggling to repair it. So it was with Jason, he was out in his now sweet-running 8v, when in his own words, he spoke too soon!
Jason's clutch cable broke, disabling his car in a beautiful US national park. These parks are government property, so the rescue truck couldn't enter! Poor Jason had to push his car half a mile back up the hills he'd just enjoyed driving down, to meet the rescue truck. I'll hand over to Jason to complete the story.
I then put everything back together, and took the car out for a test drive. The pedal felt light-years better. Make sure that after 3-500 miles you recheck the cable, as it might have stretched out, and might need one more final adjustment.
All in all, it was an easy fix (in comparison to everything else I've done with the car), and it just come with the territory of a 30 year old Italian rally car.
Back on the road!
So here are the steps I took to replace it:
1. Took the air box/intake off, along with a few other associated vac lines that were in the way.
2. From there I was able to see the clutch fork and It was apparent that there were multiple lines that were not only frayed, but also exposed. Not exactly what you want in a clutch line.
3. From the inside of the car, i carefully removed the (what i call it: the milienium falcon/ horseshoe clip) and a washer from the pedal assembly to free up the half of the cable that is in the car.
4. I then took the locking screws off the other end of the cable that was in the engine bay. At that time, the pedal inside the car became limp.
5. I then (stupidly) pulled out the cable from the inside of the car, pulling it towards the rear of the car and out. If i was thinking before I did this, i could have tied a string/twine to the one end and could have pulled the new cable in place without much issue....but I guess I just wasnt having a good day.
I inspected the cable...as you can see, several pieces of the cable were frayed, broken, rusted and really just in terrible shape. The bulkhead stopper disintegrated, it was missing some of its protective insulation, the bushing that came off the pedal was non existant...it was time to go.
6. Then came the tricky part: I inserted the side of the cable into the engine bay and put a turn or two just to have the threads hold it onto the fork so it wouldnt slide off. then I had the task of snaking it though the engine bay (and while doing so, I had my dad inside the car guiding me, and me both in the engine bay and under the car trying to get it to the location it needed to be.
It was tricky, and space was limited under the car... at that point I really wish I had tied a string to the old one...could have saved me a ton of headaches.
Once I snaked it in, i made sure the bulkhead gasket was lined up properly, and pulled the cable through. The next issue was the new metal rod/sleeve that comes inside the bearing had too small of an inner diameter and it was just a fraction to long.
NO worries though, the old metal sleeve from the old cable slid right in and did the job.
Then its tightening everything up. Putting the millennium falcon/horseshoe clip and the washer on the inside of the car, and the two locking nuts in the engine bay.
The one suggestion I would have is, make sure to have a second person in the driver's seat to lift up on the clutch pedal so you can get as much slack as possible when you're working on tightening it in the bay.
Then from there, its a matter of preference. I like my clutch to grab about 50% of the way, so a little guess and check (see when the fork starts to move in relationship to the pedal being pushed/released). adjust to your liking. Just note that the old cable was most likely stretched (as mine was) so the old cable's measurements on where to put the locking screws might not be accurate.
Then I dropped the car off the jack, started it up (no vac lines attached yet) just to check where the clutch grabbed. After two more adjustments, it was right where it wanted to be. I also threw in a new air filter as well, might as well while I'm in there.
So I went to a local cruise that's held in a state owned park last week. The weather was 75 degrees, no humidity, and the drive (think curvy black mountain roads with lakes either side) made for a perfect afternoon activity.
I arrived at the show, met a few other rally enthusiasts (one nice gentleman was mad he didn't bring his RS turbo 2, and instead bought his Countach) and enjoyed myself. On my way out, I go to push the clutch pedal down and I hear a snapping noise and the pedal goes limp.
Few quick calls to the tow company and apparently they can't pick up my car because the park is considered 'government property'....so fast forward an hour, and with my dad's aide behind the wheel, I was able to push the Delta...UP HILL a little over .6miles (1km) to a safe spot that the tow company was eventually able to pick me up from.
Fast forward a week, after AECar shipped my parts (THANKS GUYS), and I found out a few things about the car...1. Early 8v Integrales didn't have an hydraulic master/slave clutch assembly. 2. It's not so easy to replace as I thought...but foolish of me to think it would be easy!
Jason's ploughing a lonely furrow,
far away from his Delta's origins.
The Lancia is quite opposite to the
US enthusiast's usual choice of motor. We salute you Jason, and offer our support and encouragement!
You know what this is! Enjoy a cool tune.
The Granada coupe is a cool car,
with a glimpse of a Trans Am for Jason too!
Don't lose that Jason!
I hope that's not the hill Jason pushed his car up!