clutch problems

hey i have a 57 oval with a 68 swing for the trans. having issues with the clutch. I have tightened the clutch cable (brand new) from touching and grinding when i put it into a gear to as tight as it will allow ( no more threads) and still get a grind... i have driven manuals before and have had no problem.. i have also driven this bug with no problem until all of a sudden no more clutch working.... either hard to get into gear or it grinds when it will let you in

i have taken out the engine to look at the clutch assembly and have replaced the clutch cable with a brand new one and still no difference... i would rather not take the whole car down to bugformance and pay for them to take care of it..

with that being said any suggestions?

DOUBLE CHECK THE LENGTH OF THE CABLE. I HAVE HAD THAT ISSUE AS WELL AS THE CLUTCH NOT RELEASING ENOUGH TO SHIFT BECAUSE OF THE CABLE LENGTH.

It's broken, sell it to me...

hahahaha im not that tempted yet unless you got a different vehicle for trade like a 20+ window bus

and i have tightened it all the way down now and i put some washer for spacers on it earlier and dint really solve much of the issue

List what brand of clutch it is if you know. There have been some problems with one name brand of clutch. I had about the same type of problem a couple of years ago with one of these clutches and thought it might be the cable and went ahead and adj. the cable but still had the problem. Pulled the engine and found an inner ring on the clutch plate had broken at the weld. Put my spare on and mailed the broken one back and got a new one a week later at no charge.

oh cool i bought a kennedy pressure plate it looks like on my receipt and the clutch itself doesnt say on the receipt other than clutch disc no spring

would a springed clutch assembly make any difference for a 68 trans compared to the 57 i had originally purchased the clutch for?

I didnt list the name brand of the clutch until you did. Dont wanna say anything bad about kennedy if it were another brand. KEP has had a problem with some of the clutches. As long as everything matched with your Clutch, T/O bearing,disk and flywheel I dont see why it matters what year you install it in. This is just one of the threads on the samba talking about Kennedy stage one problems. Which disk you use seems to depend on how you drive the car and which you prefer. I use an unsprung. As long as there are not a lot of miles on the clutch kennedy seems to be repairing or replacing them. If you bought it local I would try and return it there first. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=526249&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=kennedy

I Had a similar issue in my 72.. ended up pulling the motor out inspecting the clutch, tightened the cable put it all back together and it was better for about a week.. until my clutch pedal arm cracked. so when i had an issue my pedal assembly actually cracked a bit causing the pedal to move but not truly pulling the cable the whole way.. welded it back together and wall-ahhh!!

anyone heard of this happening before?

your pedal cracked!? thats a pretty harsh clutch hahaha i broke my stock shifter with this clutch because it wouldnt go into gear... alright ill probably pull it and take it down to bugformance and see if they will switch them out
thanks for the info ill read it in a bit

Here's another thread that covers everything else to check. Rule everything else out before replacing the clutch. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=533037&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

What did this clutch issue turn out to be ?

we havent had the dry time and time off to take the engine out to replace the pressure plate yet but once we do and if that fixes it i will get on asap and let you all know thanks for the support

alright!!!! so my pops replaced the pressure plate and that was the problem he took a thorough examination of the thing front and back on on the back we found a peice of the finger do-dad that was broken.. amazing how one little thing that you wouldnt even notice can ruin a whole car hahahaha next up syncing the carbs..... wish me luck!!! thanks for the help by the way it was much needed

finally got everything situated and drove the bug today... sure did miss driving it runs great thanks for the advice its better than it did originally

Syncing carbs is fun...

Glad you got it movin' again!

hahah the carbs are still lean but have the right amount of air flow

What size idle jets? What carbs?