I'm going to be swapping out my c4 for a t5 and I'm not sure which clutch would be better cable or hydraulic. What are the pros and cons of each? I'm mainly interested in which is cheaper or which has more bang for the buck.
The hydraulic clutches are a bit more expensive but live longer - that makes them cheaper over the life of your vehicle. Cables get burned, stretch and wear. Hydraulic clutches wear like brake systems so there is maintenance but very little.
easyer depends on how you go about doing it. this is my thread on how i did mine and what i used. http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=74695 i would give this a level of dificulty of 7 out of 10. 10 being very difficult. i went this rout because i didnt have any stock pedal to start with and have a connection at CNC. if i was to do this again i would use a different pedal/mc set up. i would use the one that puts the m/c in the engine compartment. the mounting bracket would bolt to the fire wall. if you have a stock pedal then i would use the kit that daze cars http://dazed.home.bresnan.net/test#3 sells. the other way i thought of doing it was to use the fox mustang pedal with the welded tube on it and put the master cylinder on the fire wall on that side with a push lever over there. the only problem with the cable set up is as stated above, the cable doesnt last as long, the fire wall needs reiforcement, and clearing the exhast.
cable pro: easy pedal with a factory clutch, readily available parts over the counter everywhere(if you fabricate for use with such) cable con: clutch cable with headers is a pain in the a$$! cables generally don't last as long as hydraulics(hydro is self lubing) hydraulic pro: master can be mounted in several different locations, with several adjustments, can be fabricated with some off the shelf components, easy pedal(clutch choice) hydraulic con: brake fluid inside the car(any leak will eat the paint if not caught quick leading to significant corrosion) unless you mount the master in the engine compartment, use of internal slave significantly raises cost. I like both systems for different reasons, but from an installers point of view, the hydraulic is the most user friendly since the components can be mounted in a variety of configurations depending on your needs. the cable setup requires close attention to geometry and isolation from heat sources to last for any length of time. Pick the one you're most comfortable with and give it a shot. A lot of people here have done both so your resources are plentiful. Good luck!
I've actually been reading your tech article a lot over the past few days and looks like it's what I will be doing I just didn't want to start looking for parts until I knew for sure what I was going to do. Since you have already done the swap what hydraulic setup would recommend?
I don't know what your fabrication skill level is . . . but I have pretty much none and also very little mechanical knowledge. The hydraulic setup is super easy to do in my opinion as long as you have the bracket to install it. Bryant made my bracket to mount the master cylinder and clutch pedal to the bottom of the dash. The rest to me was pretty easy.
if your talking about the hole in the firewall where the push rod goes through, then yes its marked on the fire wall. there is a circle about 1.5 inches that is stamped into it to be punched out for a clutch car. the "pedal mount" is the same mount as the brake pedal.
Would this pedal work: http://summitracing.com/parts/CMB-14-0016 Other than the transmission, clutch kit, flywheel, pedal and master cylinder what parts will I need for the swap? My transmission is in really bad shape ( no third gear, has a bad leak and needs to be shifted manually) and it's going to need to be replaced soon so I'm going to go ahead and do the swap instead of getting another c4.
Or, the way I did mine, old 302 bellhousing (Lakewood in my case), adaptor plate and stock-type mechanical linkage, modified stock crossmember..
What bore will I need for the master cylinder to have and will I be able to get the flywheel from the same car that I get the tranny from?
i used a 3/4" bore master and 7/8" bore slave. the flywheel must match the imbalance of your motor. if you pull a t5 out of a fox mustang they will be 50oz imbalance. if your motor is a 70s motor it will a 28oz imbalance.
