My Hydraulic Clutch

[72Charger]

Hey guys,

So my '72 has been sitting for quite some time because I put in a 4 speed thinking that I had everything I needed to do the swap. Well.....my aftermarket bellhousing didn't work to well with the mechanical clutch linkage so I decided to go with a hydraulic clutch. Well...... I've seen some that you can buy for way to much money, I've seen some with completely universal parts, and I've seen some where people have pieced them together and had more trouble than they ever wanted. So I did a little bit of research and took my time finding the right pieces.

Basically, I ended up with a 4oz. reservoir made by Wilwood, a master cylinder for a 1986 Ford Ranger (new of course), a custom made braided line, and a Wilwood pull type slave cylinder.

I put it all together earlier today and pushed the pedal a few times, bled it in less than 5 minutes and it appears to be working great. The car isn't able to start so I can't really test it yet but it pulls the clutch fork pretty far.

[72Charger]

My brackets and everything aren't finished yet, everything is kind of in the rough draft part of the build. Everything will come back apart later and be finished up. The reservoir is mounted to a bracket that is mounted to the two bottom studs of the brake's master cylinder going into the brake booster.

The master cylinder is from a 1986 Ford Ranger, according to Advance Auto's website. I basically just used the same hole that the factory mechanical linkage would have gone through, put the master cylinder through and drilled two holes for the bolts. I also put in a bracket to help with the firewall flex. The master I have is a 3/4 bore with 1 7/16 stroke. The slave has a 7/8 bore but 1.3in stroke. If I end up needing a bigger master cylinder, the 1988 Ford Ranger master is a 7/8 bore and exactly the same on the outside as the 1986 master cylinder. I connected the master's push rod to the original location for the mechanical linkage.

[72Charger]

The only problem with that master cylinder is that the fitting is a weird type that doesn't have threads. It took me awhile to figure out what it was. It uses a fitting that has a o-ring and a pin to secure it in place. Somehow, I also came across this after market adapter that has this weird type fitting and converts it into a simple -4an. With that the braided hose was easily made. The guy making my hose said he wouldn't even be able to order one of those weird fittings for the hose so good thing they have those adapters.

[72Charger]

Another snag I ran into was the slave cylinder. I've seen people use these pull types but I usually see them mounted to the frame, a crossmember, or the shift levers cover (which I think is a weak choice). I didn't like the idea of mounting the slave to any part of the frame due to the engine and transmission moving on their mounts as you hit the gas and that would but flex into the system. I'm no engineer and have no idea if it would actually cause any problems but I just didn't like it. I have a '72 so I get to use the rear shifter mount for the transmission which leaves free the front shifter mount holes. (Sorry 2nd gen guys, you'll have to figure out something else). I made a bracket, put a strong bolt in the middle and used a heim joint to mount the slave. Now the slave will move with the transmission and its angles to account for the arch of the clutch fork. It's also out of the way of all the shift rods.

[72Charger]

That's pretty much it. It's not perfect and there is a few things I still have to work out, like where my hose leaves the master cylinder is right up against my header but I think I can buy a 90 degree elbow and it'll fix that. I like this system over some of the other stuff I've seen where you have to buy a very expensive master (mine was $35 and in stock at all my local Advance Autos), or really expensive throw out bearings. My slave cylinder was approx 75 bucks I think and a rebuild kit was cheap iirc. So no expensive parts and readily available parts in case something goes bad. It might not be the best quality......but it should do fine for my limited amount of driving.

[rt green]

nice work.  would be a good idea for me to do that two.