Clutch cable guide tube repair

[1967bug]

My clutch cable tube broke away from it's welds inside the tunnel. How much is this going to cost me to get repaired? Just so I have an idea of what about I should be paying for this repair. Also any suggestions on where to take it to get this fixed in the Los Angeles area, west side, culver city area maybe. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

[RareAir]

Old Speed down in Paramount. It's a fairly easy fix. Unfortunetly, it's labor intensive due to having to cut open the tunnel in several places to access the area where the welds are. I believe there are 3 areas where the inner clutch tube is welded at.
If you've got a die grinder, it'll save you money if you can cut the necessary access holes and just have a welder make the needed attachments.
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1947 Typ 11a
1954 Typ 117
1956 Typ 151
1959 Typ 117
1959 Typ 265
1961 356B
1966 Typ 151
1966 Typ 241

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What has happened is the second retainer for the clutch bowden tube inside the tunnel has broken free from the side-wall (the driver-side wall) just behind the e-brake handle. The first retainer is by the pedals up front.

This should take a competent shop about 1-3 hours depending on the condition of your Vdub and how much time it takes them to strip-out the interior (carpet over the tunnel and seating to avoid burns from welding and grinding). So you can use that as a guide and then multiply it by the shop rate.

If you have access to:
- an angle grinder with thin cut-off wheel
- MIG welder
You can fix this yourself in about the same amount of time (add an hour for being a newbie to the repair).

Here's what you must do to fix this:
1st - sit in your driver seat and recline the seat as far back as it will go and then use a larger/longer screwdriver and place it down on the tunnel just behind the e-brake handle. Then place your ear on the screwdriver handle and operate the clutch pedal with your foot. The screwdriver will act like a doctor's stethescope(sp?) - you'll hear the bowden tube scraping up and down the inside of the tunnel as you push and release the pedal..
This confirms that the retainer has broken free of the tunnel wall for you.

2nd - if you hear the retainer sCrEeEcHiNg up and down then you'll have to remove your passenger seat and the carpet over the tunnel. You may wanna remove more interior (driver seat etc) depending on how neatly you can operate that angle grinder as you'll be spraying sparks all over while doing the next step.

3rd - draw an upside-down U on the passenger side of the tunnel.
Measure one inch back from the rear of the e-brake handle pivot pin and draw a vertical line from pan up to about 1" short of the top of the tunnel. Then draw a vertical line at 6" back from the ebrake handle. Then connect that line to the first line to form the inverted "U-flap" you will have to cut open. This flap will have to be bent down to access the inside of the tunnel with your welder. The tunnel wall is about 1/8" thick and hard to bend. You'll need a pair of vice grips or channel lock plyers to help pry it down.

4th - Once the flap is open, stick a long screwdriver down inside one of the e-brake handle holes on top of the tunnel. This could be the heater control arm cable holes as well.
By looking in from the newly created flap you can watch as your screwdriver (flat-blade style) touches the bowden tube for the clutch cable. Have someone lean on the screwdriver to force the bowden tube down more (about 1-1.5 inches lower).. This is where that tube SHOULD be and if you get this correctly, you'll see the place where the small metal retainer (small "L" shaped metal bracket) WAS previously welded to the inside of the tunnel wall. The "L" bracket has broken at the bend or point of the "L" where the vertical part was welded to the wall and the horizontal part is holding your clutch's bowden tube in place...

5th - grab your MIG and put a good bead of weld at the corner of the "L" bracket to hold it to the wall good. The tunnel wall on the driver side is going to get HOT so make sure your carpet is not touching it - or anything else that you don't want to burn

6th - test the clutch pedal a few times and watch the bowden tube flex under the extreme load to make sure you got a good weld on it. Then if all is well, close up the flap and weld it shut..

Caveats:
- watch as you cut-through the tunnel wall. There are several bowden tubes there (behind the ebrake handle) including the ones used by your heater controls so you only want to cut deep enough to open the tunnel NOT force the cut-off wheel into the tunnel all the way..
- SAFETY FIRST - your fuel line ALSO runs through the tunnel....
- you can actually operate the clutch pedal once your "U-flap" is open and watch as the bowden tube raises up and down to understand how it has broken.
- you will have to force the bowden tube further down than it will be at rest now. This is because that tube is actually installed with a downward bend along the length of the tunnel to pre-load the cable somewhat. So you MUST be able to push the tube down to where it was in stock format before it broke free.
- there is one other "hanger" where the clutch's bowden tube is welded and the same proceedure is used to fix it too. This location is up by the pedal cluster. 1" behind it and 6" behind it is the two sides of that flap.... It's not as common to break though, that's why I like the ol' screwdriver to the tunnel/ear test to "hear" the cable movement before opening up the tunnel....

- Cost to fix this problem at your local shop? $120 plus.
- Cost to tow your car there 'cause you cant shift gears? $100 plus

- Cost of doing it yourself & feeling good about your skills - priceless

HTH
--
jeff
http://www.revolks.com/

[RareAir]

[Eric&Barb]

Hi Volks,
When rewelding ANY cable tube, remove the cable first. Otherwise one can risk welding the cable to the inside of the tube. BTDT!!
Eric&Barb

[StOpBuGGiN]

same thing happen to me i had it repaired at oldspeed it cost around 200 bucks. price ranges from 120-200. thats what they told me. so save up. my clutch is perfect now.
_________________
67 Bug from Long Beach - sold

1965 chevy corvair- sold

2005 honda s2000

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Yeah, but if you're talking about the 2nd hanger point for the clutch bowden tube. You won't actually be welding ON the tube. You will be welding on a metal flange/bracket to the tunnel wall.

Of course it IS dark in there and very tight space to work in so I know $#!+ happens and it'd be possible to over-heat the tube in the process

Now the front hanger and the rear exit point is tube-to-hanger welding so that would be cause for concern of welding the cable internally to the bowden tube...