Driving with no clutch cable is fun.

[berniedd1]

[angela]

happened in my 1st bug when i was 16. i got a ride home, my bf at the time took it to his house to fix the next day. the 2nd time was in my 65. i had read before how to drive w/out in my idiots manual, so i figured i'd try it. luckily i had just gotten a new battery earlier in the week. i think i drove her like that for 2-3 days before i got a chance to replace the cable. i kinda liked it.

[madmike]

Draging this one from the ashes,, Good to hear your tales of the clutch peddle stuck on the floor
70 bus 200 miles from home,just got off the freeway,to take the backroads ,and bang cable breaks,,shit,, had to hit about five intersections with lights crap got caught by two or three, good old battery & starter got me us back to the freeway,I figured less 'stops the better' what a buzz kill that was,,got home on time
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'Black Ice'Drag Buggy 'Turbo'
Rail Buggy 1915 turbo
76 Drag/Street bug 2180cc 'Turbo' 11:85 @113 mph"If I go any faster I'll burn up the Hamster" ,gets 28 mpg. also 10/09/22 11.90 @115 mph
"If I'm ever on Life Support,UNPLUG Me, Then Plug me back In see if that Works"

[VWAdam]

When I was 15 and learning to drive and I got the hang of driving a manual, my dad taught me to roll start and drive with no clutch because he said "one day your clutch cable will break and I'm not going to come get you."
Fast forward a few years and I was leaving class at a community college, the cable snapped as I was backing out of my parking space. Dad was home so I called him and told him. His response was "And what do want me to do?" I told him to come with the tow bar because I had to go through a lot of traffic to even get to the highway. He then goes "Well you want to get home don't you?" Click. and he hung up the phone
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All he needed was a wheel in his hand and four on the road.

'59 Euro Beetle ragtop
'63 Standard Microbus

Come to my show! www.volksjam.com

Looking for badge/sticker/frame from Western Motors in Great Falls, Montana

[y2kbaja]

Not a clutch cable but hydraulic clutch on my Class 9 race car. I didn't have the jamb nut on and lost the adjusting nut = no clutch. I looked over the entire car and all my parts bags and no 5/16 fine thread nuts. Finished the lap with no clutch which included hills and the need for all 4 gears but made it to the pits for repairs.

[63 vwnotch]

had a jeep with hydraulic clutch burn against exhaust... same dealio, start off at the light in 1st but never had to slam shift, all in timing baby smooth as silk... drove it a whole day like that until my hose came in... good times
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WANTED: 67 earlier Type 3 seats, Z rests

[oprn]

I just found this thread, wow guys! "Slam shift, Bang shift"! Not in my car... ever! There is no need for that! As several have pointed out, with a little finesse you can shift all day long without even a tooth tick if you practice a little. Like 63 vwnotch says, it's all in the timing.

There is a sweet spot on the gas peddle where the engine is neither driving the car or holding back. You can feel it by putting a bit of pressure on the shifter. When you hit it the transmission will just slip out of gear smooth as butter.

Now you need to slowly let off the gas peddle and with the same light pressure on the gear shift, feel for the same sweet spot as the RPMs come down against the next gear. When you hit that magic speed the transmission will slip into the that gear, again, as smooth as butter and off you go.

If you miss it... you lose! Might have to start over from a stop but in the higher gears you have time to try a couple of times before you lose too much momentum.

Now that you know how, get out there and practice, a lot! Get good at it, show off to your friends! If you are doing it right they can be sitting next to you and have no idea that you are not using the clutch. You will have to point it out to them!

I have done this in every standard shift vehicle I have ever owned. About 10 of them and they were not all VWs. It works on any standard transmission.
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Our cars get old, we get old but driving an old VW never gets old!