Lost the Clutch, but I made it home!

[auzziez]

Most Friday nights I take my S1 (HLS30-17269) out for a run up an down the beach. This Friday, as usual, we stopped by Ricky T's for a bite to eat. So far, so good. Unfortunately, when we'd decided to go home, I pushed in the clutch, turned the key, and she (the car) lurched forward. After some fiddling, I realized that there was NO CLUTCH. I had to be towed home (Thanks Hagerty's) and tried to diagnose the problem on Saturday. There is a lot of hydraulic fluid on the Tranny housing, but I could not see an obvious leak either on the Clutch Master or Clutch Slave cylinders. I tried to find a leak in the slave hose, but couldn't find it.

To make life easy, I am going to clean and replace the entire clutch hydraulic system, since I really don't know when it was done last, or anything about the parts and workmanship.

I wanted to ask my Forum Friends about all the parts you'd put on your shopping list if you were going to rebuild the clutch hydraulics from scratch. I'd prefer not to make this like some of my home improvement projects where I end up running to Home Depot 2-3 times before I finish.

Thanks for your Help!

Tony V.

Largo, FL

[Diseazd]

Clutch master cylinder and clutch slave cylinder......might as well throw in the short slave cylinder hose.

[tlorber]

...and don't buy the parts at Home Depot.

[Arne]

Clutch master cylinder and clutch slave cylinder......might as well throw in the short slave cylinder hose.

What he said. Do all three to be certain you have it well covered.

[Jeff G 78]

For the record, you can drive a Z very easily with a bad slave. With the engine off, put it in gear and start it. Then just shift as normal without the clutch. If you drive easy and smoothly, your passenger can't tell that you are shifting without the clutch. To downshift, pull it into neutral and blip the throttle before downshifting. To stop, just pull it into neutral and repeat the process. I drove a '77 Z for over a week this way while I awaited my new slave to come in. You can do this with most manual cars, but some like it much more than others. I have yet to find a trans that shifts clutchless easier than a Z trans.

[Mikes Z car]

I did that one morning about 1 AM with a Triumph GT6. Fortunately there was almost no other traffic at the time. I felt like I had to really pay attention to what I was doing though.

[auzziez]

...and don't buy the parts at Home Depot.

Nice!

[beermanpete]

For the record, you can drive a Z very easily with a bad slave. With the engine off, put it in gear and start it. Then just shift as normal without the clutch. If you drive easy and smoothly, your passenger can't tell that you are shifting without the clutch. To downshift, pull it into neutral and blip the throttle before downshifting. To stop, just pull it into neutral and repeat the process. I drove a '77 Z for over a week this way while I awaited my new slave to come in. You can do this with most manual cars, but some like it much more than others. I have yet to find a trans that shifts clutchless easier than a Z trans.

He he he... Been there, done that. No reason to push or tow a car that is drivable.....