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I just got my 71 off the shippers truck. Took it out for a drive.....ran out of gas. Yes.... I felt like an idiot. So I backed it down a hill and parked - walked for gas. I came back and put five gallons in and she fired up perfectly. But - suddenly my clutch is not engaging and just bouncing on the spring. Basically laying on the floor. I am new to the C3 world but have had some older cars in the past so I know my way around the engine - but I am stumped on what has suddenly happened to my clutch.
Any help would be welcome.....and I can handle a few cracks on the gas debacle.
There is a cross shaft basically below the mastercylinder booster. When you push on the pedal, you push on (rotate this shft) on the other side of the cross shaft, it then pushes a rod backwards right into the throwout bearing release arm. You will also find a couple springs attached to the cross shaft where the rods attach. These keep things from rattling and falling apart. It's a very simple setup.
Open the hood. At the left, back end of engine compartment, look straight down and there is a shaft coming out of the firewall, and it is connected to the bell crank. That's a shaft running from chassis on left end, to engine block on the right end. It has two levers attached, one for the clutch pedal shaft (as mentioned above), the other for what I'll call the clutch push rod, that runs back towards the bell housing and the clutch release lever. There are some tension springs that keep things together, perhaps one of them broke, and the clutch push rod is no longer in contact with the clutch release lever.
Happened to me too. I was able to get it started and drove home without having to use the clutch. Shifted very carefully and matched speeds. When I got home I discovered that the cotter pin that held the linkage under the dash had disintegrated. easy fix Hope that's your problem.
I just got my 71 off the shippers truck. Took it out for a drive.....ran out of gas. Yes.... I felt like an idiot. So I backed it down a hill and parked - walked for gas. I came back and put five gallons in and she fired up perfectly. But - suddenly my clutch is not engaging and just bouncing on the spring. Basically laying on the floor. I am new to the C3 world but have had some older cars in the past so I know my way around the engine - but I am stumped on what has suddenly happened to my clutch.
Any help would be welcome.....and I can handle a few cracks on the gas debacle.
Last edited by carriljc; Mar 19, 2020 at 10:58 PM.
1. My first loss of the clutch on my '71 was when the pressure plate spring broke. Replaced clutch, pressure plate and throw out bearing.
2. The second loss of the clutch was when the ball stud on the engine side of the cross shaft broke while sitting at a red light.
Hope your problem is something simple to fix.
Good luck.
Last edited by 71 Green 454; Mar 20, 2020 at 08:12 AM.
Ya think? Looks pretty basic to me. The pedal pushes a rod that pushes on/rotates a bell crank to reverse direction, pushes on second rod that engages/pushes clutch fork. A couple springs to keep things together so a little slack can be adjusted in so as to not load the throwout bearing. And then of course the mounting hardware , grease zirks etc. Simple as dirt. Looks a bit like a cave man designed it.
Last edited by 4-vettes; Mar 20, 2020 at 06:10 AM.
I just got my 71 off the shippers truck. Took it out for a drive.....ran out of gas. Yes.... I felt like an idiot. So I backed it down a hill and parked - walked for gas. I came back and put five gallons in and she fired up perfectly. But - suddenly my clutch is not engaging and just bouncing on the spring. Basically laying on the floor. I am new to the C3 world but have had some older cars in the past so I know my way around the engine - but I am stumped on what has suddenly happened to my clutch.
Any help would be welcome.....and I can handle a few cracks on the gas debacle.
I had the same thing happen to me , turned out to be a broken weld on the cross shaft (532742) on that diagram above . one of the arms was just hanging by a thin piece of steel off that shaft. .
Look carefully at the shaft and other pieces before you do anything.
1971 with a clutch problem - help
