So, about 2 months after the car went back on the road, the original clutch cable in my '73 142GL broke about 4-5 inches away from the pedal attachment end, so I replaced it with a new Volvo OE cable.

About an hour ago (2 months from replacement), that broke right at the crimp between the cable and the yoke end that attaches to the pedal arm tip. The tip has not come off, the wire strands have each broken right there.
Not 'quite' the same mode of failure as tthe first one, but similar

So what conclusion do I draw?

I think, maybe (?) I did two things wrong- I didn't grease it internally, and I had to give it about a 70-90 degree twist to get it to align. I actually felt that was 'wrong', but it took relatively little force (strong thumb pressure from my forearm at an awkward angle), but I attempted to redo it, and the cable had a 'bend' warped into it from being coiled in the bag, preventing it from sitting in such as way as to be properly lined up for my going under the dash to connect it and tighten it. Might have helped to have two people...

I *thought* the nylon lining meant you didn't have to grease it... was that completely incorrect?

The cable was *remarkably* cheap for a dealer part... I didn't note where it was made. It had much much coarser threads on the adjustment than the original. Are the cables of that much reduced quality??

FWIW, the cable looks like a 240 but according to Volvo does not quite interchange. (So experience with a 240 should apply here...)

Clutch is stock. Pedal is heavy for a stock clutch, IMO, but not really freakishly so...

Car was sand blasted, and grit got in a lot of places, but the clutch action doesn't bind per se, just a bit heavy... nor does it feel, or with the engine off, sound, "gritty".

Stock clutch? I thought you had a stroker motor.

I've never lubed a clutch cable, the only thing I do to get maximum life is leave it as free floating as possible.

The "big" motor (92.5mm x 88.75-ish mm) is in the 544. It uses an 83-84 240 Turbo pressureplate and an early 240 disc, and works fine. It is notably light in fact- one of the main pivots is changed from nylon bushing to rod-end, and I am sure that helps.

The 142 is stock b20F low compression until spring (optimistically here as it was supposed to happen last year and the year before), when it gets the DOHC 97.1 x 88.9mm b234/b23 hybrid.
I am "using up" (not that I'm hard on it- I'm not) an old clutch in it now. When the new motor goes in I'll get some type of increased pressure unit, but nothing radical.

My plan is to try spray graphite, can't see how it would hurt. I will smooth/radius the inside of the cable yoke, and check whether it's worth putting a blob of weld and smoothing the yoke's contact point where it has worn the tip of the pedal arm. I'll be very careful that I put no torsion on the cable on install and maybe look at supporting it high and straighter on the engine side of the firewall.

I am also concerned, as I remember when this clutch got installed, I had to go pick up a bearing, and the total package height was not exactly the same as what came out, but it was close. Maybe not close enough... I didn't drive the car much after the trans freshen, then abdondoned it at a body shop for just short of 3 years, so my memory is fuzzy as to what was normal for pedal weight, and as to whether I noticed the clutch feeling different than the previous one.
The cable was not at the end of its adjustment or anything, so I assume its setup is "normal".

92.5 sounds scary to me, did you get it sonic checked? What sort of rods did you end up with?

The 142 is stock b20F low compression until spring (optimistically here as it was supposed to happen last year and the year before), when it gets the DOHC 97.1 x 88.9mm b234/b23 hybrid.

Sounds like huge fun!, have you got some decent sized cams, proper headers & a decent induction system for it? The Penta version is rather popular here in midget speedway cars, 400+HP on methanol.

I'd never bother with a B23, but the B234 is such a huge step upwards, I think you'll soil yourself with it or your head will snap off backwards when your grin stretches from one ear to the other!

I am "using up" (not that I'm hard on it- I'm not) an old clutch in it now.

I here you. I've never bought a stock clutch in 20+ years of 140 pedaling. I've never done anything fancy to my clutch cables, never lubed one, just let the nylon sleeve do it's job. The cable I've had the most luck with is an Italian made one that has a hex steel end on the outer at the pedal end rather than the genuine round with two flats style, however, my RHD cables are 6"+ long.

As to the cable it is not here yet, but should be first part of the week. Part of the issue was probably that it was -31*C during the day, and who knows what at night, for most of a week straight leading up to the breakage. Stuff does bind & break at that temp.


92.5 on a b20 is not that risky. The b21 conversion is the 92.0, and that's been done probably a few thousand times. On the right block you can go 94.0.
Then again I've gone with b20+.30 on an early b18 block, and supercharged it, no sonic check on either b20... though I certainly would today, having a bit more knowledge and budget, and testers having come down from $1800 to a tenth of that.
According to sonic checks, though, the 97 and a touch on the b23 block is thin. Interestingly, there is a drilling for (IIRC- everything's in storage) the waterpump attachment that was drilled right through the front face out the block and into the outer wall of the front cylinder. The main wall thickness was around .120" OE, but where that ~6mm drilling was, was about half that. With an overbore of just over a millimetre, that was a problem, so a sleeve went in that one, and I filled to the bottom of the water pump opening which is equivalent to about 5/8" up onto the inside of the "frost plugs". Recall this was when Dick Prince was on a lot of the web boards saying that the blocks weren't standing up... turned out his rods were neither crank-centered, nor pistons centered. Oops. Thus not the block's fault he had splitting problems, but in my case, aside from having to use an alternative style of block heater, no harm done to have some fill, being that the walls average .110-.125".

Cams will be stock unless I want to convert to mechanical (solid) lifters & I'd go for something with the same or shorter durations and more lift. I would not use shim style mechanical buckets either- only the hardcore race Scandinavian ones with the threaded insert, or convert the hydraulics to solids, and hand fit lash caps. W/o a rocker ratio, the working bucket-top diameter is everything... Working around (read: ignoring) the structural limits of components (limiting RPM or spending top$ on good components), you can multiply .842" x 1.46 rocker ratio for the b20, and compare that to the shim diameter @ 1:1 of a VW early watercooled, which is what shim type buckets for a b234 are, and you see have no mathematical progress/gain. Not to mention .904 x 1.65, which is what I'd build a b20 to, if I do another.

I am using some of "245GLTi"'s (sorry Dale W, that looks mistyped?) redrilled timing gears to retime the cams. I expect with the massive low lift flow of the heads on one hand, and the relatively mild cams on the other, 107-109 intake and 110-111 exhaust centers will be my starting point. Recall the the factory cams produced peak torque @, IIRC, 4500RPM. Exhaust will be the stock casting, smoothed and coated- it's a daily driver and my fabrication skills and equipment level make a header forbiddingly expensive. Put it another way- buying SS weld-els and a lasered flange, fitting it to the chassis, FCAW tacking it together, and then taking it away to be properly TIG'd, I've have 20hrs my time, 350 in materials and $225 in paid labour, minimum. Not appealing. Especially if it cracked.

Talking fabrication and expensive, the intake is made up of two sectioned GM Quad 4 High Output manifold runners and plenums, with the whole thing reflanged to Volvo. Don't doubt till you see this one live- it's a seriously nice manifold, with more high RPM capability than I'll use. However, I do have an issue as it appears to be about 1.6" too tall. I do not want a hood bulge or scoop. I will do more exact measurements, and look at options, including seeing how close I can get the pan to the front cross member, the possibility of mouting the engine&trans a couple deg's off vertical, even doing a spacer for the front crossmember-to-body and seeing if the idler arm can accommadate that... probably easier to section the manifold one more time, but I only have to do this once, so all options are on the table.

Car has massive roll stiffness, with an IPD bar joining the stock one at the front (2 bars), and a 240 turbo sedan one adapted at the back. Edelbrock shocks for a lowered S10 minitruck at the front and vintage NOS KYB "Black" series GasAJusts at the back. Front coils are cut and retapered with a pair of VW Golf II rear shims used to help achieve good contact with the spring pocket of the arm. I still need to cut and taper/shape the front snubbers, as with the cut coils they are over active. The suspension seems to work as a package right now- it's been a *lot* of trial and error- at this point more than any aspect of the drivetrain. Still have your idea to backdate the rear trailing arms in my mind, too. Trouble is, with our underbody rust here, that's a big job to get off a car at the wrecker, and it's pretty rare to see a pre -72 at the wrecker locally anymore. Steering is heavy and w/o good feel, but only compared to the 544. Compared to everything else on the road it's pretty damn good, but I have 164E power components in a cardboard box tempting me. And of course there's brackets to suit the OHC block to support a pump. My winter wheels/tires are 245/45r17's on 7.5". I may switch those to being the summer wheels, and go back to 16's for winter.

Recall the the factory cams produced peak torque @, IIRC, 4500RPM.

It's not the cams that make it peak at 4500, it's the head, 4 valve heads just don't make any torque.

Cams will be stock unless I want to convert to mechanical (solid) lifters & I'd go for something with the same or shorter durations and more lift.

Why would you go smaller? You won't gain any extra torque below 4500 with the ports being what they are. You need something that makes it go in the 4500-7500 range to make power.

"Clutch is stock. Pedal is heavy for a stock clutch"
How old is the clutch? The diapragm gets weaker with age and makes the clutch heavier and heavier. This puts more and more strain on the cable. It'll never be Toyota light but shouldn't be too bad. Had to change a couple of cables on my Cavalier because of this. VW Golfs show this symptom too. I guess it's the same with other cars.

I have come to accept that there are no clutch cables available of original stock quality. I have lost track of how many clutch cables I have replaced over the years. I always keep a spare in the car.

I have a left hand drive 140. I experience the same break point of about 1 inch inside the cable sheath, near the pedal end. Usually when the clutch needs adjustment, it is because of a failing cable. So I have some warning before a failure.

The cables are cheap, and with practice, the replacement is easy.

I am going to look at the routing of my cable,to minimize cable bend at the firewall connection.
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Antique Swedish Steel 71 142E color V#102

Got to agree in that I've yet to find a quality replacement. I've gone through a few of them on my former '72 144 and my current '70 145. Although I haven't broken one...yet.

My problem is that after two-three years, the cable starts to groan and squeak. There is no change in the effort to push it (pretty easy actually) and there has been no apparent stretch. But the noise is annoying as hell.

My last effort was to remove it and lube it with a light oil (3 in 1 type).
That didn't work. It lasted two weeks before the noise came back, and now does not operate smoothly.

I guess it's time to replace it again. It's not a difficult job, but one that shouldn't have to be done every 2 - 3 years in my opinion. Getting sick of buying new parts that are junk, but what's the alternative?

The alternative may be what I did when repairing a Lotus Europa clutch cable ( try finding one of those at a parts store!!!!!) I used some stainless braided wire from a marine store, and machined the pedal end and the lever end pieces myself, and then silver soldered them on. That was in 1984, and AFAIK they are still working fine. The owner went to England on a holiday in 1988 and bought a factory cable. It's still a spare....
God I'm old...

Howdy,

You could repair both of your broken cables. (Come on, I know I am not the only one who hangs on to broken parts.) Or, make a new one to your own specification.

http://www.flanderscables.com/

--
Mr. Shannon DeWolfe -- I've taken to using mister because my name misleads folks on the WWW. I am a 52 year old fat man. ;-)

This brings back memories of your exact symptoms wih my '74 144. Had the original break under warranty. Volvo shop took a shot in the dark and added a ground strap in case the cable was being used as an electrical ground becoming brittle (never did put much faith in that theory). That one failed less than a year later. I tried lubricating the next replacement with graphite (lock) lubricant inside the rubber boot, but that made little or no improvement. When I found the clutch getting heavy I knew that the strands were fraying and binding in the casing. Typically I would have recently adjusted the clutch once or twice as the cable was stretching as the strands frayed. The failure point in my case was always just an inch or so inside the clutch end where it had worn through the nylon lining. I finally cured the problem when I installed the third by making sure it was routed in a way (higher up as I recall) so that the cable naturally fed into the lower bracket as straight as possible.
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Dave -940's, prev 740/240/140/120 You'd think I'd have learned by now

"in case the cable was being used as an electrical ground becoming brittle (never did put much faith in that theory). " I can tell you from first hand experience that this can happen. My car was a '73 Fiat 128SL (about 10 years old at the time-bought used). It snapped a cable while I had the car--replaced it--snapped that one within months. It was by chance that I noticed the ground strap (motor to body) getting hot under cranking--installed a better strap and never had another problem--well, except for maybe the timing belt breaking (called for 15k mile intervals) at 60mph with Granny in the car. Heard that bbbrrrrtttt noise and got it into neutral immediately and coasted a half mile into a center island gas station and right into a parking spot. 8 valves and a belt later - back on the road driving one of the most fun cars I've ever owned--but OH, do I wish it had the later X1/9 1500cc motor and 5-speed. Maybe Rhys is correct about the origins of your cable--could they be sensitive to carrying the ground function?

Hi Ian;
There is a brand of cable used in the aftermarket - made in Italy I think - and perhaps the dealers are selling them now as the factory probably doesn't support these old cars. I've had a couple of them break, much like yours, especially when the clutch diaphragm spring gets near over-center and the pedal effort goes up as they near the end of their service life. On a new clutch they seem fine. I recall the price a few years ago was under $40.00 Can. which is way less than the old dealer prices, which were around $100.00 I think.
Probably a crappy part rather than a fault in your car.
Greasing them makes them squeak. They are ready to go when received.
Rhys

I installed one of those Italian aftermarket clutch cables in the 240 my daughter drove five years ago. The pedal effort was very high. I took the Italian made part out and put in a used Volvo clutch cable. The clutch became easy to operate.
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john

The clutch cable on my '71 144 was re-routed by the previous owner -- I wonder if it kept breaking. It takes a circuitous route up and around the front of the cylinder head, which can be seen in the photo below. However, this is a right-hand drive car, so the clutch cable has to go further than in a left-hand drive car. But I wonder if re-routing the cable so that it curves only very gently would solve the problem.

Thanks to all who've replied. I was getting most, but not all, messages into my inbox, just came back and read them all.

Further compunding the issue with these cables is that they are no longer stocked in Canada, so it's about 8-10 working days with the car off the road. I may just do as the one poster says, and buy a spare. If nothing else, that seems to turn my luck... I know once I bought the 544 hub removal tool, I've had no rear brake or rear axle issues, touch wood.

The 544 is a surprisingly decent winter car, but it is not "tire'd" suitably for the job... plus there's a number un painted areas of the underbody where I did amateur welding repairs... not good to be driving on salted roads.

I bought a new Volvo replacement cable recently and could see that it was a lesser quality than the original that I'd just taken off.
I kept the original and had a shop copy me up a new one - that was actually less expensive than the new Volvo one - and of better quality. Or maybe find an old NOS one? Make a few calls and see if you can find a place that does this type of work in your area.

Hello,

My brother noticed, after replacing several clutch cables under warranty, that the aftermarket cables have a roughly cast clevis on the end of the clutch cable mount for the clutch pedal.

It appears that when the cable is not adjusted often enough, thus having too much slack, the rough casting on the inside of the clevis, binds on the end of the pedal causing the cable to kink just before the clevis. Then when the clutch pedal is pressed, the force of the pedal action is stressing only the outer strands of the cable on 1 side and quickly snaps the outer strands of the kink and quickly works it way to the inside.

We have taken to filing on the inside of the clevis to smooth and slightly enlarge it and to apply some lube to the inside, along with regular checking of the clutch adjustment has lengthened the life of my customers cables recently.
--
Eric
Hi Performance Automotive Service (formerly OVO or Old Volvos Only)
Torrance, CA 90501