Broke my clutch cable in Saturday Rush-hour traffic

[camron at worldaccessnet.com (Camron D. Crouse)]

... and the only shop that had them in stock  (and was open today) 
closed at 4:00, about 2 minutes before I arrived from across town. (No, 
I wasn't driving my rocco to the parts shop;)

I-5 traffic from Portland into Vancouver was stinky slow today, and  my 
clutch (and my left leg) got quite a workout.  I was almost across the 
interstate bridge when *thunk* my left foot went straight to the floor 
as I went into 3rd.  Crap!  Lucky for me, there was no further 
stop-and-go traffic, and I was able to limp home in 3rd the rest of the 
way.  Really REALLY lucky it didn't go out 20 mins sooner as I was just 
getting into the stop-and-go, or tomorrow, when I planned a Mother's Day 
drive down 75 miles of windy, curvy SR-14 to my folks' place!
Stinky, indeed. Now I have to cancel my Sunday trip. And wait till 
Monday for my regular shop to open to get a cable.

Now, to get a Manual or Self-adjusting Cable?  To my surprise, my broken 
cable turned out to be a manually adjusted cable (which was also missing 
some of the bushings near the adjustment disc).  Would this explain the 
stiffness of the pedal I have always experienced with this car?  Are 
auto-cables smoother and less springy?...cause I'm thinking about 
switching back to one of these if this is the case.

On the other hand, are all A1 manual cables the same or are they unique 
to the Scirocco, as I was told the self-adjusters are?  (and what's this 
with the Bentley saying  these two types of cables are not 
interchangeable??)  Could I "grease it up" as Allyn does and expect 
easier clutching?

Here is a sampling of a thread on this subject in March, thanks everyone 
for the great input.

- Camron from Vancouver, WA USA
   '86.5 Black 16V 2.0L


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Allyn wrote:

> i always heavily grease the manual cables with black moly synthetic 
> grease. i keep adding to either end, working the cable back and forth, 
> eventually working the grease throughout the entire cable. they last 
> much longer that way (like 5 years or so), not to mention they feel 
> closer to the auto-adjusting cable.
>
> also, the auto adjuster seems to use some sort of flexible/solid 
> cable, where the manual uses a stranded stainless cable. the strands 
> are whats responsible for the different/rougher feel of the manual 
> cable, along with the accelerated wear.
>
> Al
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Calimus" <calimus@techography.net>
> To: "David Utley" <mr.utility@highstream.net>; "Scirocco-l" 
> <scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
> Sent: Friday, March 26, 2004 10:20 AM
> Subject: Re: clutch problem
>
>
>> Maybe mines a freak then.  Unless the PO who was a documentation 
>> wacko (I have recipts for valve stem caps), for some reason didn't 
>> keep a recipt for a new clutch cable, I still have the original cable 
>> in my 88' rocco. I think if I can get another 15 years out of a 
>> replacement cable, I'd pay the $40-60.  I know I've spent about  $30 
>> in the last 3 years on manual cables for the wifes cabby's.  They 
>> always seemt o dry out and rub through the plastic sheath or just 
>> flat out snap.  Either way, I like my Auto-Adjuster and will continue 
>> to have one till it pisses me off. :)
>>
>> William
>>
>> David Utley wrote:
>>
>>> Although I have not driven one of those either, I hear the same as 
>>> Patricks' sentiments from the folks that I sell the non-adjustable 
>>> cables to...
>>>
>>> David Utley
>>>
>>> Quoting Patrick Bureau <ats@longcoeur.com>:
>>>
>>>
>>>> No hatred, just a simple mathematical solution, self-adjusting 
>>>> clutch cable
>>>> - 40-60$, non self adjusting - 8-12$.
>>>> Personally never had a self adjusting cable in any Scirocco I own, 
>>>> but from
>>>> what I hear in general, they are expensive, and eventually break 
>>>> down a lot
>>>> faster than the simple non-adjusting cable. But I am not against 
>>>> them per
>>>> say.
>>>>
>>>> ---
>>>> ATS - Patrick Bureau -  Web site :
>>>> http://ats.longcoeur.com]http://ats.longcoeur.com
>>>> AIM: texasscirocco - Yahoo: atsgtx - ICQ: 32918816 - MSN: 
>>>> atsgtx@hotmail.com
>>>> See what I am selling today on eBay: http://tinyurl.com/22e5b
>>>>
>
>