Slave cylinder vs hydraulic throw out bearing

[65 Fastback]

Hi all,

Wanting to hear what people’s experiences have been with installing a hydraulic throw out bearing instead of the conventional clutch fork and slave cylinder?

Some swear by them and others won’t go near them. I’m particularly interested in peoples’s experiences installing them on their old mustangs.

They seem simple enough to install from what I have seen and perhaps a bit more costly…but I’m after something I do once and forget for a long time.

Cheers

Tony

[GEOFF289]

I have a Tilton hydraulic bearing on the T5 trans in my '66.

It wasn't too difficult to install - as I'm fond of saying, if I can do it anyone can. I don't know about other brands but the Tilton has a threaded collar that you just wind in and out to set the .0125 air gap and then secure with a lock bolt. I made up a cover to go over the original hole in the bell housing that the fork comes through originally, with grommeted holes for the braided supply and bleed lines.

it works well and the pedal action is light and smooth. It's one less thing to have to wrangle headers around and the slave is protected from the heat of the exhaust. There is also an argument that you get a more even pressure all round the bearing on the clutch diaphragm as its not subject to even slight sideways movement that a clutch fork applies.

The downside is obvious - to get at it for any reason the trans has to come out. I've had mine in for about 7 years now and haven't needed to get at it.

They are pretty common, if not universal, in modern cars (those few you can get in a manual these days) so that might tell us something.

[65 Fastback]

Thanks Geoff. The Tilton is the one MDL supply or did you get from a supplier in Australia?

Has anyone used Mal Wood’s HTB?

[GEOFF289]

Thanks Geoff. The Tilton is the one MDL supply or did you get from a supplier in Australia?

Has anyone used Mal Wood’s HTB?

Yeah, got mine direct from MDL. They were great to deal with. I don't think they have any local suppliers. As far as I know they don't even sell through Summit, Jegs etc.

[trav68]

To achieve an OEM level of reliability just ensure all parts of hydraulic system are matched. Ensure master cylinder is sized appropriately to match htob which also must match clutch requirements ( pedal stop may be required to prevent over stroking). Think a lot of people dont set them up properly and have poor result.... unsurprisingly.

[GEOFF289]

To achieve an OEM level of reliability just ensure all parts of hydraulic system are matched. Ensure master cylinder is sized appropriately to match htob which also must match clutch requirements ( pedal stop may be required to prevent over stroking). Think a lot of people dont set them up properly and have poor result.... unsurprisingly.

Agree entirely with this. MDL also supplied my master and pedal linkage as a matched set. Of course, this point is equally valid with an external slave.

[Tempest]

I've got one in mine, supplied with the master cylinder, pedal setup and T56 from Mal wood.

Its smooth and easy to use, honestly I prefer the feel and weight of the clutch in my mustang to that in my daily drive.
It has about 12,000miles on it and its been flawless 

[AussiePhil]

Hi all,
Reading all this I thought no I’m happy with my manual Z bar set up on my T5 gearbox and Xtreme heavy duty clutch.
Although I have had a little trouble getting it into reverse.
I took the car for a run last night before I had to scamper home to beat the rain.
In that run I’ve realised the clutch needs adjustment, and bit hard going down the gears if your a bit clumsy, need to be precise, very simple job.
When I fitted Unisteer power steering I had to also replace the headers and modify the Z bar to suit.
I like the feel of the Z bar action.
To those who gone through the hydraulic modification is it really worth it.
Cheers Phil.

[GEOFF289]

Hi all,
Reading all this I thought no I’m happy with my manual Z bar set up on my T5 gearbox and Xtreme heavy duty clutch.
Although I have had a little trouble getting it into reverse.
I took the car for a run last night before I had to scamper home to beat the rain.
In that run I’ve realised the clutch needs adjustment, and bit hard going down the gears if your a bit clumsy, need to be precise, very simple job.
When I fitted Unisteer power steering I had to also replace the headers and modify the Z bar to suit.
I like the feel of the Z bar action.
To those who gone through the hydraulic modification is it really worth it.
Cheers Phil.

Hi Phil,

Horses for courses I guess. I've driven Z bar cars a few times and very much prefer the smooth and effortless action of my hydraulic setup. I guess just like you couldn't buy a new car with drum brakes these days the automotive world has moved on from mechanical clutch linkages. They were pretty ordinary when new and have a lot of points of movement and friction that tends to end up with twisting and binding over time. They also make it harder to get headers and brake boosters and things around them.

Do you still have a three finger clutch in your's or a modern diaphragm job?

Anyway, as I said, horses for courses.

[AussiePhil]

Hey Geoff,
Sorry for the late reply, I didn’t set notify.
Well it’s all fresh bronze bushes and lubricated with Lanolin grease, tacky stuff! I suppose it will show in time.
I spent a lot of time getting clearance between power steering and exhaust, moved the attachment point on the Z bar and a bend here and there.
It showed need to adjust very quickly, idle could be a bit high and getting into reverse the only indicator, suppose everything has settled in now.
I jacked up one side of the car the other day and 9/16” open end spanner, a few twists out with the pushrod, no problem.
Yes I’ve got the old T5 design.
I’m still mucking around with the water / air intercooler, you get heat soak stopping and starting around town and the heat exchangers do effect radiator cooling, I’m a bit over cautious about engine temperature, if it gets up to 200F the ECU doesn’t like it, and there is an adverse effect air flowing through the cooler, I’ve got a new pipe made ready for fitting and I’m going to slow down my supercharger with a bigger supercharger pulley, just to lower the torque a bit? It’s getting a lot of air at around 4000rpm and loses efficiency at 5300rpm. This in theory should lower the maximum torque and raise the Torque peak 500 or so rpm (guessing).
705Nm is a bit harsh on the T5.
The four link and AVO coil overs are doing a treat on acceleration from start, I roll a bit and clutch out before I hit it.
Cheers Phil.