Broke slave cylinder bolt

[Stainless]

+2

Was it not possible to install it above the crossover pipe? Maybe zip tie it to the AC hose there.

Unfortunately, it wasn't. The SS line wasn't long enough to do anything but go along the bottom. Even if it was longer to be able to go up and around the exhaust pipe, it would still be very close to it, but just on the opposite side of the pipe.

I'm hoping Steve or David will chime in here since they both said that I could bypass the clutch pipe and hook in directly to the slave. I'd be interested to know if they did this on a stock exhaust like this and what they did to combat the heat coming off the exhaust. I could probably get more slack from the line if I cut some zip ties up further and didn't care if the line wasn't protected by the frame...

[stevedmc]

I have a suspicion that the folks doing this mod have headers or other full dual exhaust.

I did this mod long before I upgraded to Spec .01 exhaust. It appears he didn't straighten out the bend enough. You've got to straighten out the bend in it very carefully. It appears his is still bent at a 90 degree angle.

A slight bend is ok, but 90 degrees isn't going to give him much slack.

I don't have my crossover pipe anymore, but judging from his picture the clutch line should run over the crossover pipe heat shield. Straigtening out the bend will give him the extra slack that he needs.

[Stainless]

UPDATE: I decided to go back to the stock setup and I acquired a new clutch pipe. I'm getting really good at working on the clutch hydraulics since I basically had to do this job twice to get it right.

Here is the new pipe:


I am pleased to announce that the car is finally back on the road after couple of months of down time. I was able to drive it around right before another snow storm came into town.

[Chris Burns]

I just caught the tail end of this. I didn't know you could get a pipe as an alternative to the stainless clutch line Where did you get a pipe from?

[DMCMW Dave]

I just caught the tail end of this. I didn't know you could get a pipe as an alternative to the stainless clutch line Where did you get a pipe from?

http://store.delorean.com/p-8684-clutch-pipe.aspx

It's only the last two feet. Stock design.

I have seen people replace the entire line with hard steel line (generic brake line if you can find the fittings) but I don't recommend it as there is constant movement between the engine and the frame.

[Chris Burns]

http://store.delorean.com/p-8684-clutch-pipe.aspx

It's only the last two feet. Stock design.

I have seen people replace the entire line with hard steel line (generic brake line if you can find the fittings) but I don't recommend it as there is constant movement between the engine and the frame.

Cool. Thanks Dave!

[David T]

I have seen that too. Usually a 2 piece so it can be installed with all of the bends. I agree there needs to be some allowance for movement. Easily accomplished by putting in a coil (several bends) near the motor. Or just a short, flexible hose. Really doesn't pay to go through all that bother since the full length flexible S/S line is available. I suspect the hard lines were done early on before the flexible S/S lines were available.
David Teitelbaum

[82DMC12]

Just thought I would add my own experience to this thread. Recently I had a similar problem where the driver side clutch slave bolt broke off. I didn't care very much because I was going to be dropping the frame and removing the engine and transmission in about a week anyway. The best solution, that anyone reading this might not want to hear, was to remove the transmission, remove the bell housing, bring it to a machine shop and have them drill out the old shank, and then helicoil it. Actually both bolts ended up breaking off and I had to helicoil both of them.

[Stainless]

Just thought I would add my own experience to this thread. Recently I had a similar problem where the driver side clutch slave bolt broke off. I didn't care very much because I was going to be dropping the frame and removing the engine and transmission in about a week anyway. The best solution, that anyone reading this might not want to hear, was to remove the transmission, remove the bell housing, bring it to a machine shop and have them drill out the old shank, and then helicoil it. Actually both bolts ended up breaking off and I had to helicoil both of them.

To circle back on this, according to this thread, I broke one of the slave bolts 10 years ago. I ran the car without any issues for the last 10 years and would have continued to do so had I not had to pull the motor and trans to fix another snapped bolt on one of the motor mounts last year. So a snapped slave bolt wasn't "game over" for my situation. Your mileage may vary.

While I had the tranny out last year for said motor mount repair, I attempted a repair on this broken slave cylinder bolt and ended up with a cracked bell housing. I succeeded in making a somewhat small problem into a larger one. The aluminum just gave way around the bolt hole during the attempt to tap and thread. Long story short, my slave cylinder is now secured in by two bolts, albeit on a new bell housing.

[82DMC12]

To circle back on this, according to this thread, I broke one of the slave bolts 10 years ago. I ran the car without any issues for the last 10 years and would have continued to do so had I not had to pull the motor and trans to fix another snapped bolt on one of the motor mounts last year. So a snapped slave bolt wasn't "game over" for my situation. Your mileage may vary.

While I had the tranny out last year for said motor mount repair, I attempted a repair on this broken slave cylinder bolt and ended up with a cracked bell housing. I succeeded in making a somewhat small problem into a larger one. The aluminum just gave way around the bolt hole during the attempt to tap and thread. Long story short, my slave cylinder is now secured in by two bolts, albeit on a new bell housing.

One tough aspect of this repair is the holes for these M7 bolts are blind i.e. you can't get to the back side of the bolts for seemingly no reason at all. They just decided to cast the bell housing that way. That means you probably need a M7 1.0 bottom tap rather than a plug tap in order to get enough threads repaired. Or, I see no reason why you can't drill all the way through the bell housing if that makes it easier or opens other possibilities for repair.