I thought my clutch cable snapped but it is in tact afterall. What happened?

Did a linkage break? Have you true pulling the cable from both ends? Also look if it came off the guide pullies

 

Pull off the left rear wheel and inner fenderwell and have a look while sombody works the clutch pedal and see what's happening.

 

Check the cable coming up under the pedals. It's a simple design anything else I can think of would be in bell housing or clutch pack

 

I had the same problem. I was downshifting (not even aggressively) and the clutch pedal went to the floor and stayed there. I limped home in 1st gear. I really thought it was the clutch cable but it was the clutch and pressure plate.

 

With someone inside the car operating the pedal, and someone at the rear observing the linkage arm at the bell housing, it is a no-brainer to determine whether or not the external mechanism is working correctly. If it is, then something has broken inside the bell housing --- either the pressure plate or the release fork / arm. If so, then yes, you will be opening it up to diagnose and repair.

Only other possibility (though very unlikely) is that the pedal arm / pivot shaft / mounting has broken ---- this is easily diagnosed by visual inspection and determining if the pedal has any side-to-side (out of the plane of normal travel) movement by grabbing it and giving it a good "wiggle".

PS --- release forks have been known to fail occasionally

 

There' helper spring on the pedal arm, under the dash??

Or is that the brake pedal I am remembering...when I broke that it made quite the snap..

 

Yep, two as the cable exits the underskirt (cable hidden between it & the body) and goes to the back of the car.

Did one of the pulleys break? They are old plastic and brittle at this point.

 

Yep, sounds as though something inside is preventing the pressure plate from engaging against the disc ---- which is kinda strange because the default (with no actuation applied) of course is for the plate to be clamped down autonomously by its own spring force.

So either your pressure plate has broken or the throw-out bearing / release fork is jammed in the "release" (pushing against the plate spring) position.

I'm sure it will be very obvious and easy to repair once you open it up --- nothing too complex in there. Good news is doing a clutch on these cars is really not too bad ---- except for the special tool needed for the ring nut, and several places loan them out now......if you don't want to eat the expense of buying one.

 

Must be that time of year! Mine snapped last night and I will have to take it apart to find out what happened. OH well, Lost

 

Mark.
Did you figure out what happened to your clutch??
john

 

When my cable failed it didn't break in the sense that it was separated. A few of the strands of steel wire broke and that effectively lengthens the cable to the point where you can't get the clutch released.

 

I had the same experience at Lime Rock. I thought the cable snapped while shifting, but it turned out the clutch disc disintegrated.....