CLUTCH, Hydraulic vs Linkage

[Maverick]

I met a older guy this year that had a NHRA Mustang stocker, and he was the first stocker to run in the eights. He had a hydraulic activated clutch in his car. It depends on you transmission and how much of a challenge you are willing to go though to run a hydraulic unit. If the mechanical linkage in not workable, sometimes a hydraulic unit can make things easier. My street Cobalt has a hydraulic activated clutch, and I believe the Corvette has a hydraulic clutch. I have one in my Super Gas car, which has a Lenco and it works just fine. I have had a couple of knee surgeries and the mechanical linkage with the bell housing, I had at the time, was not the best. So I went with a McLeod throw out bearing assembly. I have had some issues with what I was trying to do at the time, but at the present I am very content. A lot of it depends on whether you have to use the clutch to shift or not. You need to talk to people who run them and find out the good points, and the not so good points. I like mine, and that is the bottom line. I love the sound of a stick car going through the gears.
Steve Williams Super Gas 351N.

[ALMACK]

Alot of the guys in the NMRA Factory Stock class run the cable setup and seem to do o.k.
I've never heard of a big problem from the Mustang group about a cable setup.

[Brad Zaskowski]

Don't waste your time with the hydraulic clutch linkage unless a consistent reaction time is not a concern of yours. When the fluid in the linkage is hotter your r/t will be quicker and when it is colder your r/t will be slower. If your line runs near the headers that will throw another fluid temp factor into the mix. Take the time and build a mechanical linkage, you will not be disappointed.
I made 4 time runs and ran 5 rounds of eliminations at my last race. My reaction times ranged from .017 to .041 for 9 runs, 6 of them were between a .025-.030. I don’t think that is possible with a hydraulic linkage, especially since over the weekend our air temps ranged from 55*-80*.
We built the linkage in Charley Downing's 2010 mustang stocker and from what I could tell by the 16 runs I put on it in Belle Rose this past spring his is just as consistent as the one in my car.

[Jeff Lee]

Brad brought up a great point. I know a racer that was using the hydraulic fluid tranny break button in Super Stock. They were using heat guns to monitor the temps and adjusting the temps to a desired level for more consistent reaction times. And the fluid capacity of that unit was minuscule compared to a hydraulic throwout bearing system.

[tj310]

We were worried about consistency until Pierce put together a string of .00 reaction times one weekend . ---Trevor

[Maverick]

I don't believe that you can compare hydraulic Tranny fluid to the fluid that I use in my clutch system. If you are concerned about the temperature, then I would be more worried about, brake systems that use the type of fluid that you are concerned about. I have run a mechanical linkage set up, and done ok. I also have run a hydraulic clutch system, and I think that you just plain dont like the idea. You guys are great with the setup that you have and that is why you are Number 1. The person asked the question, and I was trying to show some good side of the system that I have. Sorry if I ruffled you feathers,

[Jeff Lee]

He asked for opinions and got it. If you have a hydraulic system and it works, great. Nobody cares which system anybody uses on their car.