[Hishman]

So i'm 18 and just bought my first mustang 5.0. I don't have a whole lot of knowledge on cars, especially hands on experience. Here is the situation, its really long and im sorry but i feel all this information is relevant in diagnosing the problem...I bought the car from a guy who really knew nothing about it. but He said it had a tko tranny (i looked under the car and i could make out some borg warner lettering so idk seems like a t5 to me the clutch also seems a little stiffer than stock and engages harder) The car drove home fine then i started getting on it that night. Once i got home i couldn't even change gears. A buddy of mine adjusted it by pulling up on the clutch peddle and pushing the quadrant as hard as he could to remove slack. This worked fine but it kept coming unadjusted. So i decided to get a new cable. After the install i used the same method as my friend to adjust it. It worked amazing but i started getting a ticking noise when the clutch peddle was pushed down. Finally today it acted up again and it wont go into gear. I tried adjusting it again using previous method no results its seems the teeth are worn out on the quadrant. So i started researching it it said pulling the clutch up with your toe should set it to factory. If i do this it doesn't work at all. It also said there may be a problem with the clutch if it requires more than 2 clicks to be adjusted. So what do you guys think? even if the quadrant is warn out wouldn't the factory reset still work? or does this sound like a bigger problem with the clutch itself also from the day i bought the car the peddle went straight to the floor don't know if stangs have a stop...its my daily driver and the quicker i cant fix it the better

Thanks
Alex

[brandon444]

those stock quadrants are usually crap, I'd go with an aftermarket one, an adjustable clutch cable, and firewall adjuster. that's the set up most of the members on this site have and its reliable and easy to adjust

Mustang Clutch Adjuster Kit (83-95) 16159 - Free Shipping!

[MIGHTYJO3YOUNG]

the pedal will go to the floor, and if it was adjusting and is no longer able to adjust it sounds like the teeth are stripped on the quadrant. You can pick up an aluminum one or a kit together for around 100 or so. If it is an aftermarket pressure plate it can be much stiffer. I bought my car and it was said to have an aftermarket clutch and pressure plate in it, but upon taking it apart it looked stock. With a stage three clutch and pressure plate, the clutch is much harder to press.

Either way, you should be able to sit upside down on your seat with your head under the dash and a flashlight and check out the quadrant. feel for the teeth on the top to see if they are stripped. You can press the pedal with one hand and look up to locate the quadrant. It will be closer to the center console and has a cotter pin holding it in place. One more cotter pin for the pawl. Both will be removed to install a new aftermarket quadrant. I had one snap in half just after I fixed a snapped clutch cable. I'd start there before digging into the clutch itself. How does the pedal feel when you press it now? Is it sloppy? presses with little effort? If that doesn't fix it check for slack in your cable. Take the cover off of the bellhousing and use a flashlight to see if the throw out bearing looks to be lined up right. The ticking noise could be coming from that although they usually squeal, or it could be the teeth clicking when you press the pedal down. Give it a go and see what you see.

[Hishman]

When adjusted right the clutch feels great. but as it sits i get alot of squishy travel. 2 or 3 inch id say. Well thanks for the advice! I'm going to go ahead and get the whole quadrant adjuster set and see if that's my problem. If not ill just get the heavy duty clutch kit and a aluminum flywheel while i got it taken apart for $300. Got to love the cheap parts cost of 5.0's!

[MIGHTYJO3YOUNG]

If you have the travel I'd say its your clutch quadrant/ cable giving you the grief. It is nice having such a plentiful market full of parts for our cars! Great used parts too! Good luck!