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Re: [T3] Clutch cable


On 12 Oct 2004 at 9:49, Dave Hall wrote:

> I hadn't realised just how different the LHD and RHD pedal assemblies are until
> I looked at the exploded pictures.  I assumed we had broadly similar mechanisms
> but maybe different spacing due to using the same sequence of pedals on opposite
> sides of the tunnel.   In reality, the RHD clutch cable hook is on the single
> piece of tube the pedal is also welded to, while the LHD pedal detaches from the
> end of the much thinner operating shaft.  Very surprising.  It almost looks as
> if they went to great lengths to retain the Beetle system for LHD.  From '72
> models they even went back to an earlier Beetle clutch  pedal shaft with a 111
> number.   Very curious!

Sounds like this is very much a matter of perspective. To me at least, the LHD 
version looks simple and straightforward. The RHD version looks complex and 
cobbled, and I have a hard time figuring out what they are doing with some of 
those parts.

It is certainly harder that these parts aren't just mirror images of each 
other. One wonders why this is so. I'm sure that you Brits could have grown up 
working the gas pedal with your left foot just as easily, as long as that was 
the way it had always been over there.


I suspect the 111 shaft came back in when they went back to longer arms on the 
pedal shaft and the throwout bearing shaft. Early beetles must have used longer 
arms there, too, so they just recycled the part. It gives me a lot of respect 
for the engineers there, since it's generally much easier for the engineer to 
just design a new part, rather than bother to dig thru old designs to see if an 
appropriate design already exists.  

-- 
*******************************
Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
*******************************

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