Ned's
Hydraulic Clutch Parts List/Instructions
Jeff Gootblatt's
Hydraulic Clutch
Jeff wrote:
It's made in 2 pieces from a single piece of 2 inch round stock. The first
piece, the visible one, is just a flat piece that has been milled flat and to
fit the available space. The angles off vertical were milled at an angle to
allow a angled Russell fitting to be mounted. This piece has 3 holes in it. One
going from the face to the center of the piece. There is a hole in the leading
edge that has been tapped for a banjo bolt and another hole on the top right
angle that is tapped for the bleeder. These 2 holes meet the hole in the face
for fluid flow. This piece is how the fluid gets from the master cylinder to the
slave cylinder.
The second piece is the actual slave cylinder. That is a flanged piece with a
fairly thick flange for strength. The flange is sandwiched between the first
piece and the engine case to hold the slave cylinder in place. The working part
of the slave cylinder is the same size as the working part of the stock pusher.
It's drilled fairly large for a large aluminum piston. The piston has o-rings on
it's outside diameter for fluid retention (didn't work well) and is drilled
lengthwise for most of it's length for the stock clutch pushrod. On the fluid
side of the piston is an automotive brake cup for a drum brake wheel cylinder
which fixed the fluid bypassing the o-rings around the piston. There is also a
groove machined in for a sealing o-ring.
Here is a picture of what it looks like. There is a relief cut in the face of it for chain clearance and it's spaced
out on the H1 motor where it didn't need it on the S2 test motor. You
can easily see in the picture why the line must be installed before the slave is
installed in the bike.
Installation is pretty simple, but it's not just a
"slap it in" type of arrangement like the stock pusher. The first thing to do is
push the piston back until the brake cup is at the very edge of the slave
cylinder. Then I put the slave cylinder in the motor and check the spacing. This
has no adjustment for the pushrod, so any adjustments have to be made with
spacer washers between the pusher and the motor cases. Once I get the spacers
determined, I take the slave back out and put the bolts in the fluid block
(which already has the line installed), put the sealing o-ring in the slave
cylinder, slide the cylinder over the bolts, put the spacer washers over the
bolts and slide the whole assembly in place. This has to be done carefully
because even though it's all "assembled", once the bolts are lined up, but not
started, I have to slide the cylinder almost in place, then slide the fluid
block down the bolts a bit until the banjo bolt clears the case, and then I can
slide everything home and tighten down the bolts. If the spacer washers slip, it
all comes back out and I start over. It sounds more complicated than it really
is...total time for installation is only a couple of minutes.
Once it's in, I have to route the pre-installed line, hook it up, and it's ready
to go. The line I'm using is an NOS line that I found in a box of parts. It's a
brake line for a Suzuki, but I have no idea what model. It happened to be in my
house and the ends were correct for what I needed, so it's no longer NOS.
The clutch master cylinder is a used unit from a Honda V45 Magna. I got a couple
of those off of eBay for $25.00 shipped.
The only fabrication that I have left to do can't be done until I get the motor
back in the bike. Once I get the ignition system installed again, I can put the
sprocket cover in place and determine where I have to cut the notch for the
fluid line to go through the cover. I think I might be able to cut it as a
continuation of the notch for the wiring, but I'm not sure yet.
Pull on the lever measured 35 lb with a fish scale at
the end of the lever. The pull on my 74 H2 with it's stock clutch was 30
lbs. I don't have an H1 with a stock clutch, so i can't measure that. My
73 GT550 is 25 lbs. It's a harder pull than a stock clutch setup, but
easier than the pull of the stock pusher with 5 Barnett springs. It was almost a
70 lb pull with the stock pusher and cable. Most people couldn't ride my
bike with the 70 lb pull on the clutch lever.
Another option by Magee:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08bRZOLNMVs