Clutchflite?

[Primer King]

Hi guys! The 63 Polara that I bought about a month ago was originally a bigblock/pushbutton car. The pushbutton assembly is still in the dash with the cable just coiled up and shoved in. Car ran with a 4-speed for a while, somebody hung a factory pedal setup and cut a hole in the floor. Still has the pedal assembly and the pivot ball/bracket welded to the frame. I was thinking it'd be a shame to pull out the clutch stuff, but I want to use the pushbutton stuff.

So I figured why not a clutchflite?

For atleast the near future, it's gonna be a hotrod. I've read lots of different opinions about them on the street; but how bad can they be? A little unfriendly is fine with me. Seems to me that once the clutch is out, it'll act just like any other auto trans with a stiff shiftkit/manual valvebody....

I see them on ebay from time to time, but I don't know how much a used setup could be trusted. Probably been beat on a million times. Anybody know much about them or where to get a good one???

 

[1badstroker]

Hi guys! The 63 Polara that I bought about a month ago was originally a bigblock/pushbutton car. The pushbutton assembly is still in the dash with the cable just coiled up and shoved in. Car ran with a 4-speed for a while, somebody hung a factory pedal setup and cut a hole in the floor. Still has the pedal assembly and the pivot ball/bracket welded to the frame. I was thinking it'd be a shame to pull out the clutch stuff, but I want to use the pushbutton stuff.

So I figured why not a clutchflite?

For atleast the near future, it's gonna be a hotrod. I've read lots of different opinions about them on the street; but how bad can they be? A little unfriendly is fine with me. Seems to me that once the clutch is out, it'll act just like any other auto trans with a stiff shiftkit/manual valvebody....

I see them on ebay from time to time, but I don't know how much a used setup could be trusted. Probably been beat on a million times. Anybody know much about them or where to get a good one???

Use to run a clutchflite back in the late 60's/early 70's on the track and it worked great. They were not easy to run on the street. I could not get a clutch to hook witout a big lb pressure plate and it wore my leg out. With the converters they have now there is no need to run one unless you want to.

 

[Primer King]

Thanx for the input! Yep, just figured it'd be neat/different. Figured it would be cool to use both the remains of the 4speed stuff and the pushbutton assembly still in the dash. It'll just be a "fairweather friend" to tool around with when I feel like misbehaving, so the clutchflite seems perfect!

 

[1badstroker]

let us know how it goes. Good luck.

 

[Primer King]

Has been a while since I posted here, but I just found and made a deposit on a complete clutchflite that has been sitting since it was removed from an altered in the early '70s. The guy who owns it is a vendor and on the road, so payment and shipping will get worked out in a week or so when he's back home.

 

[FatJack]

Please keep us posted.

 

[moparsteve636]

clutchflite

For safetys sake use a good scattershield and clutch setup,flywheel also.

 

[Primer King]

The trans comes with a Lakewood scattershield and the clutch/flywheel that was in the car. Of course I'd replace the clutch and flywheel, but I'm hopeful that the scattershield is good. I'm using this on the street only at this point, but probably will see about getting a blanket for it.

 

[HEMI-ITIS]

Pushbutton clutchflite sounds awsome!!!Looking foward to seeing this at LVR,E/Town or Carlisle.

 

[Primer King]

There is no plans for this car to hit the track while I own it, but a drive to Carlisle might be fun.... Do they let in cars that are primered with the 'glass nose/doors still in gelcoat? It'll probably be that way for a while.

Back to tech stuff; is there any other common ailments of clutchflites aside from shattering/exploding cases? I've read about the horrors endured during the Motown Missile team clutchflite experiments in the early 70s, and cases coming apart seemed to be the worst of it? Also read about 70lb flywheels to get the car to launch, things like that. I wonder if the same issues will apply in a streeter with a healthy (maybe 425horse) 383? Maybe they'd be even worse?

 

[Cranky]

Technology, especially with cams is different today than what it was in the days of 70 lb flywheels......just don't need heavy flywheels anymore.