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If Robert can't find his spare, you might try calling Anna at Vintage Motorcars  at:
(714) 894-1550

Their website is showing them out of stock but it never hurts to call.

The clutch cable is a shortened version of a standard VW sedan clutch cable.  I just buy a stock cable and have a sailboat rigging shop shorten it and then swedge on a new, metric end of the right size and thread pitch.

The end-to-end dimension from the top of the pedal loop to the end of the throw-out stud is 77 inches.

The key key phrase here: custom made. You really need to measure and be absolutely sure.  My car has a few quirks (is a hybrid pan/tube frame construction) the result of which is a "non-standard" short clutch cable length.  So what you do is get a VW cable, and procure a threaded rod drilled out to accept the cable with a snug fit, then go to a sail maker and have the rod swedged on to the cable that you cut to the exact right length you need.  So now the operative word is "procure".  Maybe one of the builders can provide that blank threaded and drilled rod??  Or if you know a machinist (I did)  have him make that rod.  In this case you can make the rod a little longer than std VW dimensions, with a little more thread, and have a bit more adjustment capability.  And while you are at all that trouble, might as well make two.

This really isn't all that hard to make if you can't find a ready-made one and you certainly don't need to DIY a new end for the cable.

If you ask a sailing rigger to make one shorter for you, don't worry about making a new stud for the Transaxle end - It is a standard Metric stud they use on sail rigging  all the time.  

Just take along the original, full-length VW clutch cable and the wing-nut adjuster so they can match the end stud threads and give them the dimension of 77" from tip to tip, finished length.  

The rigger will certainly have that stud in stock as it is a standard metric end that they use on a lot of US built sailboats and just about every sailboat made outside of the US, like a Beneteau/Jeanneau.  The rigger's swedging machine is infinitely better at making a solid joint than beating on it with a hammer at home.  After all - You don't want your rigging breaking when you're turning your sailboat in heavy winds, do you?

In New England it costs about $15/end stud and another $15-20 for them to do the work (It takes about a minute to cut and re-swedge it) so, yes, it more than doubles the cost of just getting one from Vintage or Beck already at the right length.  BUT, you get to BS about boat stuff with the rigger (or about Corvettes, if you go to Bay Rigging in Fall River, MA) and that's worth something.

Last edited by Gordon Nichols
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