Pinto Car Club of America

 It says I am not able to post a picture, but can anyone advise me on the clip that holds the clutch cable into the hole on the firewall on a 1979 Pinto? Mine seems to have pulled out and maybe that is why it will not start? Neutral safety starter switch  not engaging because clutch cable will not fully Pull?

It has been a LONG time but I recall there were finger like, spring loaded prongs that extended into the firewall. Hence it should pop into place and be held with the prongs.  Typically people have difficulty REMOVING the cable. I recall using a split piece of tubing and then a hose clamp to compress the prong to remove the cable. it was a fine line between compressing the prongs enough to fit through the hole and having enough loseness to actually move the cable.

If the prongs are missing you might as a temporary fix (do at your own risk) try a hose clamp to hold the cable in place.

It is very similar to how an ebrake cable is attached to the brake backing plate.

I have used a small hose clamp to clamp down the barbs, then I pushed the barbs through the fire wall and then I removed the hose clamp. Easy fix.

Thanks. It does have the flat prongs, and although that is a tight spot for 2 hands, I got it back in and will fasten it as suggested. Thanks everyone!

I had this issue a year or so after I started driving my 78 Sedan.


I ended up replacing the Pinto cable with a Mustang II cable, using the adjuster tube from the Mustang II on the firewall. No issues in the 6 years daily driving it this way, same cable through three clutch rebuilds and three different transmissions.