Pinto Car Club of America

My 73 1600 4 speed is my daily driver.   I drive it 55 miles to work (110 mies round trip!).
I need to drive it through the Detroit area freeway system and sometimes catch some stop & go traffic when things go array!
The clutch engagement was not as smooth and easy as I thought it should be.

Yesterday I bought an accessory for my grease gun.  It's a grease fitting needle that is used to insert into CV boots and similar applications.  It costs around $2.00.   
I bent the grease needle approximately 15 degrees and attached it to my grease gun that has a flexible hose.
I then inserted the grease needle into the clutch tube next to where the clutch cable enters.  I did this from inside the interior.
I then pumped about 8 full squirts into the tube.  Some of it came back out from the pressure.  It was only a little and easy to wipe clean. 

I then put oil on the clutch pedal pivot & clutch cable attachment pivot.

What a difference and really low cost.  It will probably make the clutch cable live a lot longer.
       

Howdy and seasons greetings,
Good to hear that you ride is up to the challenge of the winter and the roads in Detroit. That's a real creative solution for the cable lube.
  Reminds me of a favor I did for a friend about 10 yrs ago. Seems his 1952 VW Beetle had just had the brakes adjusted ( CABLE style) ,and the car pulled to one side worse than before. So he sought me out, and I put the car up on stands, and Hey, there were zerk fittings on the brake cables!
I decided that the only way to get 35 year old cables to exert even pressure on the brakes was to not ignore the standard adjustment procedure, but "change" it a little bit. After setting the free play, I pulled the parking brake on enough to cause the shoes to drag on all 4 wheels. Then I set the wheel adjusters to allow the wheels to move only after the breakaway  torque (measured with a torque wrench) was the same for all wheels. Worked like a charm. It allowed the outer cable housing on each cable to be loaded the same and hence the cables would pull evenly. The only other solution was new and expensive cables from the collector market.
Let's hear more good stuff from the group!

Pintosopher

I had a Volkswagen repair shop from 1974 to 1979.  So I have lots of VW stories...

About zerk fittings...  On 68 and later VWs they changed from the swing axle system to trailing arms with constant velocity joints. 
We used to recommend cleaning and repacking the rear axle bearings & constant velocity joints.  It was expensive and many people passed.  One customer decided to add zerk fittings to the rear axle bearing carrier instead of paying us to do it.   Later he brought us the car and said it would not stop properly. 
Yep, he filled both rear brake drums full of grease!   

Hey Starliner,
I had a very hard clutch on my 73 1.6 I did the cable lube and it changed nothing.
Later I changed the clutch and the pedal returned to normal feel.
The old disc was worn down beyond the rivets on the plate side...
From Pintony

My clutch wasn't hard to push. 

What I noticed is... I could feel was unequal friction as I was pushing & releasing the clutch pedal.   
The pedal action was not smooth through it's stroke.
Now it's smooth in both directions.

I figured after 30+ years if I didn't lube it, I would be replacing it.

My goal for the car is lowest total cost and lowest total work to drive it daily. 
However, I always overkill my cars with maintenance.   Maintenance is easier than fixing.

I can't stand driving something that is not in "ready to go anywhere" condition at all times.