keeping the car, couple of questions

well i've decided to keep the car. i had some offers, and some nice ones at that, but when it comes down to it, i built the car, know it inside and out, have 2 scars from it, and now that its running fine, cant bear to part with it.

that said, i broke my clutch cable on friday. i replaced it, but i noticed that the dust cover that covers the hole in the bellhouing is gone.
a. do i need it?
b. if so where can i acquire a new one?
c. has anyone made one out of something else?

also the clutch cable is a hair longer than the stocker, and i have some unwanted play in the clutch pedal. how do i get rid of that? i heard of some guys using a bolt. does that work?

lastly, upon startup in the morning, the car dies for the first minute or so of running. it also seems to be missing every once in awhile. i'm guessing the autozone special plug wires arent helping. i'm going to get motorcraft ones, but i heard someone say they got theirs for 20 bucks off a website. can anyone add some insight?

thanks in advance
-matt

For the long clutch cable issue, get a billet aluminum through-the-firewall adjuster. When you have the cable jacket pulled back, file the "barbs" down on the sleeve that goes through the original rubber bushing until it fits in the new adjuster (it should be firm but not so tight the jacket tries to turn when making adjustments). Then reassemble to the existing quadrant and adjust it where you like it. I picked my adjuster up off eBay brand new / shipped for $28 (beat Summit by about $5 without figuring their shipping).

I'd check the local junkyards for the dust cover. Any cable type T-5 (like off an NA Stang) should have it.

------------------
87 T-Bird T/C, T-5 swap done, med. red, spoiler, 174K+ Mi's., daily driver, still running strong!

You will need the bellhousing boot. If not, all sorts of crap (water, dirt, etc) can get in there and scuff up the flywheel and/or clutch, plus enough water will make it slip.

I'm not sure where to get a replacement ... if Ford doesn't carry them anymore (which is likely), I would try the for sale/wanted section here or at TurboFord. Someone parting out a T-bird or Cougar might have one.

------------------
86 TC, 73 Austin Mini, 72 Austin Mini Van

Click here to beat a ricer.