I went to go look at a car today, it was an 88 T/A (light 355, t5 in maui blue/silver, so its kinda a rare color too... Bonus!). The car itself needed a little work, but ran decent and is pretty straight. The only major issue with it was the clutch pedal. The guy says the slave is bad on it, but to me didn't seem 100% on that. When I was in the car, the pedal had absolutely no feel, and travels straight to the floor. My 92 celica, although its a different car entirely, has a bit of pressure and feel and you can easily tell where the clutch grabs. When asked if he tried to fix it, he said he bled it, but it eventually went soft again.

Does this sound like a slave cylinder, or is it something else? If it is the slave, it shouldn't be terribly hard to fix, it just unbolts from the trans correct? My dad who is my 3rd gen guru for everything else, had a 700r4 in his 89 iroc so he isnt 100% either, so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

The entire master/slave setup is pretty easy to swap with a new one. If the pedal has no feel, something is blown or disconnected.

If that's all that's wrong with the car I would be ok with it.

 

Prepare to put a new clutch (and maybe even a new flywheel) in it.
Prepare to rebuild or replace the hydraulics that drive the clutch mechanism.

Its just time and money.
You can do it if you have them.

 

That's what the guy is claiming, that the slave is blown. That's some reassuring news for sure. Thanks!!

 

I'm perfectly fine with changing out the hydraulics, but if the motor is fairly new to the car ( I believe I mentioned it was an l98 from a z28 swapped into what was a 305 5 speed car), and the clutch is new, why would that have to be replaced? The current owner claims when he bled it, it felt normal for a time, then began to soften up to nothing again. That would be a hydraulic issue not the actual clutch am I correct? Thanks for the input!

 

Sounds like it just needs hydraulics, but when they first start to go out and the clutch isn't fully releasing, sometimes people will try to drive them anyway and it could cause unusual clutch wear or transmission syncro damage, etc. Unlikely I would say, but when you are buying broken cars that you can't drive you have to assume the worst.

Assume it needs a trans, and a clutch, pedal assembly, and all the hydraulics. If the price is still OK if that assumption becomes reality then take the risk. Otherwise it's just speculation and gambling and don't let anyone fool you into thinking it isn't. It's no different than pulling the one-armed bandit - just maybe better odds.

GD

 

I have had good luck with the aluminum body master and slave from advance auto. The Factory style plastic ones leaked on me after a year or 2