T45 Slave Cylinder

Ericv8thunderbird

Ericv8thunderbird

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1994 Thunderbird LX
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Any tips or tricks on how to get this slave cylinder bled?
I saw a video on YT to pump the clutch fork by hand, but that didn’t work, then had my wife get in the car and hold the clutch pedal. That didn’t work either, I’ve gone through a whole bottle of brake fluid without much progress.

The car will shift through the gears just fine without it running, but when it’s running it won’t shift and if I try to force it, it wants to move.
 
If it's anything like the SC .. I pump the clutch pedal about a hundred times ( it's self bleeding )
 
It's been a while since I did the t45 swap. Iirc I hooked up my hand vacuum bleeder and got it pulling, than pumped the clutch a few times. Did you try gravity bleeding it ?
 
Kenz said:
It's been a while since I did the t45 swap. Iirc I hooked up my hand vacuum bleeder and got it pulling, than pumped the clutch a few times. Did you try gravity bleeding it ?
Click to expand...
I have it gravity bleeding overnight tonight.

MadMikeyL said:
I assume you are using the S10 slave? If so, remove the slave and pump the pushrod all the way in several times.
Click to expand...
It’s an MDL slave cylinder.
 

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MadMikeyL said:
Ok. Based on the picture, the same method should work.
Click to expand...
Completely remove it from the trans? Do I leave the line connected?

I saw this on another form:

14) Make sure the reservoir is topped off.
15) Now, you're about to properly bleed the slave cylinder.
16) Place a pan or equal under the slave cylinder bleed screw, and completely remove the bleed screw from the slave cylinder body.
13) Your helper should have the bleed screw and a wrench ready to tighten the bleed screw into the slave cylinder.
Please remember to protect your eyes and those of your buddy's.
14) With the bleed screw removed, firmly press and hold the slave cylinder push rod into the body of the slave cylinder. Yes you read it right, push the rod into the slave cylinder and hold it.
15) Be careful, as soon as you push that rod back into the slave cylinder, it will and without remorse squirt brake fluid onto anything within reach.
16) Have your buddy reinstall the bleed screw and tighten it with the flare nut wrench all the while you're still holding the push rod in.
17) Once the bleed screw is tight, release the rod and as it comes out, guide it into the proper position on the clutch arm.
 
Remove the slave from the trans. Leave the line connected and the bleeder closed. Push the pushrod all the way to the bottom of the slave and let it expand back out on its own. Repeat that process several times. Bolt slave back to transmission. Have fun shifting.
 
MadMikeyL said:
Remove the slave from the trans. Leave the line connected and the bleeder closed. Push the pushrod all the way to the bottom of the slave and let it expand back out on its own. Repeat that process several times. Bolt slave back to transmission. Have fun shifting.
Click to expand...
I’ve been at this for an hour without any progress.
It still will not go into gear running.
 
I looked up the MDL T45 slave kit, looks like a nice unit, if I were to do over my setup I would probably go the route. I spent many hours dicking around with a bracket and linkage with the S10 slave.
www.moderndriveline.com

MDL LF Series External Hydraulic Slave Kit, 96-99 Mustang, T45

Check out the deal on MDL LF Series External Hydraulic Slave Kit, 96-99 Mustang, T45 at Modern Driveline, Inc.
www.moderndriveline.com www.moderndriveline.com

At this point are you getting fluid out of the bleeder with no air bubbles?

Have you taken it off and tried to bleed it with the piston pushed in all the way in or out?
 
Kenz said:
I looked up the MDL T45 slave kit, looks like a nice unit, if I were to do over my setup I would probably go the route. I spent many hours dicking around with a bracket and linkage with the S10 slave.
www.moderndriveline.com

MDL LF Series External Hydraulic Slave Kit, 96-99 Mustang, T45

Check out the deal on MDL LF Series External Hydraulic Slave Kit, 96-99 Mustang, T45 at Modern Driveline, Inc.
www.moderndriveline.com www.moderndriveline.com

At this point are you getting fluid out of the bleeder with no air bubbles?
Click to expand...
Yep, that’s the kit.
I don’t have any bubbles coming out of the bleeder, it’s a stream of fluid when I have my wife hold the pedal down.
 
So does the clutch pedal have any feel to it? Is the clutch fork moving at all when pushing on the pedal?
 
The pedal does have feel to it, and I can see the fork moving when the clutch is being pushed, it seems like it not pushing enough though.
 
That’s your problem. You need a 5/8” bore slave cylinder. The 3/4” one will never have enough throw with the SC master cylinder. Get a slave for a 94/95 4-cylinder S10 and make a new bracket. That slave you have will never work.
 
All I can suggest is maybe it needs to be adjusted, looks like the kit comes with an adjustable rod. Sounds like you have the thing bled fine.
Mike is probably one of the most if not the most knowledgeable on these swaps. If he is saying that kit isn't going to work, I would tend to believe him.

Maybe at this point you should contact the company and see what they say about the situation?


@MadMikeyL is it not going to work because of the clutch master used on our cars, or is it a flawed product?
Edit... I just reread your post and you already answered that :facepalm:
 
That sucks the kit won't work. On the bright side, if you aren't able to return that slave kit you can probably use the bracket as a good starting point for the S10 slave mount
 
Kenz said:
All I can suggest is maybe it needs to be adjusted, looks like the kit comes with an adjustable rod. Sounds like you have the thing bled fine.
Mike is probably one of the most if not the most knowledgeable on these swaps. If he is saying that kit isn't going to work, I would tend to believe him.

Maybe at this point you should contact the company and see what they say about the situation?


@MadMikeyL is it not going to work because of the clutch master used on our cars, or is it a flawed product?
Edit... I just reread your post and you already answered that :facepalm:
Click to expand...
Yeah, I don’t know what master that kit uses, but I’m willing to bet it would be harder to make their master work with the MN12 pedal/firewall than it is to make a bracket for the S10 slave.
 
So over the summer I made a bracket for the s10 cylinder and had it all mounted up, then I decided it looked ugly so I did some research and found the MDL kit.
I got the MDL off and got my ugly built s10 cylinder bracket on, I called it a wrap for now. Hopefully I’ll have it finished tomorrow.
 
Ericv8thunderbird said:
So over the summer I made a bracket for the s10 cylinder and had it all mounted up, then I decided it looked ugly so I did some research and found the MDL kit.
I got the MDL off and got my ugly built s10 cylinder bracket on, I called it a wrap for now. Hopefully I’ll have it finished tomorrow.
Click to expand...

Just doll it up on a bench grinder and it’ll look nice.
 

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I’ve been at this for a few hours now, and I still can’t get a pedal. I’ve bled the clutch, I removed the slave cylinder and hand pumped it a ton of times. Still no luck!
 
The spring inside the slave pushes the throw out bearing up against the clutch fingers. So if there is any gap, that means your slave is already at the end of its travel. You should adjust the pushrod so that the piston in the slave is almost all the way bottomed out at rest.
 
Nice! I remember when I got mine going, first thought was "holy ****, this is way faster".... :irocz:

Sounds like it will be a monster since you have it boosted too
 
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