Clutch lever

[kpkehoe]

I have just installed a new set of headers on my D-13 and have one "proximity" issue to resolve. The #2 pipe comes up very close to the top of the clutch lever. Can I remove the lever, heat it and bend it safely? I only need about 3/8 of an inch inboard to make it clear. I seem to be having trouble uploading a photo of the problem.

TIA

[FV80]

As long as you maintain adequate clearance to all points, you should have no problem. I've "adjusted" mine several times and although it might not have been PERFECT, it has never caused any other problems ... as long as you keep in mind the 'interference' aspect of things like EXHAUST pipes and the like.
Steve

[brian]

As you bend the arm make sure the hole is kept perpendicular to the slave cylinder shaft or cable. If this relationship gets out of wack the clutch may hang up and not disengage properly.

[Matt King]

If you can get the lever off, it's not too hard to cut and weld. I just had to do this for the long box swap on my CItation XTC, which has a vertically mounted clutch slave. The lever is modified to about a 90-degree angle and it would be hard to bend it that far. But it is forged steel, so you should be able to bend it some amount with a torch pretty easily.

[kpkehoe]

I bent the arm this afternoon and re-installed everything. The fits all look good. Since the arm is forged steel, as long as you get it cherry red over an inch or so on all sides, you can pretty much bend it into a pretzel. You then want to normalize it by heating most of the rest of the narrow part of the arm to the same temp and letting it cool down with no other intervention. Thanks to everyone for all the help. The hardest part of the project was filing off the peened over edge on the end of the shaft in order to slide the arm off once the circlip was removed.