Picked up the new ride tonight

[Overdrive]

[Ron B Avery]

Originally Posted by nitro_alltrac

Actually it's Hot Lava. It's the lighting. That's what I love about this color.

As for the fog lights, I love them. The LED lights are amazing. When I first turned them on last night, I was amazed at how much light they put out. The are better than the factory fogs that were on my IS350.

I love that color! Not a lot of them on the west coast.
Ron

[nitro_alltrac]

Originally Posted by Overdrive

Hard to tell, but no spoiler in the back, correct? Is this your only/daily car? If so, be sure to pick up some snow tires, then you'll really get to have some fun.

Currently no spoiler. I'm probably going to put the TRD spoiler on a little later. It's my daily but I've got a Suburban as well so not too worried about winter. Definitely going to upgrade the tires though.

[paulca]

Why is it the only people I hear complaining about the clutch is the North American guys?

Has to be something to do with you being a nation(s) of Auto drivers.

Also new clutches are usually very light and stiffen up as the clutch springs age and harden. Much like guitar strings starting out loose and springy with a rich sound and going stiffer and deader as the metal hardens into it's new stretched shape.

I think in the UK we are so used to jumping out of one manual into another that we just get used to clutches being different in different vehicles. Not just different models/brands, but different individual vehicles within the same model/brand feel different.

I also expect it's a bit of "blame the tool" by those with limited clutch control ability. They get into an unfamiliar manual car and are a bit lurchy so it can't possibly be their lack of clutch control it must therefore be a problem with the clutch.

(I'm bored at work so thought I'd start a bit of a war for lolz )

[8RZ]

Originally Posted by paulca

Why is it the only people I hear complaining about the clutch is the North American guys?

Has to be something to do with you being a nation(s) of Auto drivers.

Also new clutches are usually very light and stiffen up as the clutch springs age and harden. Much like guitar strings starting out loose and springy with a rich sound and going stiffer and deader as the metal hardens into it's new stretched shape.

I think in the UK we are so used to jumping out of one manual into another that we just get used to clutches being different in different vehicles. Not just different models/brands, but different individual vehicles within the same model/brand feel different.

I also expect it's a bit of "blame the tool" by those with limited clutch control ability. They get into an unfamiliar manual car and are a bit lurchy so it can't possibly be their lack of clutch control it must therefore be a problem with the clutch.

(I'm bored at work so thought I'd start a bit of a war for lolz )

I get what you're saying, I'm on my 14th car and all have been manual (learned how to drive on a stick as well). When I first bought my BRZ the engagement point seemed inconsistent and it made it hard to drive smoothly; every now and then it would jerk and made me feel like a beginner lol. After removing the spring, the experience improved 110%.

[paulca]

Originally Posted by 8RZ

I get what you're saying, I'm on my 14th car and all have been manual (learned how to drive on a stick as well). When I first bought my BRZ the engagement point seemed inconsistent and it made it hard to drive smoothly; every now and then it would jerk and made me feel like a beginner lol. After removing the spring, the experience improved 110%.

Odd. Don't get me wrong here but maybe it's technique.

Personally I consider the "spring" at the top as "slack", so I automatically depress the clutch through that "slack" to the where the actual force begins everytime I put my foot on the clutch. So my foot knows exactly where it is.

If that's the "spring" you mean?

I'm never really had much issue with the clutch. I do get the odd jerk as the clutch fully engages but usually when I'm being lazy and driving on full auto pilot.

My foot muscle memory knows where the bite point is so well without applying throttle I can lift my foot straight from the floor to the bite point quick enough to make the drive train "thump" but not stall or even bog the engine. My performance launch without rev'ing is to do just that and then floor it and lift the clutch the rest of the way almost immediately. Results in a full throttle launch without breaking 1k rpm on clutch slip.

Maybe the clutches are different across the pond? I know quite a few other things are different on each side of the atlantic.

[8RZ]

Originally Posted by paulca

Odd. Don't get me wrong here but maybe it's technique.

Personally I consider the "spring" at the top as "slack", so I automatically depress the clutch through that "slack" to the where the actual force begins everytime I put my foot on the clutch. So my foot knows exactly where it is.

If that's the "spring" you mean?

I'm never really had much issue with the clutch. I do get the odd jerk as the clutch fully engages but usually when I'm being lazy and driving on full auto pilot.

My foot muscle memory knows where the bite point is so well without applying throttle I can lift my foot straight from the floor to the bite point quick enough to make the drive train "thump" but not stall or even bog the engine. My performance launch without rev'ing is to do just that and then floor it and lift the clutch the rest of the way almost immediately. Results in a full throttle launch without breaking 1k rpm on clutch slip.

Maybe the clutches are different across the pond? I know quite a few other things are different on each side of the atlantic.

Not the same spring. The "slack" doesn't bother me but rather the vague engagement point.

[Overdrive]

Aren't we actually talking about a physical spring in the assembly here?

[nitro_alltrac]

Originally Posted by 8RZ

Not the same spring. The "slack" doesn't bother me but rather the vague engagement point.

Exactly. I've been driving manual transmission cars for 37 years so I've got a pretty good idea of how it works. Started out on a VW Bug. Like he said, the engagement point is rather vague on this car. Not terrible, but a lot lighter than I like.

I'm going to pull that spring out soon, maybe this weekend. I think it will help based on what I've read.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by nitro_alltrac

Exactly. I've been driving manual transmission cars for 37 years so I've got a pretty good idea of how it works. Started out on a VW Bug. Like he said, the engagement point is rather vague on this car. Not terrible, but a lot lighter than I like.

I'm going to pull that spring out soon, maybe this weekend. I think it will help based on what I've read.

DANG, there nitro_alltrac ........ was this the last MT vehicle you came out of ...... ??




humfrz

[paulca]

Originally Posted by nitro_alltrac

Exactly. I've been driving manual transmission cars for 37 years so I've got a pretty good idea of how it works. Started out on a VW Bug. Like he said, the engagement point is rather vague on this car. Not terrible, but a lot lighter than I like.

For me the engagement point is just at the bottom of the "elbow" point in force. The force required to push the pedal increases up to an "elbow" point - as I call it - then decreases. The engagement point is just where the clutch becomes much heavier to push/hold.

It was the same on my last cars too.

If yours is far below that then maybe adjusting the master cylinder might be better than removing the spring?

[8RZ]

Originally Posted by nitro_alltrac

Exactly. I've been driving manual transmission cars for 37 years so I've got a pretty good idea of how it works. Started out on a VW Bug. Like he said, the engagement point is rather vague on this car. Not terrible, but a lot lighter than I like.

I'm going to pull that spring out soon, maybe this weekend. I think it will help based on what I've read.

You'll wish you pulled the spring out sooner, I love the stiffer, yet consistent, engagement point now.

Originally Posted by paulca

If yours is far below that then maybe adjusting the master cylinder might be better than removing the spring?

I did both, remove spring and then re-adjust master cylinder (otherwise there's slack in the pedal).

[paulca]

Originally Posted by 8RZ

I did both, remove spring and then re-adjust master cylinder (otherwise there's slack in the pedal).

There is meant to be slack in the pedal. If you remove the slack you remove the tolerances for the clutch mechanism to change with wear and temperature.

[8RZ]

Originally Posted by paulca

There is meant to be slack in the pedal. If you remove the slack you remove the tolerances for the clutch mechanism to change with wear and temperature.

Have you removed the spring and adjusted the shaft? It's impossible to remove the slack 100%, what I'm saying is removing the excess that occurs after you remove the helper spring in order to get the slack back to OEM tolerances.