DIY - Easy clutch grab adjustment (~10 mins)

[awhatzable]

I'm twisting the rod but the pedal isnt lowering itself. The nut I unscrewed is 17mm. I can't find a 12 or 14mm nut on a rod coming from the firewall. Am I loosening the wrong nut ?

How many time did you guys twist the rod in a full circle ? I've tried about (5) 40% spins and gave up after seeing no movements on the clutch pedal.

When holding on to the sensor, does it automatically close up the gap where the pin is or do I have to hold the sensor while lifting the pedals to close the gap if you know what I mean?

I suck at this & to scared to try anything until I fully understand...

[Ferrari]

I did the adjustment, it took < 10min, the clutch pedal is now 1mm below the brake pedal. The clutch feels much better. Thanks for the writeup!!

[babydriver]

I did this adjustment five months ago. The worst part was standing on my head. No problems, everything works great and I did not have to adjust the cruise control switch. I suspect that I got lucky, but I would not move the position of the switch until sure that it was necessary.

To emphasize, I have had zero problems with slippage or anything else, despite no adjustment to the CC switch.

[DocWalt]

Originally Posted by awhatzable

I'm twisting the rod but the pedal isnt lowering itself. The nut I unscrewed is 17mm. I can't find a 12 or 14mm nut on a rod coming from the firewall. Am I loosening the wrong nut ?

How many time did you guys twist the rod in a full circle ? I've tried about (5) 40% spins and gave up after seeing no movements on the clutch pedal.

When holding on to the sensor, does it automatically close up the gap where the pin is or do I have to hold the sensor while lifting the pedals to close the gap if you know what I mean?

I suck at this & to scared to try anything until I fully understand...

Not sure what the 17mm nut is, but it's not for the actual clutch rod adjustment. You need to adjust the rod seen here:

[Andrew025]

Originally Posted by keithr

Hey everyone...

I removed the clutch return spring and performed this pedal height adjustment mod over the weekend.

The clutch feels a LOT better now, much more natural. I had no idea that the spring was the cause of my hatred for the clutch pedal feel.

I do have a question, though... while the clutch starts engaging at what feels like pretty close to the floor, it feels like it doesn't fully engage until almost the top of the pedal travel. I may not have noticed it before due to the spring introducing false feedback, but it seems awfully high to me, like there's very little pedal travel left at the top after full engagement.

Is it my imagination? Does this clutch just fully engage rather high in the pedal travel?

Is this adjustment affecting ONLY the pedal height, or it is altering the actual engagement/disengagement point?

I started with the pedal adjusted to exactly where @Koji_Online recommended, just a tiny bit (mm or so) below the brake pedal. When it seemed to be finishing it's grab point pretty high in the pedal travel, I adjusted the pedal just a tad higher to test, now it's maybe a mm above the brake pedal, same behavior. I haven't had any grinding or apparent slippage, I haven't smelled any burning.

Thoughts?

Just saw this post, but that's exactly how mine feels (even after swapping slave cylinders).
I'm not sure if that's how it's supposed to be either.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Andrew025

Just saw this post, but that's exactly how mine feels (even after swapping slave cylinders).
I'm not sure if that's how it's supposed to be either.

Unfortunately, yes. The angle of the clutch lever is such that most of the motion happens near the top of the pedal travel. If it were rotated a few degrees in the direction of the red arrow relative to the clutch pedal it would move that modulation point closer to mid-stroke.

I realized this a while back but let it go. It would require manufacturing a custom lever and maybe a longer pushrod for the master cylinder.

And remember, it's not the same as adjusting the clevis because we would end up with that clutch pedal way up off of the floor again. Uggh.

[Subscap]

"Pedal height? How much can that possibly help this clutch situation..."

Silly me, apparently the answer is "Holy Crap, This is way better!"

I had already taken the factory assist spring off of the pedal, so I don't know what adjusting pedal height feels like on its own. However I can assure anyone reading this that removing that spring and adjusting the pedal height will improve the clutch action dramatically.

Why did the car not come like this from the factory?!

[Hyper4mance2k]

I removed my clutch spring, and I love the improved pedal feel, but I can't stand the slop at the top of the pedal stroke. Will this adjustment remove the slop, or simply lower the entire assembly? As it stands my clutch pedal is dead even with the brake pedal.

[Subscap]

Originally Posted by Hyper4mance2k

I removed my clutch spring, and I love the improved pedal feel, but I can't stand the slop at the top of the pedal stroke. Will this adjustment remove the slop, or simply lower the entire assembly? As it stands my clutch pedal is dead even with the brake pedal.

Height adjustment will not remove the play at the top of the pedal stroke. I've looked around a bit under there and I'm considering adding a very weak spring from the sensor mount down to the pedal that's just barely strong enough to remove the slop without affecting the new (awesome) pedal feel.

[shiro]

FT86'rs,


I've been following this forum for a year now. Though, I would like to know what fellow peers have done with a high performance clutch (stage 4 and up). Do people also make the adjustment for heavy pressure plates like the Exedy Hyper Single, Clutch Masters FX400, etc.?


Input on high performance (heavy pressure plate) clutch adjustments would be nice. Most of this thread seems to be focused on stock or lower stage clutches and not 400whp+ cars. Anyone with this experience would be a great help. Thanks!

[Hyper4mance2k]

Originally Posted by Subscap

Height adjustment will not remove the play at the top of the pedal stroke. I've looked around a bit under there and I'm considering adding a very weak spring from the sensor mount down to the pedal that's just barely strong enough to remove the slop without affecting the new (awesome) pedal feel.

Rats... Well, MTEC makes a clutch spring now aswell as their shifter springs. It's supposed to be softer than stock. There's a review here:http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...ht=mtec+clutch

[keithr]

Originally Posted by Hyper4mance2k

Rats... Well, MTEC makes a clutch spring now aswell as their shifter springs. It's supposed to be softer than stock. There's a review here:http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...ht=mtec+clutch

I think *any* spring is going to introduce an artificial, non-linear feel to the clutch. A softer spring might serve the function of removing the "slop" at the top of the pedal, but at the expense of that unnatural feel, albeit not as severe as the stock spring.

Personally, the pedal slop does not bug me nearly enough for me to want to go back to having a spring on there.

[Kronos]

My advice is to give it a few weeks with no spring before you make any decisions. I tried to put the stock spring back in after 2 days because of this but lost patients as it's even harder to put back in. Glad I didn't put it back cuz it's been 2 weeks and I love it now

[Hyper4mance2k]

Originally Posted by Kronos

My advice is to give it a few weeks with no spring before you make any decisions. I tried to put the stock spring back in after 2 days because of this but lost patients as it's even harder to put back in. Glad I didn't put it back cuz it's been 2 weeks and I love it now

I gave it about 4 weeks and over 2000 miles. The slop is bothersome. My 84 Rx7 didn't have this much slop.