Quote:
Originally Posted by Suberman
This is well worth doing.
Be careful not to overdo this.
The pedal cannot be dropped by much without risking clutch drag.
Be very careful to preserve the free play at the top of the pedal arc as this is essential to ensure the clutch is fully engaged when the pedal is up.
Otherwise this mod improves clutch pedal feel markedly and reduces that spring loaded lurch close to the bite point. Find the sweet spot between too low and not low enough and you will be very pleased with the improvement in the whole shift quality.
Most drivers stall the engine the first time they drive this car with the clutch pedal at factory height. With the pedal dropped to level with the brake pedal or just below then clutch modulation is much easier and nobody should stall the engine.
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You can verify freeplay at the top of the stroke is correct, by a simple function check.
Open the hood and look at the clutch master cylinder reservoir while pulling the clutch throwout lever towards the clutch slave cylinder. If you can not get any travel out of the throw out lever and the fluid level doesn't rise in the reservoir, then the clutch pedal is adjusted too tight. And you have to back off the clutch pedal/cruise control switch a bit. If you drive around in this condition for very long the clutch will start slipping even with your foot off of the clutch pedal and the you will wear out the clutch in short order.
If you can depress the throwout lever toward the slave cylinder a significant amount and the fluid level rises in the reservoir while pulling/depressing the throwout lever than the freeplay adjustment is good to go.
There is a bleed/transfer port between the reservoir and the master cylinder, this port is only open when piston in the master cylinder is topped out aka clutch pedal released. This port must be open in this position to allow for expansion of fluid when the clutch is not being depressed. Once enough pedal travel has been utilized to push the piston passed this port the hydraulic clutch circuit becomes pressurized.
To check that you have enough pedal travel to fully disengage the clutch there is another function check you can do. With the vehicle fully warmed up, this also means warms trans fluid. With the vehicle stopped and your foot on the brake, Depress the clutch and immediately shift to first gear, you should hear a clunk/thunk.
Put it back in neutral and then depress the clutch again, wait 3 seconds and then shift into first gear, there should be no clunk/thunk. No clunk/thunk after 3 seconds means you should be good to go. (the clunk/thunk is the sound of the input shaft stopping rotation to mate with the output shaft) If there is still a thunk/clunk when shifting into 1st after depressing the clutch for 3 seconds then the clutch is not fully disengaging and you have your pedal adjusted too low. You will kill your syncros in short order if you drive around in this condition for long.
Repeat these function checks again after driving a while after having made any adjustments just to make sure everything is adjusted within safe functional tolerances. Check again a week later just to be sure.