How To: Free Clutch Spring Removal in 15 Minutes - A must do for manual trans!

[ermax]

So while my car was out of commission I was driving my dad's Boxster and got used to a lighter clutch. When I got my car back on the road I hated the heavy clutch with the spring delete so I put mine back on last night. I thought I would share my method of doing it because it's kind of a pain.

I used hose clamp pliers to compress the spring and then it when right in place. If you don't have hose clamp pliers get some (around $40 on Amazon)! You will thank me anytime you have to mess with a hose clamp and as an added bonus you can use them to reinstall your helper spring.



I've had a few of these. The ratchet on the first one wore out so I had to hold it by hand. The second one I ordered claimed to have a better ratchet and so far it's held up well. I was kind of surprised the ratchet was able to hold that helper spring because it's fairly heavy. Anyways, here is the one I have currently:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[jonboy99]

I had a similar experience - when I went on vacation for a couple of weeks, I came back to drive my own car again and didn't like the weight of the clutch without the spring.


However you can just squeeze the spring in a bench vice, and hold it closed with some beefy zip ties, and cut them off when it's installed - this is the way recommended in the instructions for the MTEC spring.

[carsebuco]

Only been driving a standard for a little over 2 years now and although I knew I shouldn't be a pro at it yet, it felt weird having jerky shifts all the time. I'm usually a pretty fast learner but man, I couldn't figure out this car for shit.

Until I removed the spring this morning. Man, it's crazy how much easier it is now. Probably one of the best "mods" out there for the twins.

[qcbaker]

Originally Posted by carsebuco

Only been driving a standard for a little over 2 years now and although I knew I shouldn't be a pro at it yet, it felt weird having jerky shifts all the time. I'm usually a pretty fast learner but man, I couldn't figure out this car for shit.

Until I removed the spring this morning. Man, it's crazy how much easier it is now. Probably one of the best "mods" out there for the twins.

I had a very similar experience with this mod. I learned to ride a motorcycle before I learned to drive, I learned to drive a car in a manual Saturn Ion Coupe, and drove a manual Audi A4 for ~2 years. So, I thought I had a pretty decent handle on driving a manual. When I bought my FR-S I hadn't driven a manual car for about 2 years. I was a little jerky at first and just chalked it up to rustiness. But even after weeks of driving getting used to this car, I still had problems with jerky shifts, especially the 1-2 shift. Always made me feel like an amateur. After I removed the clutch spring, the car feels so much smoother. It's seriously a night and day difference.

Anyone even considering this mod should just do it. It takes like 15-20 minutes to do, you dont need any special tools, just stuff everyone has around the house, and its pretty easily reversible.

[8RZ]

Originally Posted by qcbaker

and its pretty easily reversible.

Lol false. I agree with everything else though.

[qcbaker]

Originally Posted by 8RZ

Lol false.

I mean, compressing the spring in a vice and putting zip ties on it isn't exactly hard to do. If you tried to re-install the spring without compressing it first, I feel like it would be basically impossible lol.

[8RZ]

Originally Posted by qcbaker

I mean, compressing the spring in a vice and putting zip ties on it isn't exactly hard to do. If you tried to re-install the spring without compressing it first, I feel like it would be basically impossible lol.

That's exactly when we did and still had issues.

[qcbaker]

Originally Posted by 8RZ

That's exactly when we did and still had issues.

With the spring compressed, what made it difficult?

[8RZ]

Originally Posted by qcbaker

With the spring compressed, what made it difficult?

Keeping the spring centered while trying to compress it. The old vice he had made it difficult though; we gave up after a few tries because we valued our vision too much.


Moot point for me though since I never plan on putting the spring back on my car lol.

[qcbaker]

Originally Posted by 8RZ

Keeping the spring centered while trying to compress it. The old vice he had made it difficult though; we gave up after a few tries because we valued our vision too much.


Moot point for me though since I never plan on putting the spring back on my car lol.

Ahh, gotcha. Yeah, I guess if the spring popped out of the vice or something that could be pretty dangerous lol.

And same, I doubt I'll ever reinstall the spring. Maybe if I plan on selling the car I'll put it back in just so its "stock".

[squall leonhart]

Just saw this thread today.

Looking forward to trying it when I get a few minutes. I've been driving a stick since I started driving 21 years ago (including taking my driver's test in my '86 Celica 5-speed) so I have a bit of experience (not that there's not plenty I could still learn and do better) and usually pretty smooth, but I've often felt a bit jerky in this car.

Especially considering I switch back and forth between it and my 2000 Celica GT-S pretty often, so I haven't quite gotten the muscle memory down on the FR-S.

Hopefully taking out this spring will help.

[15limited]

Originally Posted by squall leonhart

Just saw this thread today.

Looking forward to trying it when I get a few minutes. I've been driving a stick since I started driving 21 years ago (including taking my driver's test in my '86 Celica 5-speed) so I have a bit of experience (not that there's not plenty I could still learn and do better) and usually pretty smooth, but I've often felt a bit jerky in this car.

Especially considering I switch back and forth between it and my 2000 Celica GT-S pretty often, so I haven't quite gotten the muscle memory down on the FR-S.

Hopefully taking out this spring will help.

It helped alot for me from switching between pickups/mid sized slush box to my BRZ which had a feather light clutchfeel compared to those.

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[jonboy99]

Originally Posted by 15limited

It helped alot for me from switching between pickups/mid sized slush box to my BRZ which had a feather light clutchfeel compared to those.

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Slushbox with a clutch? That's a new one!

[15limited]

In an attempt to communicate I was referring to manual trans trucks i called them autos 🤪

Originally Posted by jonboy99

Slushbox with a clutch? That's a new one!

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