odonnell

I'm in the final throws of overhauling a lot of small things on my NA, and I'm not confident my clutch pedal travel is in spec. Basically, there's a few centimeters of light resistance, compared to noticeably higher resistance until the pedal stops. I can't remember what this specifically felt like before all this...I think it was always like this even before my clutch job.

- I know there's a helper spring that's contributing to the resistance too, so I can't say for sure how light the first bit is without that spring there (it looks like the spring fights against you until a certain point in the pedal motion where it then assists you).

- The free play spec is 3mm. If this is free play that I'm feeling, it's excessive, and there doesn't seem to be much adjustment on the clevis. There are a good amount of threads showing, so I can't put the clevis farther away on the rod due to the design of how it's threaded. It would be held on with only a few threads at that point, and I would still have more than 3mm of this lighter travel.

- It's bled. At least, bled as good as I can get it. Motive power bleeder at 15psi with the rear way up in the air. Did this a few times after cycling the MC and the fluid is 100% solid. Slave is 2 years old (I damaged the old one by accident) and the master is unknown, but doesn't leak and was replaced at some point. All the parts are good quality. Clutch itself is 6 months old and all is well in that area.

So... what does your clutch pedal feel like, in terms of resistance changing along the course of travel? TIA

Van

I think it's more important about where the clutch disk is actually grabbing while you're in the throw range. E.g. with the car running and in neutral, when you put it in first gear, how much does the pedal move upward before the car starts to move? This point will move closer to the floor as the disk wears (because the slave cylinder will move the throwout bearing a longer distance before the pressure plate moves enough to let go of the disk).

V2Rocket

the helper spring always "helps" it does not fight you.
it actually does make a noticeable difference with the spring removed - clutch pedal is harder to push.

the spring assist is adjustable by turning the rod and nut to further compress/relax the spring.

do you also have the clutch pedal return spring?

Dougs951S

Michael, your MC could still have an internal leak. I'm envisioning a small score on the very uppermost portion of the bore that allows some loss of fluid compression until you move the piston past the scored region. Just a thought.

odonnell

Ok thanks guys. My guess is that the helper spring is causing this step change in pedal feel. The arm pivots, so the amount of mechanical advantage changes when the pivot is inline with the pushrod axis versus when it moves out of line. I'll check this when I get home later.

Still interested if anyone else has a similar feel in their pedal, just to get data points.

Tom M'Guinn

Mine has that few mm at the beginning too and I've adjusted everything I could find to minimize it. Like you said, maybe just a couple mm really...

Otto Mechanic

Michael -

I'm out of the game for the moment after experiencing a major fluid loss while bleeding the master/slave cylinders today. I should have more fluid on Friday and will try again.

Regards,

odonnell

Thanks!

Last night I zipped everything up and the clutch pedal feels how I remember it - the engagement is near the top. So I think it must be the master cylinder but I'd like to get a few months of driving in before I replace it, as it's been this way for years already.

mel_t_vin

What happened, Scott?

Otto Mechanic

The poly line from the bleeder ruptured while I was out of the room... Sprayed fluid everywhere.