Leslie 928 S2

Well, that's a thought I definitely would have given a shot, if Matt hadn't been so sweet that he sent those extenders to me via priority mail...he said I might have them on Saturday. It would probably take me longer than that just to find wood and duct tape, then cut the wood to shape and tape it on!

heinrich

What I'm not hearing (reading) and surprises me is: "DUUUUDE!!! I went out there, looked up and using my trusty 13mm wrench I adjusted the spring to where now even my unborn child can depress the clutch ... guys, you're the best!!! Love and hugs, Leslie"

Bill Coleman

You said the car was 'twisted' - maybe the seat doesn't move all the way forward anymore?

My wife is 5' 2" and 10 years older than you. She's been driving our 928 for 9 years now without any problem with her knees. The seat is pretty much all the way forward when she drives, but she's never complained that it's hard to reach the pedals.

Another thought - I believe there's another set of holes in the seat rails that allow them to be moved further back by some amount. Maybe that was done to your car.

Leslie 928 S2

Weeeelll, with any luck, that post might show up over the weekend. Problemo here is that by the time I get home from work and could get under the dash to look, it's pitch black out and freezing, and that's not conducive to a non-mechanic getting down and dirty and pretending to be a mechanic! However, I do agree that this particular adjustment seems like something I can do myself, and I thank you, Heinrich, for the 13 mm wrench tip, cuz that's gonna save me some time! Glad you did this adjustment first and can make it sound so easy!

Hi Bill,
Yes, Heinrich did mention that bit about the seat being in a farther back bolt hole earlier in the thread. Another thing I'll have to take a look at this weekend in the sunshine. And hey, at 5'2", your wife's a full inch taller than me ...if I had that extra inch, that could possibly make the whole game for me. Or maybe she has proportionately longer legs than I do? The pedal extenders should hopefully answer that question.

As to the car's being twisted...most of the middle-car damage is on the passenger side, which is why that seat doesn't move. There is other damage to the front end (sway bar is welded onto the car, among other things) and the rear end (the back bumper was being held in place by a wedge of cardboard under the bolt because the bolt wouldn't line up, or some stupid crap like that -- Kevin fixed that). The stop at the end of the slide forward on the driver's seat is a very positive bump...not a mushy stop, the way I would expect bent rails to feel. But yeah, hey, it's possible the seat isn't going all the way forward, and it's certainly worth looking at. I'll find that out this weekend too when I see where the seat is bolted in.

Crossing my fingers!
Leslie

hans14914

I know this may sound stupid, but have you considered what shoes you are using when you drive. Earlier on, it was mentioned that someone experienced similar pain when clutching with their foot at an angle. I have found that many shoes exacerbate this problem. A good pair of driving shoes makes clutch operation much easier, and helps guide your foot in the right direction. I recommend purchasing a pair of Piloti driving shoes. They have several styles, but i find the Prototipo to be the best. They are stylish for real driving shoes, but not exactly feminine. I recently purchased a pair on ebay for my wife for $30 brand new. Womens sizes often show up for very little money one ebay, as the market for these is obviously male and size 10+ oriented. If they help, great, and if not, when you do get things sorted out, you will have a good set of shoes to enjoy the shark with. My wife likes to drive my audis sometimes, which are manual, and sometimes the shoes she wears makes me wonder. Out of curiosity, do you wear girly or heeled shoes when you drive?
Hope you get it sorted out,
Hans

Leslie 928 S2

Hi Hans, That's a very fair question. I do wear a lot of heels, but not usually when I drive. 99% of the time I wear sneakers or other flats when I drive the manual, cuz clutching is hard on nice shoes. Much scuffing results. Plus, it's hard to keep those slippery soles on the pedals, I've found.
Thanks, Leslie

fbarnhill

Leslie,
My last car was an 83s 5 speed and i loved it. However, when getting stuck in traffic jams my knees would start to ache. I have since sold it and bought my 79 Euro automatic. Now, this is the first automatic I have ever owned for myself and I LOVE it. it has most of the benefits of the shark and drives as easy as any i have ever seen. I highly recommend it The knees do too.

Leslie 928 S2

LOL...yeah, we have one of those too (remember Kevin's 84 Euro with Carl's s/c)...but he won't let me drive it!!

Anyway, I already have the Durango to get my automatic fix if I need it...but I really enjoy playing in the shark; it's like no other vehicle I've ever driven before. It does have one tiny little problem....that gas pedal has a really bad tendency to get stuck to the floor. LOL. As a result, I'm always tempted to slam around the gears and pile on the rubber from stops. That's probably as hard on the knees as it is on the tires. It's a sickness, I know. (hangs head in shame) They say that admitting I have a problem is the first step on the road to recovery. But in the meantime...!!!

Leslie

Leslie 928 S2

Hi All,

Well, the water pump finally came in on Friday, so Kevin threw it in on Saturday morning for me. Whew! Thanks to the guys at International for sending that along... And a super big thanks to my big guy for putting it in on the coldest day of the winter season so far (it was like 20 degrees out there Saturday morning, and the guy was frozen).

After the water pump was installed, Kevin climbed back under the dash to play with that clutch pedal assist spring adjustment for me again. Unfortunately, I must reluctantly admit, the man was right. (hangs head in shame) He did have the pedal adjusted to its least possible resistance already.

He turned the thing just one turn and suddenly I didn't know whose car I was driving! The pedal was no easier to push, whatsoever, and also developed a little hitch in its giddy up, which sort of felt like I was pressing through a detent at the top of the pedal. Transferred a tangible click over to the brake pedal, even. But even worse, when coming back up, the pedal had a nasty little bounce at the top that either caused me to chirp the tires when I didn't want to, or to stall, depending on how much gas I had applied. I was bouncing and bunny hopping all over the place trying to get the car started from first. It also made me have to work even harder with the left leg to control that bounce as it passed back up through the detent, and I could see that this was going to quickly cause me additional problems with the whole knee/leg thing that I was already complaining about, so I had to eat crow, admit he was right that the too soft spring was causing the binding he had warned me about, and beg him to put it back.

It looks like the problem here is not the car, but me. I gotta strengthen up if I wanna drive my Twister happily. Or else suck it up and drive her anyway.

So then he looked at putting Matt's pedal orthotics on for me. You were right, Matt, drilling and tapping is necessary to install them. Unfortunately, after looking at it, he's bothered by how close the drilling and tapping come to where the pedal is supposed to connect to the arm (or something like that) because he's afraid that the way I pound my pedals it could snap at the weak spot. Major bummer, cuz pedals were not on the list of things that were salvaged from the white car, so no spare set laying around he could drill out. Sigh. Guess I'll be stalled on this fix for just a little while longer until I can locate a spare set of pedals now.

Wish my update could have been to say it was all a resounding success. But thanks for listening and helping, anyway, guys.

More later, after I find some pedals.
Thanks, and all the best.
Leslie

ErnestSw

Dare I say-------Duct tape?
At least you'll know whether the pedal extensions are the right answer. THEN you can figure out how to mount them permanently.

Leslie 928 S2

Duct tape holds the rest of the world together...so why not my pedals, huh? Good idea!
Thanks ErnestSw!

Leslie