Major clutch system fix! pics and one hell of a ride inside

[turboglenn]

Well, I thought that the pedal moving was due to the bushings in the top being worn out and this wasn't a job i wasn't looking forward to it as i've heard removingthe 2g clutch cage was a bi*** of a job.

BUT........... I got the cage out in 15 minutes and ripped it apart inprobably another 2 minutes..then i found this

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As you cna see the bushings and pins are ok looking to the eye, and measured out for clearance they were well within acceptable range... that's when i saw..(key dramatic music) the clutch pedal was 1/4 inch away from being a piece of scrap metal laying in the driver floor board

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so i knew what to do, this was metal waiting to be worked over, a tree waiting to become a 2 x 4 and so i set out and did this
making it stronger required more metal

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and after fitting the little piece and welding it up, i now have this

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so now it's fixed, and a litle note... the peda;l broke in the HAZ from the OEM process where the piece for the clutch switch was welded to the pedal assembly


now is wqhen it got fun though, and amazed me and my friend who thankfully was there as my witness Jorge (A.K.A. El Cuervo from here on tuners)

We went for a little ride got her warmed up and with theboost at 25 psi and a clutch that i haven't felt in YEARS (i told him it felt like i just bought a new camry or something becaue this wasn't a DSM clutch )

We pulled out onto an empty road, I was maybe coasting at 1/2 a MPH and at half throttle i engaged the 4750 RPM 2 step and let of the clutch fast but not dropin it (probably my best ever launch since going AWD as far as technique) We left the line spinning all four (or at least three of em) and continued with them straight lit up and screaming for a good 60 foot until i let off and swapped to 2nd gear so efforlessly and as flawless of a shift as i could ask for, we chirped the tire a bit but nothing special and again rocketed off.. Now for some of you this is nothing special but the way this car lit up all four tires is more than i've seen in any you tube video or experienced first hand especially in 51* ambient temps on bone dry pavement!!! We were both stoked, screaming ajnd hollaring like little school kids with new toys and shit it was litterally a whole new experience for the both of us.. And like i said i'm just glad i had him as a wintess or i wouldn't tell the story out of fear of some one calling the BS flag on me, but this is something i NEVER thought the car had in it. I figured the driveline would snap first or something, or maybe bog, but no nitrouse or anything and we straight lit it up like a one wheel wondering 2wd car with a good turbo could, i still canb't believe it, i just fed it clutch as fast as i could and stepped into the throttle maybe 3/4ths the way and then stepped in 100% when i was fully off the clutch and she just performed, especially for being only 25psi and not intending for ahard launch.

well that's my story


888888888**************************** EDIT

well, here a couple hours later i'm still stoked had to go revisit the road and see my marks and relive the thrill of spinning all four on the lanuch and making them bitches howl like a scolded cat for a good 40-60 feet..judging from the marks i know it was at least 40, probably 60 at most to be honest, but i seriousely thought drivelines would break before dishing out anything like that after all the youtube videos i've searched about launching 2g's and such and everyones videos about "spinning all four" you never hear more than a chirp, mine plain wouldn't stop until i shifted.. this is a thrill enough to last me at least a week or so at my adrenaline consumption rate..sorry had to blab i'm still so stoked for myself and my car (i'm proud, and glad to have a damn witness )



EDIT # 2 ****************************************************** how many????

Being as hard as this was to diagnose and how long standing it's been with me adjusting around it (i seriousely have more clutch thajn i've had in well over 5-7 years or so, literally i'm 10 turns in from the reliefe valve being closed off and have engagement higher than i want, more throw than i need and can shift without effort and never even get the pedal near the floor for full disengagement, i am just stoked but i wonder how many others have had this happen or are dealing iwth it right now???

this literally could not be seen from the angles you can look from when workingunder the dash, and i'm a pretty thorough mechanic in my opinion. this is i gues something i would say a lot of people chasisng consistant 2g clutch drag should possibly be on the lookout for.. it only took 15 minutes to pull the birdcage for the clutch pedal and there's only one 12mm bolt that's hard to get to but a wobbly shallow 12 socket on 1/4" ratchet makes it a breeze and i think it's well worth a peek. maybe this is that "clicking" a lot of us 2g guys hear coming and going when it pleases (metal creaking) when running high pressure plates.

I just cannot say enough about what this did for my clutch feel and engagement/disengagement, it makes me have a new light on shifting a DSM tranny, and since i normally don't beat on customer's cars (let them do it while i sit shotgun tuning) that goes for friends as well, but this is great shifting compared to anything i've experienced in other peoples DSM's i've been in over the last few years as well.. of course the main other DSM i'm in has a RPS twin and the one aside from that has a 3500 dollar tilton in it and those are like OEM clutches to push (so jealouse of them i was ) but aside form those, i haven't messed with any other really built 2g cars. I've been in a lot odf 1g's in the past that are really built but they have a complete different feeel anyway and their own clutch pedal issues to fix and deal with.. I would say that this adds almost as much excitemetn back into my DSM as the conversion to AWD did

 

[GRAVEDIGGER]

I'm glad to hear about your new found glory! Nice that it was a relatively easy and simple fix after you found out what the problem was. The car sounds wicked... Good luck with it!

 

[danielbo91]

Nice job good thing you found your problem. Now thats make want to check mine if is not broken like that i been having issues with engaging reverse as it makes a loud griding noise.. hummm

 

[T is for TURBO]

Hmmm, I may have too look into this. Even though I don't have a heavy PP, I do have some sqeaking and clicking comming from my clutch pedal, And I have never been fully satisfied with how my clutch felt in my car.

 

[Jon Lane]

This just happened to me too, only mine broke clean. The car got increasingly hard to shift and I even started a thread in this forum about shifting. Finally the arm just snapped. Car is on the hoist now with the tranny headed back to Jon at TRE for repairs and upgrades.

Really looking forward to having a properly shifting car again.

Lesson: In time the 2G clutch arm breaks. Expect it.

 

[turboglenn]

this is definitely something to check for for those who can't get their clutch the way it should be no matter what and have chalked it up to being too heave of a PP or an "act thing" For years i've dealt with runing my clutch at the end of adjustment and just thought it was "an ACT 2600 thing" And i didn't have any drag that i couldn't dial out until just recently after the AWD swap, i'm just glad i didn't ruin the trans by just letting it be and coping with crap shifting because either it would have caused enough drag to ruin the syncros in short time or the pedal would have broken leaving me stranded some where.

I can only imagine how long it's been this way and about the "tick' us 2g guys hear sometimes...well, that started when my clutch adjustment issues first began towhere i needed to be a half turn from the reliefe valve being shut off iun order to have enough clutch to not drag at 7k RPM in first on level surface. Then it stopped at that point exactly and haven't heard it since..maybe that was this in progress i don't know *shrugs*

I do know this, the spring that helps you push the clutch (like it does anythin for an ACT 2600 ) is in the way and variouse other things so i doubt you could tell wihtout pulling the clutch pedal from the car (i couldn't) It wasn't until i pulled it to machine "new bushings" because i thought that was the problem makingthe pedal shift and hit the floor early and to the left, and that's whey i was like "holy sh*t, this thing was about to fall off in the floor" haha

yea, car is much more fun to drive now, the stock trans now feels awesome compared to most any DSM i've driven that has a heavy clutch (not sure if most others i didn't work on had one issue or another but i assume so) I'm very pleased though, i swore that i was gonna need to ship this to Tim, Shep or TRE and pay for the type of shifting i now have, and that something had gone wrong with my clutch and it was in dire need of replacement as well

 

[97gst_spyder]

So thats what happened to my clutch petal before the swap.... Well that would have been nice to know.

Great work Glenn!

 

[turboglenn]

funny that you wrote me a PM about it, i had never hear of it, but tried to give you an idea of how to find the service manual download. Now here a short time later it's my entire problem Looking back to all the DSM's i've ever driven with difficult shifting (lots of 2g's with 2600's - but didn't work on all of them, just swapping seats here and there with people) I think this may be our version of what the 1g guys go through with that whole set of monkey bars they have to dealwith and either rebuild or weld to get the clutch right.

I just wonder now how many are driving on a cracked pedal because if we already have 3 of us in this thread tht it's happened to, then there's got to be a LOT more of them in the same state as mine, just waiting to snap off and drop to the floor.

bad thing is how you can't tell with the pedal in the car.. I mean i've been under the dash a million times adjusting, swapping master cylinders, bleeding or doing wiring not even related to the clutch and have NEVER spotted this before, but like i said in the other post, there's the spring and so much other stuff in the way you'd need a little mechanics mirror and a light to possibly even see it without removing the pedal's bird cage like i did. Good thing is it's an easy removal, iheard over the years it was a nightmare but i was done in under 15 minutes, and i have to be extra carefull because of my injuries and the pain they cause when i'm up under there, or in any odd position like that.

 

[97gst_spyder]

This was an issue in my 97 GST Spyder, and my current 96 Spyder before the swap. After the swap I dont have the issue for some reason.

 

[turboglenn]

This was an issue in my 97 GST Spyder, and my current 96 Spyder before the swap. After the swap I dont have the issue for some reason.

Hmmm... that's odd, i wonder if for some reason one of the "swap parts" make this part stronger or puts less strain on it some how? I mean i had to leave college before i finished my degree in mechanical engineering but it does make me wonder


how's the brake pedal holding up though? might be the next one to watch out for

 

[97gst_spyder]

I went auto. Thats how I fixed it!

 

[turboglenn]

I went auto. Thats how I fixed it!

I know i was just playing along with the ignorant but happy smart-ass theme

 

[Jon Lane]

How about tempering or hardening the pedal arm?

 

[nuclearr]

Glenn the 1g is the nightmare. I had both brake and clutch pedals in the car in less than 30 min. When I did my manual awd swap from auto FWD.

Thats not including the drilling of the clutch holes, but does include removal of the auto break pedal.

 

[dragonov_elite]

How did you manage to get the whole cage out in 15min? I have 3 of the 4 bolts out that are needed to be taken out. The last bolt is gonna be a PITA! . It is the bolt closest to the drivers door.

 

[turboglenn]

I just used a 1/4 ratchet with a 10" extension, put a wobbly on it and a shallow 12mm on the wobbly end. Always wrap your wobblys in about 3 wraps of masking tape to keept the from flopping around, really helps you get up in there easily without the socket just flopping to the side on you.

BUT, i leared you have to put that bolt in 1st, you can put the nut on the stud from the master but barely threaded on so the pedal can be pushed up and start that first bolt that's the bi*** to get to. If you start any other one fist and take it tight or near tight you will never get that one bi*** bolt to line up again learened the hard way

 

[dragonov_elite]

Just wanted to show people here that the Clutch pedal assembly can start cracking with a stock clutch set up. Here is my discovery after pulling mine out of the car. This is from a 97 GSX.

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I had this fixed shortly after seeing this. Hopefully this fix stops any further problems.