so the ideal height of the clutch is when its aligned w/ the break pedal?

 

OKAY. I've been driving my 350Z (2005 Enthusiast) since 11/04, more or less miserable with the awful high clutch- but patiently waiting to see if -as some guys had counselled- I'd get used to it, even prefer it (!) but I am so unhappy... I must fix this. Now.
Please guys... refer me to the latest or favorite step-by-step? I started reading posts back from since 2003 on the Z and Infinity, I worry there have been more recent and better "tutorials".
Desperate as I am to do the deed ASAP, dont want to screw the pooch!
Thanks for your links or advice!!

 

Guys: It's the perfect moment for a good deed:this is the extra and unearned hour we get for saving daylight once a year, a weekend hour too!
Put me out of my herkyjerky /lousy driving/ stallingout at uphill light with a Prius on one side and orange Humvee on tother- laugh-sneering under their darnd starbuk cups at me!
Humiliation/misery!
I cant take it any more. And why oh why would nissan have done this to us in first place? Short legged japanese men must have even more trouble than do we, wouldn't ouldn't *They* have pointed this out to the Nissan folks long ago? doncha think so?

I am so anxious to end my miserable break-in period w my Z. Tho I've driven only manual trannys for 30 years (and only Z cars since '84!) I drive my 350 like a jerk: jerking allover, stalling out at uphill stops. It's bad enuf having a 6gear so that R is utterly impossible to rock from 1st... that sweet ability and its nimble utility are Gone! -- but I can't go on with this ludicrous high clutch -not one day more- I finally give up, and now
I am (not proud but honestly....)
Obsessed!
Please give me a quick nod? Are the text & jpegs at http://tinyurl.com/4k7gz
and at http://tinyurl.com/6swt2 still, in your opinion, good instructions for DIYer?
Thanks a lot- Dean, "Phamaggot"
(dasATdrnose.net)

 

weird, i readjusted the clevis pin over the week and back to stock, tightened the bolt. and this morning on the way to work (45 min) drive, the clutch adjusted itself and became extremely stiff. it was kind of soft w/ some freeplay over the weekend, and 15mins into my drive to work this morning, it became stiff..whats up w/ that? should i turn it more counterclockwise tolower the pedal?

 

Well I finally did it. After driving my '05 Enthusiast 350Z un-modded since 11/04 in hope that I'd get used to it, or that it'd soften up. It made me unhappy to drive so clumsy- I pride myself on smooth shifts and nimble ride, but I've been the original herky-jerky greenhorn, complete to stalling out when trying to glide into 1st from an uphill Stop. Humiliating!
I just couldn't ease my clutch smoothely upwards through the critical zone where those plates make contact: I was pressing down on accelerator at same time I was lifting up left foot..*And*... maintaining adequate downward force on that left clutch foot so that it could gracefully rise ... even as I maintained a steady downward pressure despite the progressive change (increasing flexion) of my left hip joint.

I pinned my hopes on the focus of this here thread: The crucial assumption being that it'd be lots easier to do this "progressive hip flexion despite keeping a steady extension pressure" (the extension effort to prevent allowing the clutch to pop up, as it would do - if I let it go) if only I
ran this maneuver with my hip's range of motion starting from mostly extended, and staying that way. THat is to say: doing it with a straighter left leg. That is to say: doing it with my clutch pedal closer down to the floor, instead of having my knee sticking up in my face at the height where the pedal is finally high enuf so the clutch plates engage.

I did it. I turned the "Clutch Actuator Rod" a few turns so it sat deeper into its "Fork" ("Clevus"?) and - hot dawg!-
the clutch pedal sits lower and my hip stays straighter and my knee is lower too.

But: I am still not happy. The darn thing is still Too Stiff! I still need to apply *so much* down-pressure (just when I'm letting it rise up) to control its natural tendency to pop up while I release the clutch. That hasn't changed, and *that* is the heart of the problem.

After 30 years of exclusively driving manual trannies, this is the only clutch I've been unable to master.

Am I the only one who believes that our focus has been on the wrong element in this matter? Thanks!

 

Once upon a time a writer joined MY350Z.com...

 

Wow, i couldnt stand the damn clutch, i thought i was the only one. I tried the mod and i noticed that the clutch is a lot heavier to push down. Which i wanted anyway. Its not to much lower to the floor but i dont mind as long as it is more firm. As before it felt like there was a spongy feeling when i would slightly push the clutch down. Now everything feels more precise. Thats for the instructions.

 

Phamaggot:

I have adjusted the position of my clutch per this thread and it is now much more comfortable for me.

But, so far as the force of the clutch, I disagree. I have an '04 Roadster and, although the weight of the clutch is heavy, I like it. After installing the NISMO clutch, it became slightly heavier and I would not change a thing about it. (It is lots, lots, lighter than the Porsche Turbo I used to drive.) To each his own.

I understand that in '05 changes were made that lightened the clutch force. Recently, I drove an '06 and it had a significantly lighter clutch force. You might explore replacing your clutch pedal assembly with an '05 or '06 in order to obtain the lower spring rate on the later models. Jason at Performance Nissan may have some helpful thoughts on the subject.

 

That's good advice jct. I too agree the clutch force is not an issue, but I guess it is all frame of reference. I'm coming from a Cobra that had a competition clutch with no hydraulic assist so the Z is night and day easier.

 

Just did this an hour ago... two turns as well as lowering the bumpstop thing so it doesn't slack itself back up.

Holy shiet...it's like driving another car. The clutch is finally as fast as my right shifter.
Gives it more of a sports car feel!


Wish I did it sooner, but Tantrum's pictorial was an encouraging shove. Thanx.

(One of the best modifications I've done on my car for awhile.)

 

Oh, I forgot to say: I already tried that, but it didn't work.

NAw, just kidding. I don't understand you since I'm not very new- no newer than my 350Z (cuz I've been driving a Z32 from '90-'04 -with no problems to post abt ) and I don't seem more/less literate than the others here.
LOngwinded is it?
Weeelllllllllllllllllllllllll. Mebe

 

How exactly do you adjust the bumpstop down so that it makes full contact on the cruise button? My main gripes/problem when i tried to adjust mine was that the clutch pedal would kinda stick itself on the way back up and didnt touch the bumpstop.

 

That just means you lowered your clutch pedal too much. You're now beyond the point where the spring has enough leverage to pull the pedal back up.

Once you get that fixed, you can adjust the upper and lower switches by simply loosening the lock nut on the switch, screwing it to the correct location and tightening it back up.

 

"...you might explore replacing your clutch pedal assembly with an '05 or '06...."

Sorry I didn't make myself more clear: my 350z is model year '05, bought in 11/04. Do you mean to say there was a change, a "softer-feel" clutch starting in the '04 Z's?

 

"...you might explore replacing your clutch pedal assembly with an '05 or '06 in order to obtain the lower spring rate on the later models...." -JCT
==========================

Oops. JCT, sorry I didn't make myself more clear: my 350z is model year '05, bought in 11/04. Do you mean to say there was a change, a "softer-feel" clutch starting in the '05 Z's?

 

That is what various people reported. And, I can say from experience that the '06 is decidedly less pedal force.

 

I've never driven an '05 or older and just got my '06. I've had sticks for YEARS ('95 Prelude VTEC, '97 BMW M3, '99 BMW 540, '00 M5, '95 Euro M5) and my first thought when I got in was ... DAMN this clutch is light. My second thought was... ****, I suck at driving a stick! Glad to know it's not me.

 

I feel bad indeed! I've driven *only* manual trannies since teaching myself to do so in 1977: my first car was a (used) '72 Alfa Romeo "Spyder Veloce" (I think that was its name: it was an off-white ragtop, burgundy leather & body by "Pininfarina" (?) rusted after 2 months in Baltimore and no A/C in ragtops back then. (Wrong! Muggy drizzle in Balto with no way to get comfortable.) Had 4 forward gears, a forgiving clutch, but still: a very ... *very* jerky drive home from the seller! But, I fell in love w the stick and shunned autos from then on.
Until Now: this clutch would be enuf to qualify as my first tranny adversary in 30 years. But wait: the 6th gear is just as awful for me.
Because why? Because it makes Reverse into an impossible place.
As all you guys know, to engage R you must do these things:
1) Depress clutch fully w Left foot, (so anchoring lateral motion of the seat pelvis/hips)
2) REach the Right arm to push stick away from your right thigh, and then in a yet-further lateral and rearward direction.
3) Whilst depressing the stick in towards its attchment under the floor (compressing it and its its spring down towards its origin under the floor.

It can be done, sure. But there is no way to rock gracefully back and forth from R to 1st, over and over, and yet this maneuver enables one to shimmy into a tight parallel parking space in such a nimble style... to say nothing of the pendular rocking which permits us to free oneself from a slippery ditch or ice patch!

I feel very bad about my 350Z stick shift! How I miss my "Z32",
the 300Z TT '92 this 350Z has replaced.

Heck, the silly rearview mirror dimmer is disappointment enough!
Back in '93 before high profile SUVs with Xenon lamps, this silly dimmer might have been cute: now it falls short in a serious way.

Sorry for ranting.

 

Thanks guys! I have 21,000 on my 04 - when I go in for the 22,500 check.up will ask them to adjust my clutch. Never had such a hard time getting used to a clutch in my life - after having several stick autos! ( I'm not very mechanical )

 

niceeee