I recently had the issue come up on a 100 degree day. My clutch was soft when I restarted the car after it set out in the sun for several hours then stuck to the floor after about 20 miles of driving. A friend of mine who also has Crawford headers has this problem too. We were discussing the issue yesterday and decided to try higher temp fluid and maybe a stainless steel fluid line. Otherwise both our clutches work fine. We both also have aftermarket clutches and flywheels. Thanks.

 

yep, motul and steel line and problem never happened again.

 

Thanks. I'm going to try that.

BTW where did you get your stainless steel clutch fluid line?

 

a insulated stainless steel fluid line is a must with headers...

 

here you go.
http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/350z13h/80-9012
clutch line
http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PR...z12b02/21-2174

 

Hey. Thanks again for the link to the insulated stainless steel line.

 

I put header wrap around mine and run Motul.

 

I had problems with just the OEM clutch, FW, and headers. Boiled the fluid regularly on my '03 Z, and occasionally on my '04 G Coupe.

Motul and SS lines, ^+1. No more problems. When the Z gets hot esp the pedal gets really lazy coming off the floor. G has JWT FW/Clutch and no issues since replaced slave cyl and fluid with Motul.

Depending on MY and where your slave is, don't forget the line to the slave, on older MY it runs right above a very hot pipe. I rerouted my higher best as I could.

 

+1...I had the same issue when autoXing in hot weather (I have headers/TP's)...changed Clutch fluids to Motul RBF600 and issue went away.

 

Thanks for the repsonses guys. I am going to upgrade the fluid first and check the lines to see how far away from the headers I can get them. If that doesn't work I wll try wrapping them or going with stainless steel lines.

 

I switched my fluid to Motul 600 today. So far so good.

 

Does anyone have this problem with the Nismo headers?

 

I just ran across this thread today.

I had a stainless steel braided clutch line and better fluid installed when my Crawford headers were installed. I live in Florida and it is really hot down here. I've never had a problem with my clutch (knocking on wood after saying that).

 

That's interesting. I've had my Crawford headers for a couple of years now and I don't recall anyone suggesting that the clutch fluid should be upgraded when they were installed. I also suspect my clutch fluid has degraded over time which contributed to my issues. It was the original fluid that came in the car. I probably should have changed it before now. Since I replaced the OEM fluid with Motul I have not had any issues.

 

Relationship between the exhaust manifold and clutch? Sorry but I dont buy it.

 

Now that I know how little clutch fluid the system holds and how close the line is to the headers it doesn't surprise me at all that people have had issues with the fluid overheating with aftermarket headers.

 

i have been having a clutch problem that has gotten worse over time. it is pretty much the same as the OP. during hot days, hard driving, or stop and go traffic my clutch pedal does not return to the top of its arc when i remove my foot. it just stays lower and lower to the floor. after searching the forum about this i decided to do some upgrades. installed today- JWT clutch and flywheel, SS clutch line. i was so dissapointed on the ride home that the clutch pedal started doing the same thing after about 15 minutes.
my questions are: what do you think is the problem? also, as my car is still under warranty and my dealer knows of the problem, should i have them take another look. i had them check it out when the problem first developed, but they could not duplicate it. should i tell them that i just installed the new clutch and SS line? i am thinking i should as that will save them alot of time and money. please throw some advice my way.

 

I'm having a similar problem. After beating on it for a while and letting it sit in the heat the pedal gets soft. I put some wrap on the ss clutch line, but I need to get some higher temp fluid.

 

why not? After market headers don't have heat shields like OE headers, and the clutch fluid line runs fairly close to the exhaust...

 

I replaced the slave at the same time I did the things you did, never had this problem again. It's only about a $30 part, mine failed its seals. It has a rod, piston, spring inside, it moves against the fork (at least on older cars, 07's I think changed this design) and the fork back against it. If it's seals are weak some of the fluid goes around the seals but doesn't necessarily leak.

That's where I'd go next.