View Poll Results: Have you modified the clutch pedal per my DIY?
Thinking about modifying the pedal.
33
76.74%
Thinks this is silly and likes the OEM pedal.
10
23.26%
Voters: 43. You may not vote on this poll
DIY: Repositioning Clutch Pedal
12-24-2010, 06:54 PM
#1
DIY: Repositioning Clutch Pedal
Well I've had my 07 Z for about a month now and seem to have nothing but issues with the clutch system. I've already pulled the transmission to replace the Clutch Slave Cylinder and adjusted the clutch pedal 4 times.
Basically I can't stand clutch grabbing at the top 1.5" of clutch travel when the pedal has to move 8" to the bottom.
The problem with the OEM design is the clutch pedal (when disconnected from the master cylinder) has a sprung rod that depending on its location in travel can spring the pedal upwards or down to the floor. This downward force makes it impossible to safely adjust the pedal any more then an inch or so downward. If you crank the master cylinder fork-to-pedal connector too far in you end up having the pedal's up position below the "neutral spring zone". This causes the pedal to be holding pressure on the clutch hydraulics, thus slightly removing clutch pressure plate force (AKA burn up your clutch).
The solution I found was to cut off the "linear spring rod" tab from the pedal arm and rotate-weld it a few degrees counter clock wise as seen in the picture. This increases the angular movement of the pedal from top to the neutral zone, thus allowing you to correctly adjust your pedal further down.
Basically I can't stand clutch grabbing at the top 1.5" of clutch travel when the pedal has to move 8" to the bottom.
The problem with the OEM design is the clutch pedal (when disconnected from the master cylinder) has a sprung rod that depending on its location in travel can spring the pedal upwards or down to the floor. This downward force makes it impossible to safely adjust the pedal any more then an inch or so downward. If you crank the master cylinder fork-to-pedal connector too far in you end up having the pedal's up position below the "neutral spring zone". This causes the pedal to be holding pressure on the clutch hydraulics, thus slightly removing clutch pressure plate force (AKA burn up your clutch).
The solution I found was to cut off the "linear spring rod" tab from the pedal arm and rotate-weld it a few degrees counter clock wise as seen in the picture. This increases the angular movement of the pedal from top to the neutral zone, thus allowing you to correctly adjust your pedal further down.
Last edited by ian99rt; 12-24-2010 at 07:15 PM.
12-24-2010, 07:03 PM
#2
Here is a picture of the factory position of the spring rod lever arm as it's welded to the pivot area of the clutch pedal arm. Notice the angle it is to the pedal arm's left surface ( about 15°) and that i have removed the pivot bearings in the tube (white spacers as seen in bottom image). You need to remove these flanged plain bearings as they will be damaged by the welding heat (they're simply slip in and out)
What I did was cut this tab loose from the cylindrical pivot tube and relocated it so the spring rod lever arm is perpendicular to the left surface of the clutch arm.
Important Note: Make sure to get the tab located in the same spot axially on the pivot tube. Otherwise you'll have to sand down the aluminum spring hats so they can line up with your offset tab (learned this the hard way).
Unfortunately I cannot report how this works in the car yet as i finished this just before i had to leave out of state for the holidays, I'll report back oncle I have the pedal reinstalled.
I can say that this moved the neutral spring zone from midway between top and bottom, to about 3" off bottom. This will allow greater room for safe adjustment but still leave the pedal able to travel all the way upwards as before.
What I did was cut this tab loose from the cylindrical pivot tube and relocated it so the spring rod lever arm is perpendicular to the left surface of the clutch arm.
Important Note: Make sure to get the tab located in the same spot axially on the pivot tube. Otherwise you'll have to sand down the aluminum spring hats so they can line up with your offset tab (learned this the hard way).
Unfortunately I cannot report how this works in the car yet as i finished this just before i had to leave out of state for the holidays, I'll report back oncle I have the pedal reinstalled.
I can say that this moved the neutral spring zone from midway between top and bottom, to about 3" off bottom. This will allow greater room for safe adjustment but still leave the pedal able to travel all the way upwards as before.
Last edited by ian99rt; 10-23-2011 at 07:11 AM.
12-31-2010, 06:31 AM
#6
Update
Just got a chance to reinstall the pedal and adjust the clutch.
Verdict: I can now bottom out the adjustment on the clutch master cylinder fork and still correctly adjust the pedal!
This put the pedal about 3" off the floor, I adjusted mine so it's about 3.5". Being 6'2" this makes the car 100x easier to drive, starting out in 1st gear is smooth, 1-2 gear shift is smooth, all around awesome.
I honestly don't understand why Nissan didn't have the pedal this way in the first place.
Verdict: I can now bottom out the adjustment on the clutch master cylinder fork and still correctly adjust the pedal!
This put the pedal about 3" off the floor, I adjusted mine so it's about 3.5". Being 6'2" this makes the car 100x easier to drive, starting out in 1st gear is smooth, 1-2 gear shift is smooth, all around awesome.
I honestly don't understand why Nissan didn't have the pedal this way in the first place.
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01-06-2011, 05:12 PM
#9
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After driving my friend's TRD Celica I fell in love with his short pedal travel and I've been wondering how to get that with the Z. I am seriously going to look into this, thanks for the writeup 
01-28-2011, 12:23 PM
#13
I love writing up helpful DIYs so expect a good few more. Next up will be setting up the final drive gearing from a nissan frontier in a Z pumpking (AKA 4.083 FD swap). I've seen a good # of DIY for the diff installation, but not a really comprehensive ring and pinion install.
06-23-2011, 09:35 AM
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update? this looks like an excellent solution. The pedal height is the only thing I dont like about driving my car. I really want to do this, wondering if anyone else did this with similar results. Also curious if this will cause any long-term problems.
06-23-2011, 05:36 PM
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WoW! This is what I've been thinking all along.. I have an 07 also (don't know if it's like this on other years) but I have constantly hated the long travel. Thanks for the detailed write up.. OP, you should work for NASA!!!
07-12-2011, 05:54 PM
#19
Sorry everyone,
Seems that my subscription hasn't notified me of any more replies.
Well 7 months and 6k miles later I can report everything is working perfect.
Haven't had to touch a single thing on the clutch since i did this mod and it works awesome.
Now i've gotta figure out how to mod the brake pedal to get it further down without over limiting my braking power.
Heel-Toe downshifts doesn't work so well when the brake pedal is 6" away from the gas, at least for my big feet.
Seems that my subscription hasn't notified me of any more replies.
Well 7 months and 6k miles later I can report everything is working perfect.
Haven't had to touch a single thing on the clutch since i did this mod and it works awesome.
Now i've gotta figure out how to mod the brake pedal to get it further down without over limiting my braking power.
Heel-Toe downshifts doesn't work so well when the brake pedal is 6" away from the gas, at least for my big feet.
Last edited by ian99rt; 09-26-2011 at 06:09 PM.
