Stock OEM clutch springs popped out on my turbo ITR at Watkins Glen last year due to too much turbo torque;-) OEM flywheel and pressure plate were fine when we took tranny off, and OEM pressure plate was still in OK shape except for springs having popped out.

So we installed a new Clutch Masters Stage 3 Kevlar clutch kit with pressure plate and a new Exedy NF-01 lightweight flywheel.


Stock ITR tranny uses a hydraulic actuator. Now the clutch pedal goes almost to the floor before clutch dis-engages and on track it is very hard to gear down from 5th into 4th as the lever just won't go into 4th gear. Also when you press the clutch pedal when stopped, clutch engages very close to the floor, making it difficult to control the release. And this is after bleeding the hydraulics more than once (no change) and adjusting the threaded rod behind the clutch pedal which took it from barely useable to tolerable.

There was no such issue with the OEM setup and all the parts installed are brand new. It is like the step on the Exedy flywheel was wrong (pretty sure it was within the CM spec of about 2.6 mm when we put it in) or the clutch disk is too thick or the pressure plate springs have the wrong leverage. I didn't get any good answer from CM tech support except to set free play at top of pedal to 1-1/4" which is way off Acura OEM spec for pedal. Plus I don't see how increasing the free play is going to make clutch release earlier in pedal travel.

Any ideas on how to diagnose or fix would be greatly appreciated.

At full speed in 5th gear down a long straight when about to enter a high speed corner, the last thing I need is not being able to get lever into 4th.

 

If this is a hydraulic clutch it may need to be bleed also check the slave cylinder an possible the master cylinder

 

Clutch was bled twice. First thing we did to be sure that was not the problem, just in case, but there was no air in it. Everything was fine the day the OEM clutch went, then issue started when new clutch stuff went in. I suspect that it is not an issue of the hydraulics, but maybe.

Anyone know how to diagnose clutch release issues? I can measure slave cylinder rod travel.

 

sounds very similar to an issue i have. i hope u resolve this.. because I'm clueless as well.

 

i dont know what to suggest. i have the same clutch kit and its perfect.

check the service manual to see if there is a pushrod length adjusment spec or else you may have to pull the trans off again and check the throw out bearing and fork....

 

I checked the service manual and I did not see any spec for slave cylinder travel. If someone knows what that should be I can check that with a dial indicator. Only spec is for pedal travel and free play. There are four measurements:

A) Pedal stroke (from full up to full down): 5.12 to 5.51 in.
B) Pedal free play at top of stroke : 0.47 to 0.83 in.
C) Clutch pedal height from floor: 6.46 in.
D) Clutch pedal dis-engagement height to floor: 3.27 in.

Only adjustment in the manual is for the push-rod behind the pedal and it says to adjust it to get the right value for A) and C) above. There is no mention on changing anything for B) or D), or on any other adjustments for the clutch assembly.

It would be nice to have some way to diagnose this without having to pull the tranny off again without knowing what is the issue.

 

This is probably not the issue, but i had a problem with that clutch before where the disk was physically 1/16" bigger than the pressure plate contact surface and it was causing the edge of the friction material on the disk to catch on the pressure plate. It caused the same symptoms you are describing

 

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Same here, I have the CM3 and I love it. Mine started engaging very low a couple months after I put it in, and when I checked my clutch master cylinder, it was nearly empty, so I topped it off and bled it and it was fine for a week or two then started doing it again. So I decided to swap in new master and slave cylinders, and when I got my master cylinder out, I popped the c-clip out to get a look at the piston and it was all chewed up. After that, everything was back to normal.

You said your OEM clutch was fine before coming out though, so that's kinda odd. Hope you find out what the problem is