Anyone ever modify their clutch pedal for reduced travel? I'm sure some draggers have. I've ridden in a car that had an extremely small travel, I didnt bother asking. Its not that I want to dump the clutch every shift, I just want to remove a lot of the excess play in the pedal. I havent bothered to look down yet, but if anyone knows a simple method, im all ears. (yeah that double clutch post got me thinking....)

 

I had to make a small adjustment to mine after I swapped clutches as it was disengaging a touch too much with the pedal on the floor. It's a simple process, and after getting your head down there on the floor so you can see how it all works, you'll see what I mean. Mine involved removing a cotter pin and separating the pedal from the clutch MC "actuator." A couple of turns of adjustment is all I needed to solve my problem. I would warn against adjusting a lot at once, and just take small steps until you get it the way you want it.

Sorry if the previous paragraph was confusing, as I don't know the names of all the little pieces. Bottom line, getting your body contorted enough to be able to see what's going on is the hardest part of the job.

 

yeah thanks, just wanted to know if it was worth looking under before i tried. cuz yeah, its a pain to get under there.

 

Sounds a little confusing, but I am interested. Can you get the pedal to a real short throw?

 

actually, since you have a hydraulic clutch, it sounds to be different. i can adjust the clutch point mechanically by adjusting a nut at the tranny, which seems like what you accomplished on the other end. i want to decrease the actual total pedal travel.

 

Assuming you are not putting a pre-load on the system (a big no-no) then there is little you can do to reduce the travel. you can change the engeagement position of the clutch a big by fiddling with rod lengths, but when you look at the work being done by the hydraulic system, there is little to change.

The proper way to change the actual travel is to get a clutch master cylinder with a bigger bore (or a slave cylinder with a smaller bore).

You will be moving more fluid into the same volume (or the same fluid into less volume), thus the slave cylinder travels farther for the same distance traveled by the master cylinder piston.

In my mind, this is the right way to do it (note that pedal pressure will increase).

Again, fiddling with master cylinder piston lengths is just a path to premature part failure. You have a little bit of room to remove clutch freeplay, but that is it.

I'd love to find some sources of big-bore clutch master cylinders for my old Celica.


[Modified by celica73, 12:27 PM 7/18/2002]

 

again, i have a mechanical cable clutch.

 

Taking the 10 min to remove the driver's seat will save you hours of back pain...

 

what about something as simple as putting a "block" under the pedal. I would think this should minimize the travel after engaging the clutch (though not before).

could this cause any damage?

FYI -- ITR.

 

sounds like my clutch... I just had the Pohanka dealership (yeah, my *** still hurts...) install my Exedy clutch and flywheel (old clutch finally gave out and i have NO time to install myself ) and now with the pedal slammed on the floor at a stop, I can hear some unpleasant sounds coming from down there. Lifting the pedal a bit quiets things right down. Sounds like I need to take a trip under the dash. Oh, what fun that is in the heat

 

If you can't find out a way to physically limit pedal travel you could a) Shift without the clutch and not have to worry about double-clutching, or b) Use less pressure with your foot My clutch only requires ~1-2 inches of travel to disengage enough to shift gears, so recently I've been trying to re-train my left foot for more finesse, less travel. Maybe that'll help if I ever decide to try LFB

[edit] I can't see why putting a block under the pedal would be harmful except maybe if the block is too big you won't have enough clutch release to get it in 1st at a stop. Make sure it's the right size! Oh--I just remembered the switch...at least in the integra (I'm assuming all manual cars have it) there's a switch that must be depressed to start the car. This won't happen if the pedal doesn't go all the way.


[Modified by MrBite, 9:19 AM 7/18/2002]