Where's Your Engagement Point?

Leingod

Won't lie. I suck at driving the Z. Feels so jerky from 1st-2nd gear. But I've been noticing that it plays a lot nicer with me when I only press the clutch in 2 inches to make my shift. Curious what everyone else does on stock cluthes with the spring still installed. Don't think I'm hurting the car by engaging 2 inches into the press, but who knows. Compared to the lightweight Civic "hulk smash" clutch where you just put your whole foot through the wheel well since it weighs maybe 1oz.

So where do you guys find a perfect point to shift?

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BC416

How long have you had the Z? The clutches in these cars are def unique, takes some time getting used to. It took over a month of driving before I got the muscle memory down and now the car drives like any other manual car I've driven. I'd say I push the clutch in 60% when changing gears. I think it's more about how you come off the clutch to not have the car jerky. Take your shifts slow in 1-2.

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Leingod

Only 2 days hahahaha. It's def a learning curve compared to all other sticks I've driven. I take 1-2 slow, but find myself adding to much gas while still laying fof the clutch so you get the rev sound without the car speeding up. Gets slightly annoying. The short travel of the clutch is def unique to the Z's.

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MagmaRed370z

The clutch in these cars are definitely unique. Ive been driving stick my whole life and this car can be tricky. Specially 1-2 gear. After a while you will get it.

Now launching the car with no wheel hop that's another story haha.

JARblue

Be patient with it. If you have sport package, use SRM to figure out what RPMs the Z likes to be at in different gears at different speeds. Then practice, practice, practice. Consider RJM clutch pedal assembly.

There is no need to press the clutch pedal all the way to the floor. This actually puts more stress on the fragile CSC, which is already prone to failure. If you're engaging the clutch and not grinding, then you're probably doing ok

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Leingod

Thank god I got the 4 year warranty with my Z. I do plan on getting the RJM clutch soon though. Just waiting for the weather to warm up. I'm definitely not grinding gears, was just slightly concerned on only pushing it in 2 inches to engage the car. Sadly no sport package, so I'll just have to listen to how she wants to react and feel every little movement until I get down RPM patterns. Nothing complicated. This just turned into a game of where the hell the clutch is

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BC416

LOL - yeah, give it some time. A lot of people will say get the RJM pedal assembly if you don't like the stock feel. I just got used to it eventually and it's not bad. I use the word "lifeless" to describe our clutches.

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6MT-Z34

you can also change the clutch helper spring..is a $20 part so its cheaper than buying the RJM, I had the stock spring there for over a year and now i have the other clutch helper spring and its much much better

Leingod

Where should I get the helper spring? Not sure yet on who offers the best parts for our cars. That'll be a quick cheap fix to see if it helps. Can't hurt.

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Masterbeatty

How do you figure that? If the clutch isn't fully disengaged then the clutch will wear out faster too. So is there a fine line? I have had three stick cars and one is still kicking at 190k miles with the OEM 2001 clutch. Also my Z has 31K on it and that is all I am going to say about that.


Mine engages about 60% up and I hate the 1-2 shift. One of the biggest things I hate about our cars.

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Masterbeatty journal

speedfreek

Contact LMBmikeZ to order one. Here is the thread.

FS: Clutch Helper Springs!!!! Century Spring P/N 72577

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Leingod

I have an 09' so I am slightly concerned about stuff failing even with the warranty I have on it. (4 yrs). I'll test out where it feels best in the car tonight since I've been searching around the forums of other memebers talking about the spring placement. It just sounds like every car is different for a perfect engagment point. Mines way closer than 60%. Probably 30-40% at most it seems.

And thanks! I'll send a PM now.

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JARblue

I'm not sure about 2" like the OP mentioned, but I can tell you that you do not have to jam the clutch pedal into the floor to fully disengage the clutch. If you pay attention, you should be able to feel when the clutch disengages. Jamming the clutch pedal to the floor puts more stress on the CSC.

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YzGyz

You just need seat time. The clutch int eh 370z is very hard to drive smooth. To this day (I bought my Nismo at 16,7xx mi and now at 39,9xx miles) I still can't drive her as smooth at I do in my brothers Shelby or Altima. The car is just plain hard to drive smoothly. The other thing that made it hard for my to drive the car well when I first got her is the gas pedal. I did not like it at all! The stupid mounted to the floor thing also took a few thousand miles before it felt normal.

YzGyz

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JARblue

Not enough people bitch about this IMO. Terrible design. Also, it's very awkward for me to heel-toe. So difficult, in fact, that I have to force myself to turn off SRM and practice. In previous cars, I relished being able to heel-toe myself.

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