Clutch pedal too soft/no feel? Remove the helper spring!
 

UPDATE: PLEASE STOP PM'ING ME ABOUT THE SPRING.

Guys I posted this nearly 3 years ago, I do not have any more springs. If you want to find some, you will need to read through the thread for sources to other springs, if someone has a reliable source I will gladly update this first post with a link to them.

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If this is a repost I apologize, but I have never seen anyone on the Z forums talking about this. Also I can't take any credit for it, weiboy just told me about it after seeing it on the G37 forums here posted by inTgr8r.

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k7.../clutch2-2.jpg
http://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.ne..._3552032_n.jpg

It's basically a spring that "helps" the pedal feel linear and easy to depress, unfortunately it has the side affect of losing all pressure plate feel and making manual transmission drivers everywhere feel like they have never operated a clutch before.

I have suffered with this for over a year and mostly gotten used to driving this way, but it took all of 10 seconds to remember what I was missing, a normal clutch feel! The clutch will be stiffer and harder to depress, but not by much, IMO this is how the clutch should feel.

It takes about 2 minutes to remove this with a flathead/needle nose pliers, depress the clutch pedal with one hand to unload the spring, use a flat head to pop off the C clips and the spring will come out. You can always re-install it if you don't like how the clutch feels, but you would be crazy to.

After you remove the spring there will be a few mm of soft pedal at the top, and there is a bit of vibration in the clutch pedal now that the spring was helping to absorb but its barely noticeable.

Enjoy your normal clutch pedal!


UPDATE:

Group buy thread for softer replacement spring here: Clutch Helper Spring

hmmm

thats what I said at first, then I removed the spring, and then I was all :driving:

Ok I just tried this and it literally took me 3 min to pop out the helper spring and the clutch feels amazing now. When I first bought this car, I was like wtf ive driven stick for years. This car can make you feel like youre a first time stick driver. This mod seriously helps bring a normal feeling back to the clutch. Good looking out. REP!!

Are there any side effects to this mod? You know our cars are touchy..........

interesting mod and more interesting that we have this...wonder if we can put an even tighter spring in there to make life easier for us guys with am clutches.

Just removed mine. I will report back in once I get back from a little test drive.

Very interesting. Lots of positive feedbacks from the G forum!

I just did this and took it for a test drive. Not a huge change but its just enough. I still wouldn't mind a bit more feedback but this is a nice free improvement.

After a few test drives, I concur with the masses. The feel is much better than with the spring removed. The only thing that I do not like is that the pedal has a little slack in it now at the very top. Not sure of the exact measurement, but it feels like approximately 1/2 an inch.

Overall, very satisfying though............now it feels like a normal clutch setup without being touchy with the spring installed. I thought that the Z clutch was just touchy and that was that, lol. Good mod, especially if you have driven multiple manual transmission vehicles.

Interesting... I have been driving stick for 20+ years and I always felt the 350 & 370Z had a very finicky clutch that was tough to get used to, especially after driving some other car like a Honda Civic manual that's ridiculously easy - you get in a Z and you feel like a noob all over again.

Maybe this is the ticket...

interesting

This is not really unique to the Z/G, it's a common mod on lots of different cars.

On many cars it used to be an America only thing, wonder if the European Z's have the spring....

I hope this mod won't mess up anything.

Can't wait to try it. I hate the clutch on these cars.

subscribed for more feedback

Ok so its been a couple of days and I dont know what happened but the 1/2" dead pedal I had at the top of the pedal range is now gone. I dont know if driving for a couple of days had any effect on this, but its pretty tight now. Not only that but I feel like the clutch should have come this way from the factory. Feels so much better. This is prob the coolest, easiest, and most practical mod.

Yep this is a great free mod, I love the stock clutch now. I'm really surprised more people aren't chiming in/trying this out, its easily reversible.

I won't go back.............It is really good without it.

im going to try this tonight! cant wait to see how it affects my shifting

Did your 1/2in slack disappear as well like 370zForme! by any chance? This is amazing news btw, I've been wondering wtf is wrong with the 370Z clutch!

just did it.

Amazing. Just a little driving and it was way smoother.

Side note, I just removed the bottom pin and it was retarded hard to get out, and even harder to get back in...If I decide to put it back (warranty work) I have no idea how I am getting it back in.

I just left the top pin and the other shaft because it seemed like it was too much hassle to remove it. It doesn't hurt anything just hanging out there.

it takes 2 minutes to remove or install the entire assembly:

Use a pair of needle nose pilers or a small flat head screw driver to remove the C clips on the pins.

Release the pressure on the spring by depressing the clutch pedal with one hand, tap the pins out.

This really shouldn't void warranty, has nothing to do with anything really.

I too just did this mod. This is how a clutch pedal is supposed to feel. The stock feel wasn't terrible, but like others noted, there was no pressure plate feedback.
I do notice a little slack at the top of the pedal now however. Will give it a day or two and see if it goes away.

I am going to give this a shot this weekend. I will chime in after and give the results.

hehe I already had it out ;)

You get a lot more feedback when taking out the spring, but one thing to note is that typically this shaft is also designed as an additional support for the clutch pedal. By removing the spring assembly entirely, it may cause a bit of side to side play when the pedal is depressed. Over time, this may cause premature wear on the CMC assembly and seals. The engineers who designed the clutch pedal designed for the mount to be used in conjunction with the spring assembly, not the top pivot mount by itself.

I knew this SHOULD be an issue over time, I think I'm in denial.

I just took the spring out, took about a minute to do so. The test drive will have to wait another day, but just pushing the pedal already feels better, less linear, as in: you can feel the actual clutch spring. I'll report back in 2 days.

A solution for this can be to replace the spring for a much softer one. Then you will retain the additional support without the unwanted assistance of the stock spring. Someone on the G37 forum suggested the softer spring to take care of the little slack at the top, but I assume it'll work for this as well.

yeah that would in theory take care of both problems, now to find a spring

there is a few "clutch fixes" on the other forums, this one seems to be the simplest/ least involved.

I am a bit surprised because some of you feel the clutch pedal too soft... From my point of view, the clutch pedal is pretty strong, even if the feeling is strange (bouncy...). Of course I still have the spring installed, but I wanted to know what is the normal feeling of the clutch pedal. Mine is not soft at all.

the clutch on these cars is the lightest clutch pedal I have ever felt in any car. you don't feel the pressure plate at all with the spring installed.

the local hardware store/big hardware store sells tons of different kinds of springs!

Drive a Volkswagen or Audi ... there is no feel in them in comparison ...

I did it. Definite improvement.

The slack is still there, but decreased. I am going to look into getting something in the springs place just to add support. If that doesn't work out, I will just reinstall the assembly (rather not though).

I'm actually looking for a weaker spring, I'll update the thread if I find something suitable.