Thread: 17 year old car. Anyone know YET why we need to get extra adjustment from the clutch?

hate to bump an old thread but hey I have read through this and the bracket spacer looks like a cool thing. I adjusted the cable on my NX yesterday and it was dry and old. Guess the car is 18 years old now. I lubed it up with some Teflon PTFE spray I have and adjusted away. No more cable noise and it engages in the middle of the pedal instead of towards the end. It was not an easy job since I had to remove all the intake stuff to get to it but it sure makes it more fun to drive.

These plates Andreas is offering are they for aftermarket clutches? Looks like a great thing if you have an aftermarket clutch but my car is all stock -- LOL

So far I have put new plugs in, cleaned the MAF and adjusted the clutch pedal. Reset the ECU and the car drives just like it did off the lot in 1992.

It's for all clutch setups.

Yes even OEM setups can benefit from the bracket. It gives better adjustment range (so if an old cable is stretched you can still adjust it properly). The extra strength isn't as important as it would be if you had a heavy pressure plate, but is a good benefit still.

Not quite "everyones problem" - Never a problem in either of my B13's. JWT Clutch kit with B15 SE, clutch engagement is smooth as can be, comes in low where I like it, and it very positive. This is the kit Greg V sells, no spacers, no brackets, no BS. My mileage is only something like 16k on it so far, but keeping in mind 1000-2000 miles of that per year is track use, that's at least double in Dog Year Miles.

Just a great clutch setup which has 2+ years of very hard use on it and hasn't changed feel or engagement, anyone who drives the car comments on how much they like it, from friends to HPDE instructors and other racers.

I have to wonder how much of this problem is just due to people using ancient cables, crappy clutches, etc. I don't deny there is a problem but I'm pretty hard on my setup, there are no issues, and my car is very typical in how it's setup other than maybe the specific clutch I use - stock transmission, etc.

superblackz, just FYI I had a brand new OEM 2.0 clutch cable (not the 1.6L one) that I installed and then a couple months later I installed the JWT pressure plate and B15 SE clutch disc that I purchased in a kit from Greg just like you. (Full disclosure I also installed the Fidanza flywheel at the same time.)

I could not get the clutch cable to adjust properly. It ran out of adjustment. I needed to add two, thick washers as spacers just to get the pedal engagement where I wanted (down low to the floor like you). You can see pics in post #68 of this thread. I would have needed even more washers if I wanted the engagement up higher.

I have no explanation for why some people need spacers and other people don't, but it's not because of poor part choice. Unless we want to blame the Fidanza I guess?

Weird. My clutch cable was replaced in Jan 2007, straight OEM part, before the new clutch when the motor went in. What I was trying to say is for whatever reason, it's not everyone's problem. I'm 2 for 2 with no issues with pretty typical B13's. Sloppy Clutch take-up can certainly be however the result of parts choice, but obviously again not "always" the reason.

I have a similar JWT clutch in my G Coupe, with JWT's FW, I never quite figured out how when looking at the two FW's (OEM and JWT), how they made up for the difference in thickness - the JWT is not dual-mass in that car like the OEM, which is a huge hunk of metal (33 lbs vs. 11). Who knows...yeah, blame Fidanza, good as anything else.

@BenFenner , where did you get these washers from and what size are they?

A real fix for these problems has been out since 1998 and we are still having these conversations.

Tranny saver brackets just sitting there just waiting for new homes.

I got them at my local home improvement store. I forget exactly what size, but probably 1" inner diameter.

Regardless, I would recommend getting one of Andreas's brackets to solve the problem. I got one myself and ditched the washers. I like the washers for a stop-gap solution just to get you on the road until you can get Dre's bracket on there.