How can you adjust the clutch on a non-turbo? I'm not talking about the freeplay adjustment bolt from inside the cabin. I can hear my throwout (release) bearing pressed against my pressure plate when the clutch pedal is fully extended. It's a brand new clutch (Clutchmasters Stage I), release bearing, and flywheel (Fidanza Aluminum). I can smell clutch after I drive my car hard, and I know how to drive very well, take my word for it, my clutch isn't fully disengaging.

Eek, please help before I burn up my new clutch :o

The clutch assembly (flywheel, clutch, and release bearing) has 1200 miles on it. I broke everything in perfectly. I made the mistake of not doing the labor on this one myself. Between work and school I just didn't have the time... I do know though. I needed the car back into working condition. The differential exploded and took out my whole transmission and the bellhousing. So the main reason I replaced my clutch assembly is I had a brand new tranny put in, and the rear main seal replaced (just as a precaution).

**off topic**
So I don't know how well the shop treated my baby, except that the guy who test drove it ran it into a curb and tore the bottom lip of my bumper. They said I'd have to sue them if I were to have them replace the bumper completely because they cost so much and they fucking said there was a crack in it already or some bullshit, which I would spend more money then replacing the bumper myself. So they told me the body shop they new so they could fix it for them cheap, took it there, there one and only painter got sick or some bullshit after a shitty fiberglass repair, it took like 2 weeks to get it out from the fucking dog house body shop. I should have replaced the drive train by myself, it would have been so much faster.
** end off topic ***

Anyways, back on topic. It feels as if my clutch is never fully disengaging, my pedal is really low to the ground. I just need to extend the push rod going into the master cylinder. On www.vfaq.com it says how to do it for turbos, for they assume everyone has a turbo, those fucking bastards who don't respect all dsms, but non-turbos are differen't engines and everything is rearranged, is there an adjustment bolt for the master cylinder on a 420a?

i'm pretty sure there is no adjustment besides the one in the cabin for the pedal. I would say try bleeding the lines and make sure the clutch fork is connected correctly to the throw out bearing. You can pull the rubber off the tranny adn look inside with a light and see if it is.

The clutch should engage/disengage an inch or two off the floor. The pedal should come back all the way to the top with your foot off of it. There is a spring that does this.

If you have air in the system, which is highly possible, then check the fluid(small reservoir next to the brake reservoir). If it is full, then have someone depress the clutch pedal to the floor and loosen the bleed screw. It is right below your left radiator fan. It is also attached to the hard line that goes into your transmission. You bleed it just like a brake. Then have the person pump the pedal a couple times and then depress it to the floor and do this till there is no air in the system. Keep your reservoir at least 1/3 full at all times. When finished, top off the reservoir.

If you cannot get your clutch disengaged completely and it is difficult to shift gears, then you need to extend the rod connected to the pedal. It has two nuts on it. One nut keeps the other rod nut tight and one nut actually allows for adjustment.

If the clutch disengages too early(before the pedal gets 1-2 inches from floor) then you need to retract the rod. Basically turning the nut so the rod length is less.

I cannot remember which way it rotates to do this, but look at the threads themselves and turn appropriately. It is very easy. It just an uncomfortable position.

I would bleed my system first before anything. They may not even have bleed the system afterward.

BTW: I made one adjustment on my clutch since I have owned the car(1997). The pedal rod needed to be extended once. This is when the car had 40K miles. I replaced my clutch and never had to make any pedal adjustments what so ever. I did replace the clutch fluid entirely though because I put in a SS clutch line from RRE.

Some brainless mechanics make our cars clutch engage when the pedal is half way out(old school). They may have adjusted the pedal in this manner.

Hey, thanks for your replies, just the information I need!

DeanoD, I went to go extend the master clyinder rod (my clutch doesn't fully dissengage), and I got up under their with some open end wrenches and when I turn the small one (lock nut?) the big one turns with it inside it's base. The small one is so tiny that I can't get a wrench on that one and on the big one in that little of space to work with?

How exactly can you extend the rod?

From what I remember, I used part of a cresent wrench on the one I wanted to hold and an open end wrench on the one I wanted to turn to loosen. Just wedge the cresent or some other kind of wrench in a place that does not allow it to turn while your loosen the other.

Then when you get this done. Turn it a few threads to get it away from the one that actually adjusts the length of the rod. You do not have to retighten the holding nut(keeps tight against the other) until all adjustments have been made and the clutch fully disengages/engages 1-2 inches off the floor. If you listen closely, you can idle the car and just barely let out the clutch to hear it start to engage. It will not quite move the car, but you can hear the clutch start to slip. Then the second inch the car should move ever so slightly. Test drive....then retighten the second nut to hold the adjustment nut.

If you still have problems, I will look at it tomorrow and see what exact wrenches it takes to make the adjustment and how I did it(step by step). This will cost you though...LOL

Yup, I'm bringing back an old ass thread :P

I recently installed a CM stage 4 clutch and felt it would be helpful to increase my clutch pedal free play in order to make sure this heftier clutch was fully disengaging and engaging. FSM says free play should be no more than 0.5", but the techs at CM said I should have about 1.5" with the stage 4.

When I got to the pedal, I first adjusted the pedal height with the set screw to around 7" which is what is stated in FSM. I then cracked loose the small 12mm lock not on the pushrod (pain in the ass) and proceeded to start turning the main 14mm adjustment nut. When I turn this nut, the entire push rod turns as well. Is this correct, or do I somehow need to lock up the pushrod itself while I turn the adjustment bolt? I did notice a flat area on the actual pushrod, but its too small to even hold with a 7mm wrench.

Right now my pedal free play is about an inch, maybe a little less. Any help or insight on how to correctly adjust the clutch pedal free play would be awesome.

Once the lock nut is losse and backed off, rotate the rod with your fingers. It essentially adjusts the starting point of the master cylinder piston. I have mine adjusted pretty heavily for my CM FX600.

So Dave, you are saying to turn IN the rod correct? In other words, turn the rod clockwise with my fingers to essentially lengthen it by backing it away from the 14mm adjustment bolt?

I'll tell ya, just the little adjustment I did to get it to a full 1" of play already made a difference. I think I'm gonna attack it again tomorrow and turn it in some more to get it to the 1.5" that the CM techs recommend.

**UPDATE**

So I now have it adjusted to 1.5" of free play and the pedal is almost as high as it can get before it tops out on the adjustment bolt. The clutch feels a lot more grippy, and seemed to improve with each consecutive pull. My hope is that it continues to get better as I put some more miles on the car.

By the way, for anyone who thinks they can benefit from this adjustment, do yourself a favor and get a small 6mm double sided open end wrench, preferably one where one side opens facing down and the other opens facing out. If you have one of these, the job becomes worlds easier.

Just to make sure I didn't cause any confusion, this is what I have learned after messing with the pedal the last few days.

In order to increase the amount of free play the pedal has, and to have the clutch grab LOWER, you want to shorten the length of the pushrod. This can be achieved by turning the pushrod counterclockwise once you have loosened the locknut.

If you want less freeplay, and want the clutch engagement point to be higher off the floor, you need to increase the length of the pushrod by turning it clockwise once the locknut has been loosened.

According to the CM techs, the more aggressive the clutch, the more freeplay you want. From messing around with my pedal, the most free play I was able to achieve was 1.5" which is exactly what CM recommends.