(Manual noob) Had a little trouble starting in 1st gear at test drive

mototrmpt · 08-02-2011, 09:26 AM

There seems to be a reason it's tough to shift smoothly in the Z and the culprit seems to be the clutch helper spring. In Nissan's effort to make the clutch pedal easier to push, they took away all feel for clutch engagement point. Many have solved this annoyance by disengaging the helper spring or replacing the OEM helper spring with a lighter spring. I've replaced my OEM spring with a lighter spring and my shifting has dramatically smoothed out. I had even better feel without the spring at all, but I preferred to keep the clutch mechanism as fully intact as possible. Here's a link discussing one of the best and cheapest mods available.

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

Armonster · 08-02-2011, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mototrmpt

There seems to be a reason it's tough to shift smoothly in the Z and the culprit seems to be the clutch helper spring. In Nissan's effort to make the clutch pedal easier to push, they took away all feel for clutch engagement point. Many have solved this annoyance by disengaging the helper spring or replacing the OEM helper spring with a lighter spring. I've replaced my OEM spring with a lighter spring and my shifting has dramatically smoothed out. I had even better feel without the spring at all, but I preferred to keep the clutch mechanism as fully intact as possible. Here's a link discussing one of the best and cheapest mods available.

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

Very good point. I did this too, and it's great. Equally awesome is a stainless steel clutch line. The SS line combined with the helper spring makes the 370z clutch almost feel like a normal car (which is saying a lot).

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08-02-2011, 09:26 AM	#1 (permalink)
mototrmpt Base Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Salt Lake City Posts: 57 Drives: 09 370Z M6 Rep Power: 16	There seems to be a reason it's tough to shift smoothly in the Z and the culprit seems to be the clutch helper spring. In Nissan's effort to make the clutch pedal easier to push, they took away all feel for clutch engagement point. Many have solved this annoyance by disengaging the helper spring or replacing the OEM helper spring with a lighter spring. I've replaced my OEM spring with a lighter spring and my shifting has dramatically smoothed out. I had even better feel without the spring at all, but I preferred to keep the clutch mechanism as fully intact as possible. Here's a link discussing one of the best and cheapest mods available. Clutch pedal too soft/no feel? Remove the helper spring!