Clutch adjustment?

CWCobra

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I can't get used to the '03 clutch. Is there a simple way to adjust the clutch so that it engages/disengages closer to the top, not the floor?

Thanks,
CW
 

harry gilbert

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With the car OFF, put it in first gear. Reach down and with your hands, pull UP on the clutch pedal. You may or may not hear a click. With your foor press the clutch down to the floor. You have just exercised the clutch cable adjuster and taken out the clutch cable slack. This works much like an auto brake cable adjuster.
 

BrianR

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Originally posted by harry gilbert
With the car OFF, put it in first gear. Reach down and with your hands, pull UP on the clutch pedal. You may or may not hear a click. With your foor press the clutch down to the floor. You have just exercised the clutch cable adjuster and taken out the clutch cable slack. This works much like an auto brake cable adjuster.
I think he wants more slack, not less.
 

CWCobra

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Well...now I'm confused...

What I would like is to not have to push the clutch pedal all the way to the floor to get it to disengage, allowing a gear shift. Oftentimes, if I'm not VERY careful, I don't quite get the clutch pushed in all the way, and I miss a shift. Really embarrasing! Seems like if it's only one half inch from dead bottom against the floor, it still won't go into gear. Same problem from neutral to first, neutral to reverse, as well as in normal shifting. There's a whole lotta clutch travel there before it disengages. Does that mean I want more "slack", or less???
Later,
CW
 

n2fords2003

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I got the fix for you! My car did that.. Push the pedal to the floor and slide your foot off sideways with the pedal on the floor. You want it to come back to the top violently. This has to be done after new clutches are installed.. It resets it some how.
 

03BlackMamba

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I love the clutch in the '03..... It reminds me a lot of my old C5. My '97 Cobra clutch drove me nuts..... I even put in a new King Cobra clutch and quadrant adjuster (on the firewall) but still didn't like the clutch pedal engaging all the way towards the top. The new '03 is exactly the way I like it. It spells Muscle to me.........AND more of the right feel to me...... Thats my personal likes though....
 

jtfx6552

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Harry described the procedure correctly.

When you lift the clutch pedal a tab releases the "paw" from the "quadrant". The quadrant is spring loaded to rotate in the direction that takes up the slack in the cable. Release the upward pull on the pedal and the paw will re-engage the quadrant in the new tighter position.

If there was enough slack for the quadrant to move at least "a tooth" relative to the paw, the clutch will now grab higher up.

JT
 

Dana

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CWCobra,
What you are looking for, I think, is a quick release quadrant. It changes the clutch linkage geometry so that less movement by the pedal results in additional clutch action. I put one in a few weeks ago and now the engage/release point is much higher up in the pedal travel.There was another thread on the board about this very recently.

If you go with the Steeda though, their directions are not exactly correct for installing the firewall adjuster.

The fix costs about $80.
http://www.steeda.com/store/-catalog/ClutchQuadrantQuickRelease.htm

Dana
 
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harry gilbert

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Originally posted by CWCobra
Well...now I'm confused...

What I would like is to not have to push the clutch pedal all the way to the floor to get it to disengage, allowing a gear shift. Oftentimes, if I'm not VERY careful, I don't quite get the clutch pushed in all the way, and I miss a shift. Really embarrasing! Seems like if it's only one half inch from dead bottom against the floor, it still won't go into gear. Same problem from neutral to first, neutral to reverse, as well as in normal shifting. There's a whole lotta clutch travel there before it disengages. Does that mean I want more "slack", or less???
Later,
CW

Forget about "slack" -- the clutch adjustment procedure I posted earlier comes right out of the SVT manual, and fixed MY problem of having to push the clutch through the firewall to get it disengaged. After the adjustment, mine starts to disengage 1" from top and is fully disengaged 2" from bottom. It seems to be a characteristic of the '03 clutch to have a fair amount of travel from partial to full engagement.
 

Black Cobra

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Originally posted by CWCobra
I can't get used to the '03 clutch. Is there a simple way to adjust the clutch so that it engages/disengages closer to the top, not the floor?
Thanks,
CW

Try the self adjustment like harry suggests. In my case, the self adjuster had ran out of teeth to adjust to. In the photo below, the yellow shaded areas were aligned together. If the self adjustment doesn't work for you, get under there and see where the teeth are aligned. If you still have some teeth left to go to, then you may be able to adjust the teeth with some elbow grease. If there are no more teeth (yellow to yellow in photo), then you have a few options.

1) Make Ford fix it. At the minimum, they used a cable that was too long. FREE.
2) Get a Firewall Adjuster. $45
3) Get a Quadrant and Firewall Adjuster. $90
4) Get a Quadrant, Firewall Adjuster, and adjustable cable. $115 (combo price)

Note: If you go with an adjustable system, you have to get a firewall adjuster. The adjustable cable can't be adjusted with the way our shift fork is setup. There is a narrow channel that prevents you from getting a wrench or socket on it.

Related Links:
Clutch / Shifter Problems
Adjustable clutch quadrant installed
 

CWCobra

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Tried Harry's fix...life is good. Clutch works fine. Shouda read owner's manual more carefully...or remembered what I read. It's a bitch getting old...can't remember sh!t...

Later,
CW
 

HIGH ROLLER

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How often should we do this adjustment on our clutches? I did this adjustment with mine last night because i have been having some issues with my clutch and i could definitely tell a difference after i did it.My car feels like the boost comes on quicker alot sooner and pulls alot harder early in the rpm band most likely because the clutch is grabbing sooner!Thanks for the tip!:thumbsup:
 

ZXnVS

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Originally posted by harry gilbert
It seems to be a characteristic of the '03 clutch to have a fair amount of travel from partial to full engagement.

Not on my car! I've never encountered a clutch that goes from fully disengaged to fully engaged in such a short range of movement!

So what is normal for the '03, very little travel, like mine, or lots of travel like Mr. Gilbert's?
 

NXCobra

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I notice about 2" of travel from disengage to full engage. It sometimes makes me worry, but my stock setup on my 96 was just like that and took massive abuse (4K dumps with ET Streets and hitting the 150 shot on engagement) without a single problem.
Hopefully this one will be the same.

Originally posted by ZXnVS
Not on my car! I've never encountered a clutch that goes from fully disengaged to fully engaged in such a short range of movement!

So what is normal for the '03, very little travel, like mine, or lots of travel like Mr. Gilbert's?
 

Spinderella

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Hi Guys!

I have a 95 and just had a Spec Stage 3 put in. I'm used to the stiffness of the clutch since I was replacing a King Cobra (and a dual friction before that), but now my pedal has about 4 inches of loose play and only about 1 centimeter of engagement, completely at the floor/firewall. I have the full Steeda Adjustable cable & quadrant setup, but have never had to mess with the pedal before. How do I get this thing to have pressure a little farther up? I don't need much engagement, but 1 cm is a little TOO little....I don't think I can stage on that! :D
 
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