2019 New 6-speed Owner...Can I talk about the clutch please...

[M151A2]

You're in the vast minority here. Almost every person I've spoken with in person or on this forum who's removed the factory assist spring and either left it or put in the steeda spring noted immediate and dramatic improvement to the clutch feel. I just did it on a friend's car two weeks ago and he was blown away by the improvement. I too struggled when I first got my car, and also have been driving manual a long time. As soon as I removed that spring, instantly better. The steeda spring retains 90% of the feel improvement but makes the pedal a tad lighter than no spring. Also ensues the pedal stays up no matter what is going on.TThere are two threads in this forum with hundreds of responses saying "I wish I'd done this sooner! It's so much better" or some variation of that.

Summary: remove that stock assist spring

Glad you said "almost" Everything I own is manual. from big trucks to small bikes. Spring in or out Steeda or not, the only difference is the amount of push. There is no "feel" difference. As stated above it's hydraulic and therefore there is no mechanical feel.

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[mikeyjobu]

MT82 clutches have 0 pedal feed back, and that's the real problem. I tried the Steeda 35lb clutch assist spring, and it doesn't do anything to increase pedal feel, just makes the pedal heavier.

You'll learn over time to drive it smoothly, it's just an issue with Ford's hydraulically assisted Mustang clutch.

I have to say, while I can't totally disagree in that the overall feel may be heavier, I have to disagree about the effectiveness of replacing the spring -- my personal experience with the spring has been different from yours -- I feel that for $20, it's a no-brainer: the extra shove-back in the last inch-and-a-half as the rates and leverages of the pedal return (which is right in the zone where the clutch engages) has made an enormous difference in feel and smoothness for me. I've had my car for over three years, and have a little over 23k on it, having put the spring on a couple of weeks ago, I'm kicking myself for not trying it sooner -- sure, I could shift smoothly enough before -- but now it's much more precise and easy to feel -- that and some BG oil for the transmission have made a big difference -- I might have started with that versus going with the Blowfish bracket and other driveline mods I've made.

 

[mikeyjobu]

Glad you said "almost" Everything I own is manual. from big trucks to small bikes. Spring in or out Steeda or not, the only difference is the amount of push. There is no "feel" difference. As stated above it's hydraulic and therefore there is no mechanical feel.

While I can't disagree that the clutch is hydraulic, and doesn't have the feel of a cable clutch, there is some mechanical feel introduced by the return spring -- and with the pivot point where it is, the rates are noticeably nonlinear, with the return forces increasing as you let up on the pedal in the clutch zone -- so removing the spring, or putting a lighter spring in will eliminate or reduce the amount of that nonlinear mechanical feel.

 

[TexasRebel]

A hydraulic clutch definitely has mechanical feel (assuming a non-compressible fluid).

the two "gotcha" factors are the fluid transmission line and the spring.

If the fluid transmission line is made of an expandable material, some volume of the master cylinder goes into expanding the volume of the transmission line instead of moving the slave cylinder. Steel lines help this, but even they expand a bit.

The spring is an over-center type. At the pedal-out position, the spring fights against your foot. Once you get over the center, the spring begins to help your foot against the clutch. Think of trying to balance a pencil on its point. While gravity holds the pencil against your finger as you push the pencil to be vertical, as soon as the center of mass crosses over the tip of the pencil, gravity begins to work in the same direction as your finger and the pencil falls.

 

[BmacIL]

Glad you said "almost" Everything I own is manual. from big trucks to small bikes. Spring in or out Steeda or not, the only difference is the amount of push. There is no "feel" difference. As stated above it's hydraulic and therefore there is no mechanical feel.

The "feel" improvement comes from the fact that removing the stock spring means there's no spring releasing its stored energy right at the point in the area of pedal travel where the clutch bites (the first portion of the pedal travel goes into compressing the spring even further, and then it releases in the majority of the pedal travel). With it gone, you're just feeling the hydraulic system then, rather than having a non-linear force change on top of the bite point. If you didn't feel a difference outside of weight, I'm not sure what to say. Insensitive? On-off switch clutch pedal pressing? Not sure.

 

[M151A2]

I guess it's all about what you like. I did all the reading on numerous threads about this spring and decided it was worth a try.
I took mine out and only noticed that the pedal was a bit heavier. to be honest, I left it out simply because I didn't want to crawl under the wheel again and re-install it. suffice it to say, I have grown accustomed to it but it really would have made no difference to me, in or out.

 

[NotMarc]

How necessary is the perch upgrade? That double's the price of the mod. I'd be happy to just upgrade the spring.

 

[mikeyjobu]

With needle-nosed vice-grips, it’s a clean, under-five-minute install. In my opinion the perch upgrade is a waste of money - but I would also not attempt the swap without the needle-nosed vice grips.

 

[TexasRebel]

How necessary is the perch upgrade? That double's the price of the mod. I'd be happy to just upgrade the spring.

It's not. However, the perch is plastic and can break if the spring is not properly compressed during removal.

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