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Not impressed with steeda clutch spring

Ltsrock

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Thx. As I said, I'll figure it out. But.........
Have you seen/installed on the GT350's ? There are two springs and the outer one that needs to be compressed is only 3-4 coils and looks different than the non 350's, hence my comment about the install instructions lacking clarity.

Thanks for your input and suggestions
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BmacIL

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Thx. As I said, I'll figure it out. But.........
Have you seen/installed on the GT350's ? There are two springs and the outer one that needs to be compressed is only 3-4 coils and looks different than the non 350's, hence my comment about the install instructions lacking clarity.

Thanks for your input and suggestions
I've not seen it for the GT350, but I do have a friend who's done it. Don't know how he went about it.
 

Ghost50

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Not much to add that other people already didn't say except that I bought my car used. Drove it a few days and hated the clutch feel and bought a generic 35# spring. I went to install it, and it turns out it already had the steeda spring in it. So I yanked the spring and while not perfect, it's better than the steeda. I don't have the stock spring, but I have a feeling I'd hate it. In general I don't like hydraulic clutches, I much preferred the cable clutch in my fox body, but everyone is different.
Same re: hydraulic clutches. This is my first one and while I love the Steeda spring because it gets me close to that Fox Body/SN-95 feel I still dislike the overall feel of the clutch.

I’d love to be able to adjust it. I liked a heavy clutch with the break point closer to the floor than midway through the length of the pedal. That’s how I had my previous cars set up.
 

CrashOverride

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Same re: hydraulic clutches. This is my first one and while I love the Steeda spring because it gets me close to that Fox Body/SN-95 feel I still dislike the overall feel of the clutch.

I’d love to be able to adjust it. I liked a heavy clutch with the break point closer to the floor than midway through the length of the pedal. That’s how I had my previous cars set up.
That's how I'm used to as well. My last car (SRT-4 with an ACT organic clutch) was quite heavy and the break point was very close to the firewall/floor. It was hydraulic, but it had an external slave cylinder like the older tranny's. I had a T56 in my 4th gen Camaro that had a hydraulic (internal) slave cylinder. I honestly can't remember how it felt because that was over a decade ago, but it must not have been noteworthy because I had my fox body before that.
 

Whiplash473

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Same re: hydraulic clutches. This is my first one and while I love the Steeda spring because it gets me close to that Fox Body/SN-95 feel I still dislike the overall feel of the clutch.

I’d love to be able to adjust it. I liked a heavy clutch with the break point closer to the floor than midway through the length of the pedal. That’s how I had my previous cars set up.
This is my biggest issue as well. I wish I could adjust it to grab closer to the floor and also that there's really no feel even without a spring.

Also, for what it's worth (someone mentioned earlier), I ran all last fall with no clutch spring and cruise control still works including a 1,000mi trip from Georgia without a hiccup.

EDIT: Before someone says something: I'm going to put a Steeda spring in here in the next week or so. From what I've read so far, there doesn't seem to be much of a difference from Steeda to no spring at all, might as well play it safe.
 

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Ghost50

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@Whiplash473 and @CrashOverride

I wonder if the aftermarket clutches offered feel much different and would give that desired heavier feel?
 

Whiplash473

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dman

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I found the same thing when I tried their 35lb spring. Quite a bit of play uptop. I switched to a 60lb spring from Tacoma springs. The end play is gone and the pedal is a tad easier to push but not as easy as the 185lb stock spring. But just like you, I still can't feel the engagement point. Its all muscle memory now.
would the 60lb, be an exhaust valve spring for diesel? are they the same dimension and number of coils as OEM or Steeda? were you able to buy singles? found them only in sets. they look right...flattened end coils etc. always felt that rating would work well after buying Steeda. somewhere between it and the OEM rating.
any info appreciated dman
 

Kong76

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would the 60lb, be an exhaust valve spring for diesel? are they the same dimension and number of coils as OEM or Steeda? were you able to buy singles? found them only in sets. they look right...flattened end coils etc. always felt that rating would work well after buying Steeda. somewhere between it and the OEM rating.
any info appreciated dman
I might have an extra one. If so I will send it to you no charge. Let me check the garage tomorrow.
 

CrashOverride

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EDIT: Before someone says something: I'm going to put a Steeda spring in here in the next week or so. From what I've read so far, there doesn't seem to be much of a difference from Steeda to no spring at all, might as well play it safe.
I read a while back about people worried about clutch wear and stuff like that because of no spring, but every manual I've owned before this had no "Helper" spring, and the pedal itself can't weigh very much, so I'm not worried about it. The dead-space at the top isn't a big deal to me, but to each his own ya know?

I don't have a Hi-Po clutch in this car, but in my SRT-4, it was so heavy, it blew out the slave cylinder. When I sold it, the guy who bought it had his friend "Expert" drive it. His personal SRT-4 was "Full bolt on" (I have no idea what that is supposed to mean, he had a stock turbo) but anyway when they doubted me that it was not the ACT it actually had, the "expert" remarked how stiff the clutch was :) (I told them if they wanted to yank off the inspection plate, they would see the yellow ACT pressure plate, but I think they started to believe me once I broke out the programmer and showed them how to use it)

Anyways, if the clamping pressure is higher, and it is a straight spring, none of the centerforce centripetal force stuff, then you should feel some of the increased force in the pedal. As far as the engagement point, if definitely changes for the clutch. As they wear, the engagement point does get closer to the floorboard because of the slight geometry changes. In the case of the SRT-4, the way the clutch fork was designed, it wore on the pivot point really bad, so it dramatically affected the engagement point. Because these have internal slave cylinders with no pivoting parts, that shouldn't affect it. One might be able to further affect it based on an adjustable slave cylinder though. But anytime you replace the flywheel (Or resurface it), pressure plate and clutch, the grab point will change.

I was impressed with myself when I bought this car. I told the dude at Carmax I was definitely going to stall it at first (Surprisingly he didn't know how to drive a stick, yet was a car salesman). Anyways, I didn't stall it...Maybe slipped it too much because it didn't grab as soon as I thought.

The other funny thing is that when I went into physical therapy for my lower back problems, the trainer noticed that my left leg was (significantly) stronger than my right on the leg press machine. After pondering why, I told her that if she went out into the parking lot and tried to do some left-leg reps on my clutch pedal, she would know why...
 

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Whiplash473

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I read a while back about people worried about clutch wear and stuff like that because of no spring, but every manual I've owned before this had no "Helper" spring, and the pedal itself can't weigh very much, so I'm not worried about it. The dead-space at the top isn't a big deal to me, but to each his own ya know?
I've always had standard trans cars but never had one with a hydraulic clutch (I know they've been out for a while but I don't replace my vehicles as often as most people) so this helper spring thing is all new to me. I pulled it out when I first bought the car but didn't realize it could cause any issue. I still don't completely buy the idea.
 

dman

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I might have an extra one. If so I will send it to you no charge. Let me check the garage tomorrow.
why car people can be the best...except into turn 1 on occasion. be glad to cover cost. i'm in ventura so not too far off. always thought a 30% spring rate would be the best of both. a little more feel and complete pedal return. let me know. I also give parts to needy 'stangers. car-ma lol dman
 

Ltsrock

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Would you please post the part number for the 60lb spring for reference if needed. Once I get mine installed I may want to check this out if the feel seems weird, nice to know that there are other options out there.
 

DivineStrike

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I read a while back about people worried about clutch wear and stuff like that because of no spring, but every manual I've owned before this had no "Helper" spring, and the pedal itself can't weigh very much, so I'm not worried about it. The dead-space at the top isn't a big deal to me, but to each his own ya know?
I had to replace my clutch at around 40k miles. I had no spring for most of those miles. Correlation isn’t causation but I do believe it didn’t help matters that’s for certain. I probably had about an inch of play at top without the spring. Since the new clutch I’ve had the Steeda theres definitely a difference in feel but not that much. So I’m happy with it.

With previous cars I was much harder on them and clutches lasted me easily 60k+ miles
 
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Whiplash473

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I probably had about an inch of play at top without the spring.
This is where I get confused when reading up on all of this. I've got maybe a half inch of dead space at the top. It seems most people have much more play.
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