connor

Well I took the clutch spring of today on my C6 and went for a ride. Its the one on the pedal that helps keep the pedal to the floor with less effort but i also slows the release of the clutch. Its probaly makes the pedal hanging up worse in some cars. I had already done this on my C5 ZO6. One thing I did note was the clutch spring on the C6 is twice the size of the ZO6 spring and maybe the reason why the C6 clutch felt a lot lighter than the C5 but made for slower shifts. All I can say is what a difference, quicker and smoother shifts. A simple and reversible mod for zero dollars that make a big difference.

wahoo

I JUST DID THE SAME TO MINE AND LIKE THE FEEL ALOT BETTER! It seems more linear now. Thanks

BigBlue

I did this on mine and man, it's nice to see a cloud of tire smoke behind me instead of clutch smoke. The clutch doesn't feel any heavier than stock either. What was GM thinking when they put this thing on.

Mr.Big

just crawled under the dash and took a look at mine... After operating the clutch several times by hand, it looks, to me, like the spring actually "returns" the pedal...
Jeremy

SickRick

Likely an assist. The pressure plate should actually "return" the pedal. There's also a "flow restrictor" down by the clutch slave, that a few people have drilled out.

Rick

C6400hp

connor

Jeremy, it may look like that but the spring actaully assists you in depressing the pedal. when its removed it is a little harder to depress the clutch (noticebale but no big deal even if you drive in traffic a lot) but releasing is quicker and smoother. So go remove it and you will see what i mean, its simple and if you dont like it simply put it back and no harm done.

connor

No doubt, I have drilled these out in other sports cars I have had, BMW loved to put these CDV's (Clutch Delay Valve as they call it) in their clutch hydraulics. For the Z series it was an actual valve you could remove, for the M series they thought they would be smart and hide it in one of the lines, of course people found it and drilled it out. So where exactly is it in the Vette?

connor

Ladies and people with weak knees? who knows, I think its just another way of trying to control the way you drive a stick, BMW did this with their wretched clutch delay vaves. Then I guess you have the TM that people like to rave about. I do think it makes it a little heavier than stock but not by much and most people wont notice it after awhile. Sounds like you did not notice it anyway and I am glad you were able to burn some rubber there!

archtop

How do you remove it? We're talking about the coil lever spring attached to the pedal right?

SickRick

I looked through the diagrams in my service manuals to try and figure out where they put this. The only thing I could see really, is a "coupler" that connects the line coming from the master, going to the slave (or clutch actuator as they call it in the manual). Wish they put (or sold) the parts diagrams for these, as the cut-aways in the manual really don't show the system as a whole, or adequately identify the parts involved.

That and having to re-bleed the system - which according to the manual requires dropping the h-pipe & tunnel plate to get to the bleeder on the slave. Wish I had looked more into this when I was putting my exhaust in...

Rick

edit: add comments about bleeding

archtop

Any help?

DANNOV

I second that...any info, or tips, or potential problems on removing the clutch spring would be appreciated

JFTaylor

Connor, Thanks for the tip.

SickRick

Also keep in mind, part of the purpose of the flow restrictor was to minimize stress on the drivetrain by "buffering/softening" the abruptness of clutch release/application. The clutch pedal spring likely is to compensate for the return of the pedal, with respect to the effect the flow restrictor has on the system. 99% of clutches use the pressure plate springs for pedal return, and require no assistance.

Rick

Buffy

Most systems also have a small return spring on the pedal. It looks like this spring is a dual-action sort of thing - that it acts as a return spring when the pedal is nearly out, but as an assist spring when the pedal is mostly down. If that's the case, then it will be harder to push the first part, but easier past the halfway point. A non-linear effort, in other words, which is what the clutch feels like.

In this case, a small replacing this monster with a small single-action return spring should improve the feel of the clutch quite a bit.

My only guess as to why they did this was that the letoff makes it easier to sit at a stoplight with the clutch pedal down. Mainly I don't do this, so I will happily trade greater clutch effort on the second half of the stroke for better feel and control.

mikeyc6

I did this on my 99 C5 as well. Before I removed the spring, the clutch would stick halfway up in cooler weather. With the spring removed, the clutch never stuck again. To me, it seems quite a bit harder to press with the spring out, but not objectionable at all. To remove it, just get a screwdriver and pop one of the two end pieces out of its hole and it'll pop right out. It's not that hard to get back in either. FWIW, I still have mine installed on the C6 as I've never had any trouble shifting mine and I like the lighter feel. I really don't think shifts will be any faster unless you have some sort of (other) mechanical problem that is exacerbated by the spring.

Mike

Zig

so that's the two things I found on my floorboard...

one fell out awhile back and I hadn't gotten around to putting it back, didn't figure it was causing much harm since the clutch was working. then a couple of weeks ago, another one (this one was larger 2 coil vs. 1 coil) fell out. hhmmm....

connor

Correct, its the spring that really looks like two springs with a loop in the middle that attaches to the clutch pedal (via the center loop). I used a large flat bladed screw driver and a flashlight so I could see. The spring is attached at its two ends through two holes in a bracket that is attached to the car, the middle of the spring which has the loop in it is attached to the clutch pedal. I simply used the blade of the screwdriver to pry out one end of the spring by placing it between the end of the spring and the hole it is slotted into. Then I did it to the other end and it fell out on the floor.
Boy is it a big sucker, twice the size of the one I took out of my ZO6.

connor

Well I am happy now the spring is gone, maybe save looking for the restrictor for another day.....