I just did my clutch cable, and what a difference! Mine clutch was stiff as hell, and I was worried that it was going to be something in the transmission, but the cable did the trick. I used a cable out of a wrecked SE-R with 70k on it, and it’s like a dream.
It's really not that hard to do. You'll need to remove your intake plumbing to get to the clutch adjusting mechanism. Once you’re there, unscrew the adjuster as far as possible so you’ve got lots of slack, then unhook the cable from the transmission. Now that there’s no tension on the cable, it’s easy to unhook it from the clutch pedal. I was able to unhook the cable from the clutch pedal in about thirty seconds, and didn’t even have to lay upside down on the seat to do it. Just feel around the top of the clutch pedal (you really can’t see much up there), you may need to hold the cable end with one hand, and work the pedal up and down a bit with one hand, but it’ll come right off.
The cable goes through a mounting bracket that’s bolted to the firewall. My car has cruise control, and the CC motor is right above the clutch cable mounting bracket. The CC motor is held in place by two 10mm bolts up high in the wheel well, and one bolt in the engine compartment. To get it out, you’ll have to remove the driver side wheel and wheel well splash guards. Now that that’s out, unbolt the clutch cable bracket from the firewall. The clutch cable has a large molded surround which passes through another bracket on the tranny about a foot back from the cable end. Just pull the cable through the hole, pop it out of ANOTHER bracket closer to the firewall, and snake it up and out.
Installation is basically the reverse of removal, just keep these few items in mind. Slip the cable through the firewall, and tighten the mounting bolts (not hand tight, because you’ll forget to snug them up later). Route the cable through the two other mounting brackets, but don’t hook up the transmission end yet. Now hook the cable up to the clutch pedal while there’s no tension on it. I had a hard time getting the cable to snap into the bracket closest to the firewall. I finally wound up using a long ratchet extension to push it in place.
The adjusting mechanism has a tendency to rust, and since it’s a spot with so little room to play, I put a bit of wheel bearing grease on the adjusting nut, lock nut and threads. This should save me a bit of time next time I need to adjust it.
Once the cable’s all mounted up, you’ll need to adjust out the free play and set the pedal height. I just do it by feel, so you’ll have to play with it.
Any questions?
Cheers,
Chris Scarpulla
