This seems to work for the G35 guys...It should work for us. I'll probably give it a try either later today or tomorrow.

http://forums.freshalloy.com/ubbthre...b=5&o=&fpart=1

 

I just did this. It was a piece of cake and it made a big difference in clutch throw.


2002-2003 Maxima instructions:
1. Use 14mm wrench.
2. Completely loosen nut.
3. Twist electrical housing 5 times (could be more could be less depending on what you want.) Make sure to not break or tangle the wires coming out of the rear of the electrical housing. You might want to cut away the electrical tape completely to give it more slack, but I didn't.
4. Tighten nut again and you are done.

Clutch WILL sit lower and cruise control will NOT be affected.

Nice find! Clutch throw is much shorter and it took me 5 minutes to do.

 

Sounds interesting. Let me know how it works out for you and then I'll probably do the same thing if it works for you.

 

U turned the electrical housing clockwise right?? Just wanna make sure.

 

Yes, clockwise. To clarify, the housing also makes the bolt turn as well.

 

OMFG!!!!!
I've had my 2K max for six months and have b****ed the whole time about this!!
It now drives like a sports sedan should!!!
THANKS SO MUCH FOR THIS POST DJSCIASCIA !!!!

FYI: nut on the fork was a 12 mm on my 2k. 2 full turns was perfect. 2&1/2 on the sensor was about right. And it was clockwise. You can slide your finger in and tell if the button on the sensor is being depressed by the clutch or not.

 

Asu, in your pic and writeup, it looks like you are just adjusting the height of the cruise control pin???? Did you not write up the adjustment of the fork or did you only adjust the cruise pin height??? I'm confused..

On the G35 thread, you need to adjust both it seems.. I would assume it is same on Max.. ??

 

Does this shorten the clutch travel (lowers clutch) or the shorten the engagement point?

 

Oh my God, What a F*****g difference. Thanks so much.

 

This shortens the cluth travel. The travel is taken away from the distance before the clutch engages. This allows you to have the cluth engage almost as soon as it comes off the floor, as it should be.

 

I aim to please!!! I'm suprised no one noticed this sooner.

This should be a sticky or at least added to the FAQs.

 

Yes, sticky. I spoke to DEALER SERVICE and they said "nope, you have to live with it"

 

Great Idea, Thank you for a great post!! I actually turned it 5 times and took it for a test drive!! It felt incredible. When I got back home I added 1 more full turn and that was it. All I need now is a nice Short Shifter and it will fell more like a performance car then a sedan. Anyone know where I can get a short shifter for the 03 Maxima?

[B]

 

Mossy is finishing up their short throw shifter for our cars....it should be done in another week or two.

 

Bad news..... the more I drove it, the more the clutch thought it was engaged. I had to reverse everything back to normal.

 

In reading the G35 post it seems that they are saying to loosen the 11 mm nut in that 'gold' colored fork behind the top of the pedal and thread that piece in further. The electrical housing is just for the cruise control, right? Looks like they're saying this needs to be adjusted a bit also after the fork nut adjustment.

I gotta go buy an 11mm wrench, cause I can't find mine. I'm gonna try that other nut and see what happens.

 

lemme test drive your car after you do this!

 

This just forces u to relearn the grabbing point which results in more clutchwear..

 

So what was happening to you, were you grinding ???

 

No, it was like driving with the clutch always depressed partially. I had REALLY high revs and I could barely get going from a start. My garage stinks of clutch right now.

 

Oh, I'm not doubting you, but I am wondering if it will happen to me?

Did you just turn it 5 times and did it ride good at first.

Sorry to be a pain.

 

It felt great at first. Then the clutch adjusted/wore out/whatever and it felt horrible. Like, not driveable.

 

Thanks for the info, I will have to watch for this. My car felt great but I only drove it for a mile or so and then put her to bed.

 

I've been driving mine all day with this mod and I still love it. 125 Miles today, many in town and on country roads.
I didn't do the 5 turns, just 2. With that, the cluth still had some movement before it would start to engage. You have to have enough room to ensure that when the peddle is depressed, the clutch is completely dissengaged. Otherwise, you will not have a clutch left in the near future.
You can check this easily: Get the car to a level surface. With the car in first and foot off the brake, rev to about 2k rpm. If you start to roll forward, you have adjusted the clutch peddle too far. You should be able to let the clutch out about an inch or so before it grabs at all.
You also need to keep an eye open for clutch slipage when the peddle is completely out. This should be pretty obvious under WOT.

A well setup clutch should grab early, but it should also be completely disenaged when the clutch peddle is on the floor. Just don't go to far and you will love this mod!!!

 

I agree with you, I just turned my 3, and then went back 1/2. turns. So I am at 2 and a 1/2. It is nice and still fully disengages. I also moved my cruise switch a little closer than where the pedal stopped to eliminated some freeplay before the rod actually starts moving, which also makes the pedal really quiet. Awesome Mod.

 

Bump

I will be taking some pictures and well as doing mine. I would like to see more of the fulcrum system before I do any adjustments. Andy, did you ever figure out what the problem was?

 

Made the 5 turn adjustment yesterday and it drove fine, this morning the clutch pedal was like a rock and would not ingage until fully released, I am currently trying it again with on 2 turns.

 

The clutch was definitely engaged and is probably worn to **** right now. Fortunately I only drove it for about 5 miles like that.

 

I made the adjustment this morning. (the nut in the fork is 12mm, not 11 like I posted before) I turned that one in 1 turn and the cruise control switch twice. The clutch is still fully disengaged when pressed to the floor and there is the correct amount of play up top.

Only drove about 10 miles. The cruise control shuts off as usual when you begin to depress the clutch. So far, so good. I'll drive more miles tomorrow...if it messes up, I'l just have to return it to the stock settings.

 

I did the mod last nite and it feels great....I'm at like 3 full turns....Feels good, I might just turn it back a half turn to be safe. So far I drove like 50 miles.

 

So did you guys adjust the fork too or just the thing I did?

 

Wait. You only moved the cruise control sensor but did not adjust the fork? I can see how that might cause a problem for you.
You should adjust the fork first. Once you have it where you want it, then adjust the cruise sensor to match it.
I think maybe your shortened your clutch travel from the wrong direction.

 

I adjusted the fork in addition to the one you did. The fork one is harder to get to, but it's the one that's actually hooked to the rod that goes through the firewall. I only had to do one turn to feel a difference.

 

Got it now. I adjusted the wrong one the first time. Here are the proper instructions.

Forget removing the cotter pin. The easiest way to do this is to:

1- Loosen the locknut. Use some pliers or something to hold the fork, then take a 12mm wrench and break the locknut loose.

2- Push down slightly on the clutch pedal to release the tension on the rod.

3- Turn the rod clockwise. You'll notice that the rod is threading deeper INTO the fork.

4- Tighten the locknut.

 

Andy,

After fully reading both posts and scanning ESM it looks like by just thightening the ASCD switch and not changing the fulcrum point you stopped the clutch from fully engaging because the switch stopped the pedal from finishing it's travel back up.

I hope you didn't fry your clutch. There was probibly quite a bit of heat generated on the clutch & pressure plates as it slipped to the point the the car wasn't drivable. The pressure plate may have glazed over just the way a rotor will.

If your still under 36k you may want to put every thing back to normal and take your car in for the clutch TSB. Either that or you keep driving the car till the clutch dies and get a lighter flywheel when you do the replacement.

 

Thanks for the info. Car definitely wasn't driveable, but I only drove it for about 5 miles in all, so I don't think the damage is going to be all that bad. I only have 18K, so I've got another year or so to determine if I nuked it.

Today, car is completely drivable and fells no different. I probably just heated the hell out of it yesterday.

 

That's good. If you adjust the fulcrum a little while still keeping a some what longer stroke than you may want and make sure that the pedal doesn't get stopped by the ASCD you should be ok.
Just keep an eye on it, one thing you can do is get the car rolling to like 20 or 25 and shift into 5th, completely release the clutch for a moment before giving it gas (don't give it gas as you release the clutch wait till your foot is completely off the clutch pedal). Then steadily give it gas, if the car picks up speed slowly and the rpms don't start climbing faster than they should the clutch isn't slipping. But if the rpms start climbing and you’re not gaining speed you have a problem.

 

I have got to be doing something wrong, I am using a 14mm wrench to loosen the nut.

Please help an idiot out here.

I am using a 14mm wrench to loosen nut against back plate and then turning the doohickey with the wires on it clockwise. I did it yesterday and it felt great but then clutch became very hard to depress so I turned it back.

Help..

 

You guys come up with the craziest idea's about doing stuff to your cars. Moving the cable or the pedal travel just gets rid of the 1 1/2 inch of free play on the pedal. YES it will make the linkage shorter, but the downside to this is a faster burning clutch. You can enjoy your fast engaging clutch now, and replace it in 6months or Leave it to factory spec with Free Travel and drive it for 60K + miles.

The sooner the clutch engages, the faster its burning.

 

Ignore my initial instructions about 14mm. That is for the cruise control sensor which is incorrect.