I bled the system completely this time, using a mightyvac, I sucked out every ounce (well almost) of brake fluid out of the clutch reseviour. I did a one man bleeding operation by pumping the pedal to build up pressure, using a Club anti-theft stick and a board wedged between the pedal and the seat to hold the pedal. I got out, used a brake bleeder kit thing, opened the bleeder, closed it immediately and did this numerous times on the upper and lower.

For those of you who dont know my story, I installed an ACT clutch, and had problems with the clutch pedal havign a mind of its own, self adjusting the free play as well as the engagement points. I adjusted the freeplay myself so the clutch would not have so much slack up top and not engage right at the floor board for those who knows how the ACt feels. However, this would constantly change, and it really hurt me when I was racing.

I also bought an indoor/outdoor thermometer with probe from Radio Shack to monitor temps, cause it seems the self adjusting was temperture dependent. I stuffed the probe into the slave cylinder, and indeed my findings were correct.

However, bleeding the clutch was not the answer. I called up ACT to see if they heard anything about it. The first words out of the tech's mouth was "Did you preload the hydraulic system?" Indeed I did, when I adjusted the freeplay screw on the pedal. I raised the engagement point of the pedal cause I didnt like how it was 1 inch off the floor. It turns out that pedal is supposed to release that low. And by me screwin with the freeplay it really messed with the clutches self adjusting mechanism. it probably also caused the throw out bearing to drag on the pressure plate. I was also concerned that if I returned it to the low position, it would not fully disengage. Rest assured, I tried it out, to see if the car had any diffiulty shifting into a certain gear, or if the car moved with the clutch pedal depressed and in 1st or Reverse. The RPM's never changed, so thats good news, it means that the clutch is fully disengaging.

Did it solve my problem? Yes so far so good. It hasnt changed horribly at all since the last time, with under the hood temps ranging from 110 degrees at idle to 45 degrees after a cold startup this morning. I'll have to get used to the loose top end, stiff bottom end and low engagment points of the ACT. At least now the thing is consistent. Wow it feels so good to fix a pet peeve.

 

congrats dude....I told you not to mess with the engagement point