series car clutch pressure

[tccoupe]

has anyone come up with a fix for the huge clutch pressure in these cars. i looked at mine today and can see how panoz cobbled this assembly together and screwed up the geometry. it appears any fix is going to require some fabricating. has anyone fixed this yet?

[Cobra4B]

Not sure... Mine's stiff, but honestly not much more than my old '97 Cobra with the FRPP King Cobra clutch kit in. Compared the the hydraulic clutch in my Z06 (even w/ more aggressive Luk Stage II) it was a rock.

[Blue Streak 21]

I looked at how the cable is attached to the lever at the end of the pedal assembly. It seems that a longer lever might help reduce pedal pressure. There would need to be additional parts made, and the cable exit through the firewall a bit higher. This would be a lot of work to accomplish.
I think going back to a hydraulic clutch might be easier. There were other threads addressing the use of better qauality hydraulic slaves that shouldn't leak.
How about a getting our legs in shape, that might help some.

[Cobra4B]

After all the BS with the hydraulics on my C5Z I'm never going back to a hydraulic cluch on a track car.

[Gatorac]

Originally Posted by Blue Streak 21

I looked at how the cable is attached to the lever at the end of the pedal assembly. It seems that a longer lever might help reduce pedal pressure. There would need to be additional parts made, and the cable exit through the firewall a bit higher. This would be a lot of work to accomplish.
I think going back to a hydraulic clutch might be easier. There were other threads addressing the use of better qauality hydraulic slaves that shouldn't leak.
How about a getting our legs in shape, that might help some.

Increasing the length of the lever above the pivot point (quadrant side) will increase the pressure needed to actuate the clutch.

The thing to do is raise the pivot point while keeping the pedal in the same position. This effectively increases the length of the lever below the pivot (pedal side) and decreases the length of the lever above (quadrant side).

[AIMidwest27]

I actually change my American Iron Mustang over to hydraulic based on what I saw on the Panoz a few years ago - Works Great ! Now that I have a GTRA, I will be changing it back to hydraulic.

[panoz302]

I was told by Chirs Riley from Riley panoz in CT, that Panoz is soon to release a kit that will convert cable cars to a slave cylinder. I think quarter master makes one now. I ws also told that the car originally where hydralic but to adjust the clutch was a PITA ( inside the bell housing) and they change it for service reasons. I am not too, concerned with the clutch, I replace my cable with a new steeda unit and I had my race shop make a new bracket to reinforce the firewall and the thing is rock solid now. I did see where the old cable was getting too hot from the header flange being too close. I heat wrapped the header and the cable now has a heat shield on it. The brakes on the other hand require a very firm push and a strong leg, I have been in the gym a bit after my frist track day in this baby. I can only compare it to the skip barber school cars which required a lot of brake pressure to stop.

[AIMidwest27]

Originally Posted by panoz302

.... originally where hydralic but to adjust the clutch was a PITA ( inside the bell housing)....

May have been true on early cars, but everyone I have seen uses a master cylinder connected to a slave cylinder outside the bellhousing. I have done that inside the bellhousing (before converting to an external slave), and Chris is right about it being a PITA to adjust.

[tccoupe]

I have looked the two possibilities - cable - hydraulic and have come to the conclusion that hydraulic is the way to go for me. the only way to make a cable system work right is going to require custom making a pedal/quadrant assembly. the pedal assembly in my car is wilwood and it setup for hydraulics. i bought a takoff hydraulic setup from wirewheel and it's all wilwood. longer term off the shelf parts availability is a big plus. it looks like the slave cylinder can be replaced from above so swaping one out at the track may not be a big deal. i think a new slave is less than $100 so having a spare is not a big deal my $.02 worth

[Cobra4B]

Post up pics of the swap guys.

FWIW my clutch cable is wrapped in fire sleeve.

[AIMidwest27]

Originally Posted by panoz302

I was told by Chirs Riley from Riley panoz in CT, that Panoz is soon to release a kit that will convert cable cars to a slave cylinder. I think quarter master makes one now. ...

Actually there are a ton of people making the parts needed for a conversion. All you need is a 3/4 (brake) master cylinder, and a corresponding slave cylinder ( I use a SERIES 300 Pull Style Standard from www.cncbrakes.com made for a VW), and 3/16" standard American brake line fittings. The bracket to mount the slave is already on your car.

On my AI car, I bleed the clutch every time I bleed the brakes.