101 Projects: Replacing Helper Spring
 

I has having clutch problems that appeared to be what has been described as a broken clutch helper spring. Without even looking (I know, kinda stupid) I ordered a new one from Pelican Parts ($67). This Saturday, armed with Wayne's new book, which has GREAT color pictures, I jacked up the '86 Coupe. Sure enough, first thing I see is a broken helper spring. Following the directions, I managed to get it replaced in about 1 1/2 hours, about 30 minutes longer than Wayne estimated! I can't believe the difference in clutch pressure. Prior to fix I estimate it took 50-60 pounds of pressure to push in on the clutch, I was really building up my left leg muscles! After the fix, maybe 10 pounds of pressure. When I took it on the first drive after the fix, I had to learn how to use the clutch all over again! For anyone that has a clutch that takes a lot of pressure to engage, I highly recommend this fix.

great !
by the way, I 'm wondering if it's possible to update a pre-78 Car with the helper spring, in order to reduce the effort... On the diagrams, the only parts which seem to be different are after the arm which comes out the tranny, and the exchangers seems to be already fitted for the helper spring...

Has anybody tried the conversion? What do you think about that?

I am going to sound like a broken record here, but I replaced this spring, and the clutch cable, and rebuilt the pedal box at the same time with new brass bushing available here at our sponsor's site.

The difference was amazing! You could single-finger the pedal to the floor it was/is so smooth and balanced. Highly recommended!

Don't forget to adjust your clutch cable using the 1.2-to-1.0 measurement at the lever, and then the overall throw measurement (~2.4cm?). It's all in the tech articles area.

Jw

I've already changed the brass bushing and, with sanding and new paint of the cluster, it makes an incredible improvement !

If you're fond of exotism, you can have a look on the tech. article I wrote on a French 911 site (www.club911.net):

http://911sc3.0.free.fr/freinsc.htm#pedale

...but nobody has an idea about the change I'm talking about (to install a helepr spring on a pre-78 ) :) ?

Bonjour, Olivier...
I had a look at your pedal box rebuild page. Nice work, mon ami! (I wish my French was as good as your English!) Good luck with your Ignitor problem.

Hey Kurt, is this the "horse shoe" spring under the car or the spring on the pedal box?

I'm going to be helping a friend do the horse shoe spring and was encouraged by your results....thanks

Jeff, it is the horseshoe spring under the car. My only bit of confusion was when I was reinstalling the clutch arm back on the transaxle. It took my feeble brain a few minutes to understand how to pull back on the arm with a screwdriver to get the spring to snap into place. I kept wanting to put the spring in the position shown in the picture in Wayne's book and pry it onto the keeper pin. Hence the extra time to put it on.

My motto is "we'll make the mistakes and tell you about them so that you don't make them later on." I was convinced that my SC had a bad clutch (several people shared this opinion with me), so I dropped the engine, and replaced the entire clutch mechanism. Put the engine back in, and the clutch felt 100% the same! 50 lbs to push in the clutch, and I also needed to remove the floorboards to get the pedal far enough back to disengage the clutch.

Needless to say, a new helper spring, and a new cable fixed the problem (although my clutch was also worn, I probably could have gotten more miles out of it).

Moral of the story? Replace the cable, and the helper spring FIRST!

-Wayne

I also did this replacement a few months back. What a difference!!!! I followed the recommendation of cutting off the old spring with a dremel. It only took about 20 minutes and worked well.

One thing I noted that I have never seen mentioned in the tech article or in 101 Projects. On my 79SC, I had a terrible time removing the return arm until I realized that there is a pin holding it in place. I do not know if this was only on this year or not. (I did see the notch in one of the drawings, though.) I had to carefully tap it out with a nail set before the arm would slide off.

This site has not only saved me alot of money in repairs but has given me a real sense of pride in ownership. Thanks Wayne.

Like the new format, too.
GB

OLIVER---my77 w/original trans has helper spring.

Replacing the clutch cable and assorted cable hardware was the first major project on my car. What a difference!

I bought the helper spring too but chickened out on replacing it. I may attack that this winter though.