Daemione

Anyone ever had a problem with where their clutch bolts into the pedal assembly? I was driving around today, and when I depressed the clutch I heard a fairly loud crack from the pedal box - no more clutch. Took a look under there, and the fulcrum where the pedal meets the metal has cracked so it can no longer push the clutch clevis far enough to disengage the clutch. I stopped by a local repair shop that I saw on the way home, and he took a look at it . . . "huh, kind of a bad design - really thin metal that the clutch is levering against". I tried to convince him to rig me up a push-rod with a handle that I could use with my left hand, but he wouldn't do it.

Did quite a bit of searching, but didn't find anyone mention this happening to them before . . . was this just a fluke thing, or should I be worried about it happening on a replacement pedal assembly as well?

I'm working tomorrow on pulling out the assembly, already have the steering wheel off and the dash mostly apart so it hopefully won't take very long. I'll take pictures of actually what happened once it's out.

WildmaN

I have never heard of it happening. Tough break man, sucks that happened. I own 4 Z's, and never had it break on me. I have lost a pin though, it's still in my '82 280zx's body. lol

BlueKitsune

I've never heard of that before. if you need a new assembly I have one somewhere I'll send you

Daemione

Silver lining - it gives me an excuse to see how worn that pin is. Seen some pretty scary pictures as to how thin they can get, although I think it's more common on S30's. And of course, I've been meaning to pull the dash so I can fix all the cracks in it anyway.

And while it's laid up, I do have some new brake lines and a thermostat I should install . . .

Awesome - I may take you up on that. Heading out now to brave the cold & get it out of there, I'm not looking forward to it . . . 14 degrees out there.

BlueKitsune

Fun, thats about how warm it is here! Well good luck!

Daemione

Man, pulling this thing out was a real bitch. I can't think of anything other part on the car that requires this many parts to be removed!







Wish I had a better camera than just my phone, but you get the idea. Top & outside brackets are completely separated, the small inside bracket is almost torn through, and the inside pivot is halfway torn off.

Any opinions on if it's fixable? I'm bringing it to a local guy later today so he can see it.

pete8717

Have you tried pulling the intake yet? lol

snwbrderphat540

pffft, try pulling out the clutch pedal assembly on a 1st generation DSM.

WildmaN

^ Try working on a DSM. Of course you have, and so have I. I personally think they are a holy nightmare! lol

BlueKitsune

Geez I've never seen the metal split like that right there before. thats kinda bizarre.

SHADY280

you can weld in a doubler right there. no biggie, someone has a heavy left foot instead of the right. guess you get less tickets then

Daemione

If it were just the one big spot, I'd have it done no question. But the top bracket needs to be tacked as well as the little inside bracket is tearing. But toughest is the inside pivot point (hardest to see, but there's daylight in the 2nd picture that shouldn't be there). I'm not sure repairing that point is possible without seizing the whole assembly.

Or rather, I don't know a welder with enough skill to do it.

Found a cheap pedal assembly, so it shipped today. Car will be out of commission until next week.

Daemione

Stopped by a local(ish) yard with some 280zx parts to see if they had a pedal assembly & a few other odds & ends I'm looking for. No luck on anything I actually went for, but I did find this little diamond in the rough:




P90a solid lifter head. $60.

snwbrderphat540

P90A's were hydraulic lifters and they are turds.

Daemione

Not all of them . . . take another look.

BlueKitsune

What he means was. all of them where made with hydraulic lifters. someone must have replaced them with solids on that one. but nice find none the less!

Daemione

Early p90a's came with solid lifters. I'm pretty sure it's one of them, based on the cam that's in there (marked J which is the p90 cam).

NismoPick

Indeed those are solid adjustable lifters. Nice find!

snwbrderphat540

There's a P90 and a P90a. the A was hydraulic lifters and the P90 was solid, though otherwise identical heads. Unless I'm missing info, that I just didn't know about? But yes I saw that... Honestly, I don't find there anything special about those heads. From what I have read from people flow charts on all the heads, stock, they all just about flow the same. Plus they don't make SS valves for that head and you have to use the ones built for the earlier head styles if you want them (which is almost needed for upgraded springs and higher revving motors) which is minor modification, I forget exactly, not a big deal, but in the end, I think I'd take an N42 head over it... If I were going to build a head that is.

Daemione

Yup, like I said before, early p90a's still came with solid lifters. Quite a few people have stumbled on them.

Stock, you're right, they all flow in the same ball-park as each other. And when heavily modified, they all have the same potential as well. But I don't want to leave it stock, or drop a crazy amount of money on headwork. Something between these two extremes to get good bang for the buck.

From everything that I've read, it takes the least amount of work to make it ideal for a hot street engine. Combustion chamber doesn't need extensive welding, and it works well with the inexpensive OE flat-top pistons for good knock resistance while keeping higher compression to help out a bigger cam. This will be my long term n/a project head.

SHADY280

p-series heads outflow all other stock heads. there is a flow chart around the inter webs somewhere i think it was on hybridz. great find tho, no liners, good for turbo or insane porting on na applications

Daemione

Oh yeah, I forgot to update this, didn't I.

I got the "new" pedal assembly - broken one is on the right, believe it or not:


Not sure why mine was painted & the junkyard replacement I got obviously never was. But some work with a wire wheel & some Krylon & it cleaned up nice:


Got it all installed a few days ago, everything working great except for my horn. Not sure what's up with that yet.

NismoPick

Someone has tampered with it then, because the orig wasn't painted from the factory. That could explain the crack... maybe someone messed it up accidentally, or tried to fix it, and botched it...

Daemione

I thought the same thing, but couldn't find any difference between the two . . . other than the broken metal, of course.

evandubya

Its hard to tell from the pic, but it looks like metal fatigue. If it has any kind of movement in this case clutch in and out. it gets weaker until it gives out and cracks, then the added stress pops the tack welds.