# 06 M Roadster low clutch pedal



## russpe (Dec 25, 2012)

The story so far... Bought my car 7 years ago with about 40K miles on it. Blew the clutch at the dragstrip and had a buddy install a UUC clutch w/lightweight flywheel. Afterwards I noticed my pedal needed to be almost to the floor to get into first gear and even then first and second gear are difficult to shift especially at high RPMs. I learned to live with it but a year ago the pivot ball broke on the clutch fork so I pulled out the tranny and replaced it with a stainless steel part. While I was at it I also replaced the throw out bearing and the clutch slave cylinder. Bled the system and afterwards found no difference in the clutch pedal. Bummer. 

So here's a few thoughts:
1) The OEM clutch is "self" adjusting (SAC), many videos show how to preset the pressure plate springs.
2) The UUC clutch kit eliminates the SAC function.
3) There is no clutch pedal adjustment in either case.

Now the questions:
1) How can the low pedal issue be resolved?
2) Is it possible the OEM (SAC) clutch is the only suitable replacement?
3) Would it seem reasonable to slightly extend the push rod that engages the clutch fork from the slave cylinder? Has this ever been attempted for low pedal instances?

So I am going to try it. I took my original slave cylinder push rod, removed the plastic cap, put a 1/4 inch spacer in it and replaced the cap. Now, instead of it being 3.5 inches long it is 3.75 inches long which will engage the pressure plate spring. This may not work and maybe it will make the clutch slip but I plan to pull the Z4M into the garage, pop in the modified rod and go for a drive. 

Opinions are very welcome!


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## russpe (Dec 25, 2012)

russpe said:


> The story so far... Bought my car 7 years ago with about 40K miles on it. Blew the clutch at the dragstrip and had a buddy install a UUC clutch w/lightweight flywheel. Afterwards I noticed my pedal needed to be almost to the floor to get into first gear and even then first and second gear are difficult to shift especially at high RPMs. I learned to live with it but a year ago the pivot ball broke on the clutch fork so I pulled out the tranny and replaced it with a stainless steel part. While I was at it I also replaced the throw out bearing and the clutch slave cylinder. Bled the system and afterwards found no difference in the clutch pedal. Bummer.
> 
> So here's a few thoughts:
> 1) The OEM clutch is "self" adjusting (SAC), many videos show how to preset the pressure plate springs.
> ...


OK, job completed with small but noticeable results. About a half hour job, no bleeding needed. The clutch pedal is still low BUT not AS low as before and I haven't noticed any adverse affects. The main improvement is with shifting into first and second gears in that it appears easier to shift into second gear from first while accelerating and easier to downshift to first when coming to a stop. Not as easy as my son's 5 speed Z3 but enough to make driving more enjoyable.


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## russpe (Dec 25, 2012)

russpe said:


> OK, job completed with small but noticeable results. About a half hour job, no bleeding needed. The clutch pedal is still low BUT not AS low as before and I haven't noticed any adverse affects. The main improvement is with shifting into first and second gears in that it appears easier to shift into second gear from first while accelerating and easier to downshift to first when coming to a stop. Not as easy as my son's 5 speed Z3 but enough to make driving more enjoyable.


OK so I finally got around to resolving my low clutch pedal problem that has plagued me since I bought the car. Even though I had replaced everything with a lightweight single-mass flywheel, pressure plate, clutch disk, throwout bearing, clutch slave cylinder, fork pivot ball and spring a few years ago. I even tried to extend the clutch slave cylinder pushrod and bleed the system which made a small improvement (maybe). I decided to go back to all OEM parts which meant returning to a (LUK) dual-mass flywheel and self-adjusting (SAC) clutch. I also learned the hard way that SACs need to be installed differently than non SACs. I was able to reset the SAC pressure plate but I wasn't confident so I chose to replace it. Fortunately for me, Turner Motorsports allowed me to return and replace the clutch kit after I installed the pressure plate incorrectly. In conclusion, after all the BS, money, sweat and hard work it turns out that this was the solution all along. The clutch pedal is perfect now and I was so used to driving with a very low pedal I almost had to re-learn how to drive it. I also replaced the stock shifter with a solid racing shifter which made a big improvement also.


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