Tranny Question
 

We have a 92 Protege with 5 Speed. About 130K Miles. Clutch has to be almost all the way out to grab. Is there any adjustment for the clutch. How involved is it to replace a clutch in this model? About how much would a repair shop charge to do it? Thanks

Adjusting the clutch is simple to do and only requires a 17mm wrench and a 12mm wrench.

On the top of the clutch pedal under the dash are two points of adjustment. The topmost on the back is where the clutch pedal upper limit is, it also is the sensor for if the clutch is engaged or not. You undo that with a 17mm, and twist it till it comes out further or goes in to your liking..

The one on the backside is attached to a cable which feeds through the firewall into the clutch master cylinder. This adjusts how much effort you have to put into the pedal before it disengages the clutch.... also known as pedal effort. This 12mm nut is closest to your foot if you are looking ahead.... you can then rotate the shaft of the cable (rod) until you are at a good spot.. I recommend doing this one first and adjusting the freeplay (17mm) later.

As for doing a clutch..... If you are knowledgeable of these cars and have an Engine hoist and about 3-5' of clearance under your car it is about a 2-5 hour job if you have the new clutch/flywheel ready to go. If you don't have that stuff.....good luck.....you'll need a giant prybar and some power tools to get things apart..

If you need help i've done it many times..... feel free to contact me..

Well, I had to replace the clutch on my '88 323 after it had 200k miles on it. After 4 people learning how to drive stick shift on it and all the miles it just didn't want to go anymore. Yea, I would say that clutch took at real beating, and im surpised it lasted that long.

I have only 110 000km (about 68 000miles) on my car and I don't think the clutch grabs hard enough and I only have the sohc version.:(

What about you guys?

Mine grabs hard, its hard to keep car from jerking when not going fast, and switching gears. ie. stop and go traffic

Sorry I missed this thread the last few days.

Yes, I have about 177k miles on my stock clutch, and I'm coming up on my 12 year of autocrossing the car. Included in that total is a couple hundred ProSolo (drag race style starts) with both me and my GF driving. Last month I took it to the dragstrip for the first time. I launch the car between 3k-5k rpms, depending on available traction, and still get a nice 2nd gear scratch (wheelspin) on 1-2 upshift. I also try to double-clutch most of the time for downshifts.

Among other abuses to the stock clutch, I've used my car to pull disabled cars off track (up to 3400 lbs), and once pushed a 4500 lb VW Bus (carrying about 30 race tires/wheels) up a 7%, 5 mile long grade, pushing it from 35 mph to 65 mph in 3rd gear.

And Will Kalman replaced his clutch at 212k miles, only because he was rebuilding the engine and it seemed like a good time to do it, not because it showed any sign of wearing out.

I've got 230K on my soch 92 and it's just starting to show signs of wear....it still holds hard most of the time