[TalonFiero]

Here is the history. Bare with me as this will be a long post.

When I installed my 2.4 last summer I replaced the clutch and master cyl as both were wore out (master cyl leaked). After bleeding the system everything worked great, I was anticipating a stiff pedal from the 2600 but it hardly felt any different than stock to me. I did not adjust the clutch rod on the master cyl at that time, things were just peachy.

Fast forward 7,000 miles. I started having engagement issues into first and third and even reverse where the car would want to roll forward when trying to engage into gear, I couldn't even get the car to shift into fifth at idle. When I would try to launch the car in first it would want to roll forward when the rpms were brought up with the clutch to the floor. I bled the clutch system, no difference so I decided to try adjusting the clutch rod a little more than a full turn. This made the clutch fully disengage shifting felt better but the pedal was much more firm than before. I decided I would take it for a spin and see if things were improved. Right away I noticed the clutch slipping on the freeway under modest acceleration, I knew things may have been adjusted too far so I went right home. I backed the rod off about a half turn which made engagement/disengagement right at the floor, clutch pedal was not firm anymore and it didn't slip anymore under full acceleration but I still had problems getting into gear. My tranny was having issues also as the bearings have been whining for the last couple miles so I wasn't too concerned about the syncros as I was planning on yanking it this spring and sending it off to shep for a rebuild. I decided I would deal with the shitty disengagement and shift slowy till the tranny was yanked. I left it this way for the last 1,000 miles or so until the last week.

Last week it was becoming very difficult to shift after the car had been driven for 10 minutes or so, I read RREs 2g clutch adjustment procedure and figured I was pumping up the clutch a thousand miles ago when I first played with it. I was glad that I put it back to where the rod was set from the factory but I became concerned that in those few miles I drove it I may have bent the fork or pressure plate a thousand miles ago and things have just been wearing out fast ever since. I knew that the tranny was coming out soon so I figured I would give the rod a 1/4-1/2 turn or whatever it took to get some disengagement following RRE's instructions. I backed the cruise switch out so that the pedal could come up more but it didn't help, the pedal was still firm all the way up to the top. So once again I adjusted the rod back to where it has been and decided to try not to drive the car much as it had become a bitch to shift. Then the fork broke on the way home from work yesterday.

I am picking up a parts car if all goes well by the end of this week. You can bet that I am going to inspect the complete clutch system before anything goes back into the car.

What has me baffled is why did it go bad in the first place? Since I made zero adjustments to the new master from mitsu was it the 2600? Did it put to much strain on my 75,000 mile clutch fork and slowly bend it over time? I also used a mitsu TO bearing if this matters to anyone.

Jim