How-To: Clutch Damper Removal Mod

[Jsvob03]

Question: so for all of us who dunno what this is, or what you're talking about....

what's a clutch damper?  where is it?  can you get pics?

Answer:  the clutch damper is this little box lookin thing down near the slave cylinder. you can just bend your hard line to eliminate it. I bent my hard line and added a braided stainless line to replace the rubber one. any s13 stainless braided line will work.  and it does make a difference.  its a free simple mod.

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A while back someone on here said that you can bypass the Clutch damper with a 280ZX Caliper hose. well a few weeks back, i searched and searched for that specific thread, to no avail. So i went on memory.

I purchased a Front Brake caliper hose for a 1983 280ZX. It came in on the boat from japan (it took 5 days to get), and i installed it. Its really simple. Disconnected the line going to the damper, and then the one to the slave cylinder. put the hose right in, fits PERFECT. You could run the hose straight from the hard line, to the slave cylinder, but its kind of tight (and close to the exhaust on the VG), so i left the old rubber hose from the damper on.

THANK YOU, to who ever figured this out. I have not had such a solid clutch on this car. even when i replaced the clutch 2 years ago, it wasnt this good. IT DOUBLED my clutch pedal. Its a totally different feel. The hose cost me 11.99. Definately worth it!

[Indecisive]

oh, is it that box with the 10mm bleeder on it?

[Jsvob03]

Yes.  Heres some pictures!

First up, we have the location of the Clutch Damper. It is on the right side of the Engine Bay


Next, is a closer look. If you look, you can see i disconnected the hard line that goes into the damper, and connected it to the new 280ZX hose.


Lastly, under the vehicle. The hose going to the Damper IS factory, i just connected the 280ZX hose to that.

On the CA engines, you can run that 280zx brake hose straight from the slave cylinder to the first hardline going into the clutch damper. it's long enough w/o stretching lots.  I could have stretched the Line to the slave cyl on the VG, but its too freakin close to the exhaust...no issues tho.

It took me 20 minutes to do, and thats because i didnt have the right tools.
Tools Required: 10mm Wrench (for hard line removal) 8mm Wrench (for bleeding Slave Cylinder when done). appropriate wrench to tighten soft line to hard line (maybe 17mm, cause 5/8" was slightly too small, i used channel locks) You'll need some new brake fluid too.

[Indecisive]

looks like the Z31 guys do this too.

http://www.z31.com/clutchdamperremoval.shtml

[nismo200sx16]

I see how that exhaust might be in the way for just using the line thats allready their. on all the non vg cars you can just bend the hard line and use the stock clutch line.

[Nemisis]

What changes when you do this mod? Is the pedal harder? A more direct feel of the clutch movement? Sounds like a rainy day project for me.

[seishuku]

Yea, it gives you a more responsive clutch pedal. Lets you \"feel\" more of the clutch, as it engages/disengages.

I\'ve been wanting to do this for awhile, but haven\'t got around to it yet. lol

[Jsvob03]

Even with the Solid Tranny Mount, i dont Feel a whole lot of the vibrations, chattering, etc., thru the pedal, tho there is some, but i dont mind it at all.

Before i did the Mod, i was at a point where i had maybe 1/4 of the total pedal actually doing something. Now, its about half, if not more. I dont think this would be a typical result, but who knows. Im still loosing pressure (only after it sits at least 8 hours) as i was before, i guess ill replace the slave again, and if that dont do it, the master cylinder. (lines all clean & dry, replaced slave 2 years ago.)

[Nemisis]

Even with the Solid Tranny Mount, i dont Feel a whole lot of the vibrations, chattering, etc., thru the pedal, tho there is some, but i dont mind it at all.
 
Before i did the Mod, i was at a point where i had maybe 1/4 of the total pedal actually doing something. Now, its about half, if not more. I dont think this would be a typical result, but who knows. Im still loosing pressure (only after it sits at least 8 hours) as i was before, i guess ill replace the slave again, and if that dont do it, the master cylinder. (lines all clean & dry, replaced slave 2 years ago.)

Yea, same thing happened to me. Turns out there was crud still in the system and it rotted out the inside of the slave making it leak... again. So I replaced it and took a good chunk of time bleeding it. Oh yea, dont ever try to get a slave cylinder rebuild kit, I got one and it was junk, it didn\'t fit, and it WAS the CORRECT part number. Just spend the extra $$ and get a new slave, but you can rebuild the master, thats easy, and it was right.

[Jsvob03]

Yea, i replaced my slave cylinder, problem solved. I really have a nice clutch pedal now. it starts to engage at about 1/4 of the pedal travel. I love it. I dont know if the damper was bad, or just takes up a good amount of pedal, but bypassing it was so worth it, now i just have to get that thing out of there!

[Indecisive]

I just did this on my '87 turbo today, and it's SWEET.  The clutch feels so much smoother now, and it's nice and firm.

[DoriToad]

Yup.

Dampners are icky. I don\'t know if they were OEM equipment to make the manuals feel \"fluffier\" or just to eliminate any feedback, but every Nissan guy I know has tossed it.

It is nice to feel what\'s going on.

[G-E]

apparently z31 and probably even s12 rear brake hose should work as well....

all you need is a softie that can mate with the hardline flare of appropriate length, I\'m sure nissan gets a kick out of the 280zx hose sales, statistical anomaly

[punkguitarz66]

Just wanted to check. Should be able to just disconnect the rubber hose from the hard line on the slave side and connect right up to the hardline on the master side yeah?

[Cajun1guy]

I was able to simply remove the damper from the car and connect the lines together. I had to CAREFULLY bend the hard line to line up with the line to the slave cylinder, mine had no rust. If yours is rusty, better not try to bend it, just get the previously mentioned flex hose.