Pop ping clutch pedal when depressed and and spring bling

[HAWKER]

Hey Gang,
I have had three spiders in my to date life time... shoot me.... anyway, two out of three have had a problem of a pop noise and feel in the clutch pedal when depressed. Everybody in the car can hear it and it drive me NUTS. The spring boings too so..... being a Fiat nut I know it is in the monkey motion somewhere down there. I am hopeing for a simple fix, aren't we all. I cannot for the life of me find the source of the binding and ultimate release. When on my back in the floorboard looking up and cramping up, it brings back a lot of memories. I know someone out there has had the same problem. Bring on that solution. I wish I had a motivated team like this at work!

[mbouse]

it's not the TA-wang of the spring, right? definitely a BOINK noise, and definitely under the dash, and not at the transmission?

did you look at the fork holding the cable on the pedal? are those fingers intact, and not tearing?
did you look at the firewall where the cable escapes the cockpit? it isn't cracked and pinching the cable, right?

of course, you've owned each of the Spiders from show room new, so there's no possible way someone else hasn't gotten to the pedal assembly and removed the bushing; and the big spring is properly installed.

[wengr]

Hello Hawker, I wonder if I have the same thing. As I release the clutch pedal, more often than not I hear a boink. It always happens as the car is taking off from still. It does sound like a spring boink, but as it happens as the front end rises a little, I have considered the front suspension as well. If I find something I'll report.

[pope]

Two quick things to check for.
1. that the fingers that hold the cable to the pedal are not bending or cracked.
2. the S-shaped rod that the pedal spring is attached to has the large open part of the S, that is attached to the pedal pivot bolt, is facing down and the small open S portion that attaches to the spring is facing up. The spring attaches to the pedal.

cable could also be a binding
make sure there is a return spring on the trans case that pulls the cable back

[mbouse]

what i said, except different words...


and, you should hear the noise those springs (tranny case to cable) make when they let loose while driving about 35 mph down the road!!! SPA--ROINGGGGgggggg

[gigi]

I had a similar sound in the past.
The difference was that pedal was getting so hard to push in, that I had to
brace myself against the back of the seat and push with all my might;
(yes, I am a petite girl, but it was just ridiculous. I got cramps in my muscles
from holding that pedal)
Coop found that the spring was on upside-down.
duh. The mechanic that put it in (that we have never used since)
had one too many cans of Schlitz.

[mbouse]

Schlitz? they still make that stuff? Remember Hamms?

[kmead]

Or Blatz.

Nothing like 3.2 beer...

[FatherFiat]

Having just ordered TWO new clutch cables, after breaking the second one in three months, I decided to investigate the clutch linkage from top to bottom. First of all, I checked the firewall for cracks; nothing there. Next, I looked closely at the broken cable. Both cables had failed at the same spot- where the cable is attached to the pedal end, that tiny half-cylinder piece with a hole in it, which is held by the clutch pedal fork. Here's what I think went wrong (excluding the obvious fact that the weld which attaches the end to the cable proper cuts into and weakens the cable at the joint): As the pedal moves through its travel, the upper cable end should be able to rotate up or down in the fork. My cables likely broke because the half-cylinder piece was not able to rotate, and therfore created a kink in the end of the cable, right where it is welded.

Temporarily (or maybe not), I have fabricated a cable, using cable splice clips which tighten onto the cable to attach the bottom threaded portion scavaged from the old cable, and at the top, the clip itself became the end, simply nesting in the pedal fork. I used 1/8" cable and clips from the local lumber yard (also a great place to find those odd bolts you always need) at a cost of less than five bucks. So far, the cable is working flawlessly, and I no longer have that spring "Boink" that had always plagued me.

In the end, I'm most likely going to replace that temporary cable with a new one, but when I do I will check the pedal fork
to be sure the cable end can rotate up and down freely, and will put a little grease on the forks to help it along. I will post back in a few years, to let you know how well the cable is (or not) holding up.

[brunorahl]

Sounds like the pedal is the true problem. While it's not broken, the cup that the cable is in, is worn and grabbing the cable. So the noise you hear is from the cable. Much like a guitar string. It's tight, then once it turns in the cup, it's like plucking a string. Quite an odd little symptom develops.