The clutch pedal on my 88 GT is at the same height/level as the brake pedal. I have read threads in this forum that state the clutch pedal should be one inch above the brake pedal. I checked the clutch pedal (not bent) and found that it rests upon which I believe is the neutral safety switch. I noticed that the switch has a nut that can be turned to adjust the length of the switch. It appears that it can be adjusted to allow the pedal to come back further on the switch and thus give it more height above the brake pedal.

Would turning this nut be the appropriate way to adjust the clutch pedal height? How important is it for the pedal to be one inch above the brake pedal?

I want to do this because my clutch does not work until it is about one inch from the floorboard and is causing some hard shifting problems.. By increasing the pedal height, I'm hoping that it will increase the length the master cylinder rod travels into the cylinder thus pushing more fluid to the slave. I guess you can tell I don't know what I'm doing, so any help would be appreciated.

Do you have an adjustable banjo? That would be the proper way to get the pedal to the right height. If you're getting a lot of travel in the pedal before your clutch disengages, then you could have air in your lines, or problems at the master or slave cylinder. Check to make sure that you have over an inch of travel in your pushrod and there is no movement of the slave itself.

1" higher pedal rest should get you engagement 1" higher. Sure try backing off the clutch switch and see what happens. It could very well be adjusted way too far extended.

Before making any adjustments, check the banjo rod to be sure it's oriented correctly. It should be in this position:

I don't have an adjustable banjo rod, but plan on getting the "Rodney" master cylinder. In the meantime, I will try to adjust the height of the pedal by adjusting the height of the neutral safety switch. The banjo rod is properly oriented as shown on the picture. I will give an update on whether I was able to adjust the height of the pedal. Thanks for all your input.

Can't see bent clutch pedal until it is removed. The u shaped bracket that comes off the pedal and has the banjo attached to it will twist. If you look at pedal and bracket from the side they should be parallel. A bent one will be moved back towards the pedal and also collapsed in towards the pedal as well. It is very hard to see in the car.

Here is a very extreme example I found on the site here.

Fiero5150,

Yep, the clutch safety switch could cause the low clutch pedal....and prevent full disengagement of the clutch: happened to me! I would move the safety switch until the pedal swings back until you have a metal on metal stop: That will give you the maximum swing possible. THEN adjust the clutch safety switch. Bloozeberry was kind enough to provide the adjustment procedure here: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/123269.html

Did you ever measure the actual extention of the slave rod when compressing the clutch pedal?

Larry

every fiero in the world needs a dual seal clutch slave piston this cures all the fiero pedal problems
do not delay unless you you demand to replace the transmission a fun job if you are a masochist,or
$!500.oo with used transmission at shop,, if short on funds because your stock fund manager absconded
to Brazil go to V8 archie web site & follow the directions for slave bleed,, this is a good temp fix untill you
can install either Rodneys dual seal slave piston,or his clutch slave cylinder unit
if your present slave works at all ,you can just drop in rodneys dual seal piston with out even hone the cylinder
the appearence of a dual seal piston for the fiero cured the fiero,s major problem,, I was a trained mechanic
when I first encountered the mysterious fiero slave bleeding procedure,mini nite mare
bleeding the dual seal slave is simple sop & bleed the old fluid out.

all V6 fiero need the exhaust manifold ported !!,there is severe blockage harming gas milage , performance cooling ,just porting the stock exhaust manifolds will give additional 6 to 8 horse power ,,unfortunately porting the exhaust manifolds
is time consumming & often the manifold bolts break & have to be extracted, do this eventually but research this on this forum
do not paint the header s unless you use top quality black or silver, Like eastwood better ! just clean them up the headers are cheap stainless steel & look O.K.
the 88 fiero has great brakes if they do not perform right ,,some fool has installed cheap lowest price pads

I didn't think my pedal was bent until I installed the new steel one. The new one raised my clutch pedal an inch. Clutch worked great after that.

Happy New Year to all. Thanks for the info, links and pictures. No, I have not measured the length of the rod on the slave. I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't know where or how to measure the slave rod extension. I will take off the pedal and see if it is bent. It has the steel U shaped attachment. So hopefully it is not bent. But, I have taken all your suggestions and have ordered a new master and slave from Rodney. He has already shipped it and I should be getting it within a few days. Hopefully, I will have luck bleeding the system.

If you raise the clutch pedal without making any adjustments to the banjo, you won't be making any difference other than the height at which the clutch disengages. This would only help if you are hitting the floor before getting full disengagement of the clutch.

quote Originally posted by NetCam: If you raise the clutch pedal without making any adjustments to the banjo, you won't be making any difference other than the height at which the clutch disengages. This would only help if you are hitting the floor before getting full disengagement of the clutch.

That's what he's trying to accomplish. He says it disengages about an inch off the floor. GM didn't make the banjo rod adjustable because it isn't needed if everything else is kosher. If the pedal is able to move back to it's full stop position, the piston in the master cylinder is positioned to allow pressures in the system to equalize as fluid expands or contracts with temperature. Also, with the banjo and piston at the back of it's bore, it allows more fluid to be moved to the slave if there is no restriction to the length of downward movement.

The switch is the clutch safety switch, keeps you from starting the car unless the clutch is down. Big pia, I bypassed mine. Since it was broke anyway, and couldn't find a new one. Don't miss it at all.