S13 clutch pedal pops when depressed and pedal adjustment

[bcar240]

About 1/3 of the way through depressing the clutch there is an pop that can be heard and also be felt thought the pedal. I got down there with a light and from what I can tell the double coiled return spring for the pedal is what is doing this. I watch it while pressing and that spring jumps when the pop sound is heard/felt. Just wondering if anyone has had this problem before or can recommend a way to fix it. All I have tried is lubing it and poking it with a screwdriver, both of which did nothing.

Also, how do you make sure the pedal is adjusted to not put pressure on the clutch when released? When I was first looking at this problem, I moved the outer pedal stop in a bit to bypass a sloppy start to the pedal, but now I'm not sure if I have it adjusted correctly. When I did it I basically took out all the slack in the pedal assembly, so now moving the pedal at all is pushing the rod that goes to the master cylinder.

[bcar240]

So, update. I checked the FSM again and saw that it is the assist spring that I was referring to, not a return spring. How much would just removing this affect the pedal?

[bcar240]

Update/solution? So I just popped the spring out and the problem is gone. The clutch is a bit heavier now, maybe 30% heavier. That's not a big deal, mine was very light anyway. The other difference is, as far as I can tell, the spring was progressive and calibrated to become stiffer around the clutch engagement zone for better control. When the spring is removed, there is less pedal feel, just a consistently heavier throw. I think I will remove the damper and see what that does.

I believe what actually happened that center section of the assist spring popped out of its notch in the clutch pedal and was instead riding on the side of the pedal outside the notch. But I'm not disappointed in the new feel, and barring any problems will probably leave it out (looks like it would be tricky to reinstall anyway.)