Mason Engineering Z3 Clutch Pedal Review

[Vintage42]

The same as the brake light switch. The red ring around the stem is the adjuster. Pull it out a ways, and then let the pedal travel push it in the required amount. Pull the adjuster all of the way out and it releases the switch from the bracket...

I remembered seeing this about the brake switch, but it did not mention the red ring for adjustment or removal:
http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...6#post28358366

[rf900rkw]

Holy crap. A detailed write-up, and it doesn't click because I didn't mention the color of the ring/barrel? Some are red. Some are white., Depends on the switch.

[Vintage42]

It didn't mention a ring or that the switch was adjustable. It did mention a barrel but not how it worked with the ring.
And I can't see the moving part of the switch except with a mirror and flashlight, or a camera, and can't get both hands on it, so its workings escaped me.
I suppose that if one buys the switch and can have it in hand to play with, the stem-barrel-ring adjustment feature would become apparent even without a write up.

[rf900rkw]

The barrel and the ring are the same item. The barrel has a ring on the outside edge. Three posts down from the one you zoomed in on I talk about it being the adjuster.

From the number of writeups of people not understanding the adjuster and busting out the old switch even though they have the new one in hand says it must not be apparent.... at least to the crowd that can't read the manual.

[Vintage42]

... the crowd that can't read the manual.

Is there a manual that describes working with the switches?
The brake pedal has a brake light switch, and the clutch pedal has a cruise control switch and a cut-out switch. So all three have the same barrel-and-ring remove/adjust feature.

[rf900rkw]

TIS does. Don't know about Bentley. I have barn doors, so don't need a door stop.


And just to be sure. My comment was more about your wonderful technician... who broke the switch, installed the new on incorrectly, then bent the pedal to "fix" it. Any one that works on this era BMW should know how to use this switch.

[Vintage42]

TIS does. Don't know about Bentley... My comment was more about your wonderful technician... who broke the switch, installed the new on incorrectly, then bent the pedal to "fix" it...

Nobody has the TIS which is digital, and few have the Bentley book. The Bentley does not describe the adjustability of the switch.

The tech did break the old switch to remove it, as many people do. He installed the new switch correctly, and may have even let it adjust itself, but the result was 1/8 inch off. Just an imperceptible tug on the clutch pedal made it work -- maybe he let the switch adjust itself on the pedal without tugging the pedal out that last 1/8" inch. But he did not take the car on the road to find this out.

He did not bend the pedal's cruise control ear. He bent the ear on the other side, for the cut-out switch, after letting the cut-out switch fully extend itself as shown in my photo. He had no choice there.

I criticize the tech for breaking the cruise control switch to remove it, and for not testing the cruise control with the new switch, and I don't like the shop charging me for the new switch. But I can't criticize the tech for bending the ear to make the cut out switch start the engine.

There are no winners here, but I don't think I would have done better taking the car to a general import shop to install the shop-fabricated Mason clutch pedal.

[Vintage42]

The same as the brake light switch. The red ring around the stem is the adjuster. Pull it out a ways, and then let the pedal travel push it in the required amount. Pull the adjuster all of the way out and it releases the switch from the bracket. How many DIYs and youtube vids tell you the only way to remove the switch is to break it out....

Literally all the Youtube DIY videos show breaking the switch out. This video is not a DIY, but explains the switch part itself, showing how the red ring allows removal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m13PvjsRsBk

[rf900rkw]

TIS is available for the download. You're right, few bother.


It looks to me the new switch is the start switch, the shiny new one with the adjuster ring/barrel jammed all the way in and the bent tab. It doesn't matter though. As a professional, he should have never bent the tab.


Here's how youtube videos come about. Someone somewhere attempts a repair without reading the manual and makes a real hack of it. So they write up a DIY for others to follow. Then someone else comes along and not only doesn't read the manual, but they misunderstand the DIY and come up with a really absurd way of doing things and make a video of it "to help others". Youtube is for stupid cat tricks, not anything technical.

[Vintage42]

TIS is available for the download. You're right, few bother. It looks to me the new switch is the start switch, the shiny new one with the adjuster ring/barrel jammed all the way in and the bent tab. It doesn't matter though. As a professional, he should have never bent the tab....

I downloaded the TIS years ago:
http://www.adkusters.dsmynas.com/Web...utch_pedal.pdf
But I don't go to it routinely, and I bet the Indy tech didn't either. He's not allowed near the front office computers.

The new switch that he installed to replace the switch he broke, shows on the invoice as 61318363710. And you are right, it is the start cutout switch:
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...h/61318363710/
I had not realized that he broke the cutout switch, not the cruise control switch.

So evidently he got the Mason pedal installed, and office did tell me the car would not start at first. I guess because the ear on the pedal didn't push enough on the cutout switch. So maybe the tech tried to adjust the old switch, broke it, and had to bend the ear on the pedal to make it push right on the new switch. It does look like he extended the new switch to the max.

Let me add that the reason I willingly paid for the the switch they broke, is that the service rep said there is always a danger in using non-stock parts (the Mason pedal). If I had simply asked them to replace the bushing of the stock clutch pedal, they would have had no excuse.

[BIGSOOJ]

Still love my pedal. Just saying

[Vintage42]

Me too. And the new bushing, bronze in my case.