Hello all my name is: john from the USA and I’m wondering why my clutch is so hard to depress. I was hoping Joe could could do a r & r video on this topic. I’m the proud new owner of a ‘91 stealth tt. I’ve watched most all of Joe’s videos and am feeling much more confident about these cars.
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The clutch is vacuum assisted. On the back side of the plenum, near the EGR, just after the throttlebody, there is a hose (about 10mm internal diameter, it is fairly large) that goes from the plenum to a tube/pipe on the firewall that runs over to the left side of the vehicle (driver’s side). That hose has a check valve in it and when installed backwards, allows boost pressure to pressurize the clutch booster rather than prevent boost pressure from pressurizing it. I would double check that hose placement (if it is still the factory hose, it should have an arrow on it showing flow direction). You should be able to blow into it from one direction (towards the plenum) but not the other (towards the clutch booster) when installed properly.
If the hose is installed properly, then what kind of clutch do you have installed? A lot of aftermarket clutches (particularly single disc ones) have much heavier pressure plates compared to stock which require increased pedal pressure.
Other things to look for are if your clutch booster has failed (if the hose on the plenum was ever installed wrong, this is potentially possible), vacuum leaks (the early production cars had metal vacuum assist chambers for the clutch, it may have rusted out, or if you have a plastic one, it could have been damaged - it sits under the car below the right/passenger’s headlight, below the ABS pump), old or gummy fluid, or clutch master/slave issues.