Well I just changed out my clutch yesterday, took 4 hours total. It wasn't a bad job, changing the clutch is easy, getting to the clutch is time consuming. It helps when the car is two and a half feet in the air or 3 feet I may had it...anyway having the car high in the air makes the job go alot quicker and its easier to get to everything.

Being that the car is a'05 made taking off bolts and nuts a snap, it wasn't like working on a older vehicle where your waisting time and your patience trying to break the bolt or nut loose or spraying down these bolts with PB blaster. Everything came off rather easily...

Well I brought my car new with 27 miles on her, and racked up 128k miles on her before the clutch finally gave out and broke. Broke being that one of the the springs in the pressure plate came completely off and was laying in the bell housing, the throwout bearing was shot, and found some shards of metal also laying in the bell housing.

Right around 100k miles I noticed hard shifting, always would grind 3rd gear ,then 4th gear, then around 110k I couldn't even rev past 7k rpm without grinding any gear. Then at 120k miles i heard a strange ping then pop noise, probably the spring that broke off from the pressure plate.

At this point the clutch was solid as a rock to push in, and last saturday she crapped out totally! Couldn't put the car into gear at all, thank goodness it happend at my house when i was about to go to the store then realized I wasn't going anywhere.

Mazda quoted 1200 plus to do the job, I said hell no! Called up Grip force in California who specializes in clutches and fly wheels. Well i got a stage two F1 clutch for 160 sent to my house! This was perfect! Installed yesterday and the results.......


AWESOME!!!!! I am high revving again! Shifting is smooth as butter again! And the clucth engagement is crisp grabbing every gear without the grind! Clutch feel is light and is very easy to push , feels better than the stock clutch! Overall I am happy, not being able to rev the RX-8 past 7k just made the car not a RX anymore. I am in love all over again with my ride !


If you guys are having grind issues,hard engagement, change your clutch ASAP! Especially if you haven't snapped your clutch pedal, do this fix imediately! I could of saved myself frustration 17k miles ago when i started noticing these issues. Oh thanks to the guys who created the clutch/tranny removal DIY guide, I highly recommend using it for anybody that is going to do this job themselves.

Happy motoring guys!

 

My rusty 91 RX-7 needs a new clutch. I am NOT looking forward to that job.

 

Wow sounds pretty good. I grind in third and 5th at high rpm. But I'm pretty sure it's my trans. Everyone has missed a hear or two in there day haha

 

How many miles on your Rx-8? It may not be your tranny, I thought the same thing before I switched out my clutch, I thought my tranny was taking a crap too until changed my clutch. The stock clutch on our cars are garbage and are very fragile! The tranny are fragile too, but the weak link in our cars is our clutches, which lead to messed up tranny's because you grind the **** out of it because of a poor clutch.

 

Pressure plate, I never had a car where the spring popped off or had metal components from the pressure plate just break or shear off from use. I have done some enthusiatic driving with my 8 , more highway and around town driving ,never abused with high rpm clutch drops or powershifting.

I have done a handful of clutch jobs and I never seen what i saw on any of those jobs that i have done. The pressure plate would be worn but never destroyed.

I could be speculating that the pressure plate could be the weak link but this is what I have observed first hand.

 

mines got 55k on it. im going to change trans fluids and see if that helps

 

i think your case is not quite common. usually a grinding shift would suggest more of a transmission problem than of the clutch system.

 

Cant believe im the first to ask, but....why did you drive 20k miles with a problem like that? You mentioned you were aware of the problem at 100k, but didnt fix it 120k+? You said you drove it 10k miles w/o being able to rev over 7k RPM. I wouldnt drive it 10 minutes till I resolved an issue like that.

Maybe I just care too much, but when I know my vehicle isnt right, i fix it.

 

Charles,

So what is a good replacement clutch for when the time comes? I don't track/auto-cross, but I am very aggressive on the clutch.

Thanks!

 

The reason why , I thought I had transmissions problems just like everybody else. Didn't have the $$$ to buy another transmission and I didn't have the broken clutch pedal problem like everybody else. So I started with small fixes first. I did a transmission flush and fill , that helped alot but it wasn't a 100% fix. Then I re-bled the clutch system , that helped a little but still not a 100% fix.

My Rx-8 was still operable under 7k rpm, took it over 7k and would get a gear or two without grinding, overall the grinding issue was present. I took it to the dealership and they told me that my transmission was toast. So in that 10k miles I did take action to remedy the problem ,I wanted to change out the clutch but everybody I talked to and let drive my car swore my tranny was toast. I had a hunch i needed to change the clutch but with everybody on and off the forums blowing up tranny's i didn't even really put to much effort into thinking of replacing the clutch.

When i should of went with my gut instinct first , I held faith in everybodies else experiences. So in reality my problem could of been fixed when the problem first happen with going with a new clutch to begine with....You live and you learn.

 

True...Thats is why I went with a stage 2 clutch, something a little more durable than our factory Exedy stage 1 clutch. Anything over stage 2 is just overkill for this car unless you do some serious road racing or drag racing.

My friend has a 2nd gen Rx-7 with a 6 puck clutch in his daily driver, he is now on day 6 cursing at the world! I am going to be a good sport and help him tomorrow take it out and put a clutch in that he can live with it. I tried to tell him but sometimes people have to learn the hard way.

 

Sure. We have a lot of nice, curvy back roads here in VA/MD/PA that are a blast to drive. By aggressive I mean, that I am constantly up-shifting/down-shifting and just working the clutch. I don't ride the clutch and I don't do hi-rev take offs. Also, traffic in Northern VA is a bitch. Lots of shifting while I trudge along with the rest of the cattle...let out clutch, go 5 feet, stop, let out clutch, go 5 feet, stop..repeat...repeat...etc.

So, to me even though the 8 is my dd, I love to work it whenever I get a chance and I like to push it harder than just driving to/from work/store/etc.

Hope that gives you a better insight.

Thanks!!!