ok i talked to the dealer today and they said i need a new clutch which im not totaly aginst doing, however, i have no idea on how to do it. im a total noob when it comes to a manual transmissions. i was wondering if you guys had suggestions on which clutch to buy? if anything else should be replaced with it like a fly wheel ect.. ? i just bought the car 3weeks ago and am a lil straped for cash but want good proformance any ideas? does the whole trans need to get dropped in order to replace the clutch? Need the help badly!!!

 

why make a new post??

 

PM Charles R Hill for clutch recommendations/pricing.
He is a good vendor here and is knowledgeable with clutch setups.

Yes.
If you've never done this before, I highly recommend either contacting someone you know who has done a clutch swap to show you how or have a shop/dealer do it.

 

Just look around, there are a lot of vendors here who have good deals on clutch/flywheel/counterweight combos. BHR/THM/Works to name just a few. You might as well do the flywheel while you are at it. It will double the cost, but the benifits will be much more noticable. You should be able to find someone local who can do the work for a lot cheaper than the dealer. Just order the parts and get in touch wiht some of the local 8 owners and you should be well on your way.

BTW, how many miles do you have? Any mods planned?

 

its an 04. i have just over 64k on it i have a KN drop in cold air intake. im not sure if the short shift was stock or not like i said complete noob to this whole manual thing. i was thinking of replacing the kn for somehthing diffrent not sure what yet. is that a good idea or is the KN good for now. Im trying to make cost affective mods any suggestions? need all the help i can get.

 

What part of Jersey are you from?
Jim @ JPR Imports installed my ACT flywheel & clutch for much less than a dealer and is much more trusted. I feel its worth the drive to Blackwood, NJ if you can do it.

 

i live by the shore toms river to be exact. i dont mind making the drive if there trustworthy

 

Well I am right next to you in Manchester and been to Jim twice. He runs his own shop and keeps his own hours so it might take 2-3 days. But he owns an RX-8 and is a rotary shop, he would care about his work more so than Joe Mazda tech. How much did the dealer want for the job? I would purchase the parts from BHR and have JPR install it.

www.jprimports.com

 

I think that the V1 KN drop intakes had problems. The V2 is better, but i don't know how to tell the difference. I just put a drop in filter in mine and called it a day, so I am not very kowlegable about intakes.

As far as cost efective mods go, look at a midpipe and AP. The car is very well sorted out right out of the box so there are not any easy/cheap mods that are going to gain you a ton of power.

I would recomend that you ensure that all the oem systems are working properly before you do any modding. Maybe get plugs/coils/wires as a start. Listen to expo and go see his guy.

 

You got the car three weeks ago and it needs a clutch?

So you either drive it really badly and fried the clutch because you are a total noob to manual transmissions. OR you bought the car not knowing the clutch was on its way out because you are a total noob to manual transmissions.

Well, welcome to shiftstickin! I doubt you'll ever go back to auto unless you have a real important reason.

Our cars come with really short shifters compared to other cars, so the chances that you have an aftermarket (an even shorter shifter) is low.

And you say K&N dropin cold air intake...which one lol? A drop in type is just a replacement filter for what comes factory - a panel replacement filter. A cold air intake is an intake assembly replacement, and I don't think K&N has a true cold air intake system for our cars, just the V1 and V2 short ram systems. Can you take pics?

Oh, and if you really do need a clutch, avoid driving unless necessary, and get it done ASAP. Clutches wear out kind of like brake pads. But once you wear them out to a certain level, they will keep slipping and slipping, causing heat which burns them down even more. I drove like this to the point where I could put my car in first and let off the clutch and the engine didn't stall (but I could move it at 7500 rpms lol!)

Have fun with the car.

 

act clutch kit zm8-hdg4

thats all you need.

 

if you're not too far from philly call the guy in my signature he can do it cheaper than anybody and can get you any clutch you want..

 

EXEDY...not that i would know because i drive an automatic... EPIC FAIL

 

I have an exedy stage 1 with a act prolite flywheel and I love it. While your at it you might as well swap out the flywheel as well.

 

Exedy FTW

Yes sir.