A light flywheel has less inertia, therefore when you blip the throttle the revs rise and fall a lot faster. This is a good thing. However, due to having less inertia it is easier to stall if you are careless with the clutch and/or gas pedal. You need a much more careful clutch/throttle balance to take off smoothly with a lightweight flywheel.

If you can get into any manual transmissioned car and be comfortable driving within a few minutes then you won't have any trouble adapting to a lightweight flywheel. You might be a little nervous starting out on hills like when you first learned stick but that goes away quickly

 

next on my want list

 

so will a 3rd gen rx7 flywheel work with the 8 then?


andrew

 

from what i see their different part numbers

 

has anyone installed or heard of anyone installing a mazdatrix flywheel??

 

YES IMO

 

According to my dealer there is no difference. Which is rosenthal mazda.

 

Broke,

Glad to see your thread, I've been calling around San Diego trying to find a shop that won't rape me on cost to install a flywheel, I've talked to 2 mechanics at my local Mazda dealership and they estimated 8 hrs labor (at 76.00 an hour) which would pretty much defeat the idea of "bang for the buck". Dropping the tranny is a little beyond my comfort zone so if I could find someone to actually charge me for approx 2-3 hrs labor I'd really like to do this...in conjunction with a ecu upgrade I think you'd have a pretty responsive car. If you could send me a pm I'd like to hear more about the "feel" after it was installed.

 

Well here a quick line up of tools and what to do when pulling/installing the flywheel.

10mm (sockets)
12mm
14mm
17mm
19mm
21mm
2 1/8" (Flywheel socket) (from sears or snapon)
10,12,14,17 wrenches
extensions of all sizes
clutch allignment tool (3rd gen Rx-7 works)
Lift, trans jack, a friend is good to.

o.k.
shifter
Unbolt main cat
2 under carrage braces
Support trans*** with jack
front PPF bolts
drive shaft
starter
slave cyl.
transmission bolts

She is out!

pressure plate bolts
flywheel nut

Put it back in reverse order!

Have fun

 

You mentioned earlier the install took 1-1/2 hours. Was that for the whole procedure, taking the tranny out, replacing the flywheel, and reinstalling the tranny?

Did you use a service station hydraulic lift, lifting the whole car up?

 

1 1/2 for the whole process.

I work at a shop (PFS)

 

It would take me 1-1/2 hours to just consider where to set my beer in with all those tools.

 

LOL:p

 

I noticed you did not include a torque wrench in your list. Do you now torque the new flywheel? Does the new flywheel come with a torque setting?

Am I also to assume you left the clutch & pressure plate bolted to the tranny when you removed it?

Thanks for helping me determine how simple (or complex) a job it would be for me to do.

 

Am I also to assume you left the clutch & pressure plate bolted to the tranny when you removed it? [B]Well I did not unbolt it until the trans was out of the way because you cant get to the PP until the reans is out.[B/]

Also I did not use a torque wrench I just hit it with the big gun a few times and called it a day.

 

The big single flywheel bolt needs to be torqued to somewhere around 280 lbs.-ft.... maybe more... confirm with Mazda it is very important!!

 

I think it is over 300 ft/lbs

 

It was 200 on the RX-7.

 

I guess no one installed it! I buy most of my parts from there including a lightened flywheel for my 7. I trust them and they are extremly nice. I just ordered a body kit for my 8. I am waiting for a better clutch comes out and do them both at once. That is if I can hold out on the flywheel till then.:D I am sure it will go nice with my Stage 1.

 

So tell me this again, the 3rd gen flywheel fits on right? what size is it 8.5" or 9.5". Auto counterweight (normal) and the clutch system works fine with it. so yeah what size flywheel did you get?

This is something i'd tackle myself also.

 

3rd gen flywheel from whomever. And a rx8 auto counter weight.

 

were you able to re-use the old ring gear or did u have to bash another one on ?

Will another ring gear fit/work ? thanks

 

The rear stationary gear? I used the stock one if that was your question.

 

the ring gear, the bit that the starter motor uses..

 

That IS the flywheel.