This morning coming home from work I went to make my daily errands IE; banking, groceries @ A&P etc.. As I'm leaving the mall parking lot , I hear a little snap. No pedal , I limp the car over to a parking spot and check out what has happened. As I figured the clutch pedal bracket is broken! Yay Me .....I have removed the bracket thinking about welding it so I can just get it home. Has this been happening to others as well? Upon further inspection The bracket seems very thin and well for a part that has to stand up to repeated force kinda cheap.
Just wondering If there are any places in the gta that sell a stronger bracket?

 

Yes, it is a known issue here. Many of us have either/or/both better welded the seams or installed the FluidMS reinforcement bracket as a pre-emptive measure.

Search clutch bracket

here's a good one to start you off: https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...clutch+bracket

edit: FluidMS clutch bracket kit or full assembly: http://www.fluidmotorsports.com/p-18...cessories.aspx

 

Have Just Ordered the FluidMS Bracket (" Now that's a bracket "), well worth the $100 IMO .... Splurged a bit and added that high capacity oil pan Thanks for the help!

 

As you've already removed the bracket you know what's entailed. Just a couple hints to wedge the clutch slave cylinder from the engine bay side to make reattachment easier. Also be careful not to overly compress the starter interlock switch.

edit: Another helpful site on the subject: http://www.coloradomazdaclub.com/for...ead.php?t=2726

 

Question: My clutch has started squeaking about a month ago.. but only does it when the car is still cold.. after about 15mins or so of driving and the car being fully warmed up it stops squeaking. Is that also a sign of my clutch breaking or am I having a different problem?

 

What part of -"Yes, it is a known issue here. Many of us have either/or/both better welded the seams or installed the FluidMS reinforcement bracket as a pre-emptive measure." - was unclear???

 

I'd get it welded even if you're not having issues. There is still a bit of flex in the clutch assembly that went away after I had mine welded.

It's a nice piece of mind that you'll wish you had if you break down cause of a snapped pedal.

 

FYI my clutch only squeaks when COLD. Can you read? How many other posts about this have mentioned that part? Hence the reason why I'm reassuring. I know a squeaking clutch is an issue but it only happens to me when my car is COLD which is why I'm asking to begin with.

 

Yep your correct.. I'm probably going to order the support piece for the clutch bracket as well just to be on the safer side of things, thanks.

 

^Order the part, install, then get back if it is still squeaking on ya. If it isn't, problem solved, if so, then there is more research to be done on this. GL bro.

 

Exactly. Preemptively avoid a potential failure and remove a variable from the equation.

Glad to see you're going to take action Krazed.

And yes, I read quite well actually, but thanks for your concern.

Oh, and posting the same question in multiple threads is really unnecessary.

 

Just finished welding and reinstalled the factory bracket. Was surprised to see how bad it actually was.
Made some extensive reinforcements, should be more than enough until my FluidMs bracket arrives. I seriously hope Mazda acknowledges this as a manufacturing defect.
2 spot welds are not enough to secure this assembly together.Got to love engineers lol

 

You should be good to go. And as for Mazda acknowledging the defect, nope. They do not. Many have tried to get them to recall the defect, even with petitions, but to no avail maybe someday...

 

Engineering is compromise too, especially when the bean counters get involved ("value engineering"). I agree that this particular situation warrants a better structure. Most human-machine interfaces do, as there is a wide spectrum of personal capabilities and preferences to accommodate. Mazda most likely had a human factors engineering evaluation of the part, but heck, for all we know it could be a Ford re-application (the starter interlock switch is a Ford part).
In addition to cost savings there is also weight savings. If they welded and reinforced every piece to a very high level we'd soon be driving tanks.
Again however, I agree that this particular piece is a [potential] weak link.

Krazed - good to see you've got yours welded.