Hi I have a 09 R3. The transmission is being replaced with a brand new one. Now is a good time to do the clutch Mazda says they will do it for free. I just want a simple answer. What is the best clutch and flywheel package I can get for this car ? There is no mods besides rims and it being lowered. I do not plan to do major HP upgrades to it either.. yet. Canadian purchase for this kit would be preferred seeming that's where I live and the transmission should be in within a week.
Thanks for your help!

 

OEM clutch is the best. Aftermarket clutches keep having problems, and it's not worth the risk. No aftermarket clutch is going to provide better performance than the OEM clutch anyway, so there isn't even anything to gain by taking the risk.

 

Piecing together a full clutch assembly (ordered through Mazda) will end up being much more expensive than buying an Exedy OEM replacement kit or an Exedy Stage 1 kit (Exedy manufactures Mazda OEM clutch bits anyway). The reason being is that Mazda doesn't sell the Clutch as a kit, they only sell each individual item (clutch disk, Pressure plate, Throwout Bearing, etc., etc) and adding them all together yourself is gunna cost a premium. That is coming from a conversation I had with a guy named Ray Crowe, he's the parts manager at a local Mazda Dealership (Malloy Mazda) and he's been in the rotary game a LOOONNNNGGGGG time... I don't know if he's well known on the 8 club, but he's rather well known in the rx-7 scene.

As RIWWP suggested, getting a standard aftermarket clutch kit (stage 2+ and with higher torque specs) isn't really going to be worth it in the end. They will cost more up front than an OEM replacement kit, they will likely NEGATIVELY effect the street manners of your car, and that extra clamping ability will be wasted, because the rotary doesn't make enough torque to justify the higher clamping ability.

TLDR: Order an Exedy OEM Replacement kit, or an Exedy Stage 1 kit. Best bang for the buck and it'll be plenty of performance for ya. Just have them resurface your current Flywheel, they are reusable unless they are physically destroyed or severely damaged.

 

DO NOT go for a Exedy Stage 1 kit. There are serious QA problems with them. Many members on here have had premature clutch failure on them of varying forms. I went back to OEM after having a Stage1 burst at 20,000 (same driving that got me 89k on the factory one) and it's Stage1 replacement start shredding immediately with lots of unusual noises and engagement problems. I pulled that one after 100 miles. I installed OEM and the noises and problems disappeared.

See this thread for other people with Stage1 problems: https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tro...clutch-244381/

Buying 3 clutch kits costs a hell of a lot more than buying 1, even if you do all the labor yourself (which I did).

Stick with OEM. Mazmart and BHR both sell the OEM kit at a good price, though I don't know how that translates to Canada with shipping and all.

 

RIWWP your the man. I might as well just PM u for now on. Thanks a bunch!

 

Try searching first anyway

I already have plenty of members that PM me instead of posting, and I often have to point them to something I already wrote anyway. Repeating myself gets tiring

 

That's really interesting and good to know... Oddly enough though I've had a different experience with Exedy, I had one in my FD and it was just fine (I only changed it out because I started pushing 450whp, and obviously an OEM/stage 1 isn't gunna hold the torque associated with that).

I'm not trying to be rude, but are you sure the failures we coming from genuine Exedy kits/parts??? Exedy is rather well respected in my experience, it makes me wonder if the failure is isolated to the rx-8 kits...

Either way, good info and I def wasn't aware that Exedy had developed a bad rep on here.

 

Oh, also. .. where are you finding OEM clutch kits from?

 

Yes, it's Genuine Exedy parts (I bought both from BHR, and I'm positive he is buying direct from them), and no, the problem isn't with Exedy in general, as they make the OEM clutch that works perfectly. The problem is with the Stage 1, and for the RX-8 specifically. It used to be perfectly fine, but at some point in the last 2 years or so they had to have made a production change that resulted in inconsistent quality. Ray from BHR believes that it's an inconsistent stack height that is causing the problems, since you can "solve" them by installing spacers on the pressure plate bolts for some clutches, but it introduces problems for others.

So far, Exedy has apparently ignored the problem, as it continues to plague people that buy a stage1 without researching first, and they aren't granting warranty reimbursement either.


The best two sources for the OEM kit is BHR or Mazmart. Both are vendors here, and the two most respected vendors with the best customer service in my opinion. The price for the OEM kit is comparable between the two the last time I checked, BHR's is slightly higher with free shipping, Mazmart's slightly lower but shipping gets added.

 

As Fendamonky said, he uses Ray Crowe at Malloy Mazda, I have for many years, as I have a 3rd gen as well. He sells parts for way less than list. PM me if you want his contact information.

I'll second OEM clutch, while I'm more of a 1st and 3rd gen RX-7 guy, the stock clutch was always best for the 3rd gen with stock power levels. Unless your going racing.