I have gotten stuff from BHR in as little as two days via FedEx. Email Charles and he will personally attend to your needs, a great guy.

 

I did mine, several times. It is not hard, it is just work.

pull exhaust, support trans, drop ppf, pull drive shaft, pull shifter, pull slave cylinder, disconnect wires, pull trans, smash hand on trans jack, finish pulling trans, replace clutch, replace pilot bearing, line up clutch, install trans, curse, re-line up clutch, install trans, curse, re line up clutch, install trans.......

Then slave cyl, drive shaft, ppf, exhaust...

Wen he installs the clutch, it seems to have to be perfect. The alignment tool has to be sitting in the center of the clutch, really not touching on any sides. You cannot use the tool to align the clutch, you use it to check how well you have aligned it.

Also, drill a hole in the back of the tool, and cut the tip off. make sure you can blow air through it. that way it will not create any suction when you pull it out after aligning the clutch and have an air bubble behind one of the needle bearings in the pilot bearing pop out and keep the trans from getting installed all the way..

Yeah, I have experience. every darn thing that could happen, short of the car falling off the jacks, has happened....

Biggest thing is getting the clutch aligned perfectly. There is really only room for a few thousands of an inch of error. And, I do not do this for a living so I suck at it.

 

^

I hear ya. When I aligned the clutch with the plastic alignment tool, I would center the clutch and hold it centered with one hand and finger tight a couple bolts to add some grip from the pressure plate, then do like 1/2 a turn on each bolt at a time, checking the alignment with the plastic tool each time. Once it stopped moving around behind the pressure plate, I'd go ahead and tighten the clutch bolts normally.

For mounting the transmission to the engine, I got a set of 4 bolts of the same thread and diameter as the bell housing bolts, but about 2 inches longer. You can then thread in the bolts before the transmission input shaft even starts engaging the clutch or pilot bearing. Get the 4 bolts on the center left, both bottom, and one of the two top right bolt holes. Then stick a scissor jack under the PPF and use that to push the transmission tail up to get it in line with the engine (scissor jack is easier to make tiny motions, and you are only supporting the tail of the transmission and one end of the PPF). Then start rotating the 4 bolts evently, using the driveshaft in the end of the transmission (transmission in gear) to wiggle the splines in line with the clutch disc as the bolts pull it straight in to the engine. Once the original stock bolts can start threading, swap them in one at a time (the longer ones will bottom out before you can safely remove them all). Continuing using the bolts to pull the transmission into the engine and a firm grip on the driveshaft to feel out the splines and make sure nothing is catching on anything.

I didn't do that the first time i did a clutch replacement, and it was a pain. The 2nd and 3rd times (thanks Exedy Stage1) I did, and it was so much faster/smoother. The last clutch replacement took me about 4 hours from wheels down to wheels down. The worst part at this point is lifting the transmission down and up, that and doing high torque bolts laying on your back is less than ideal.

 

Congrats Charles.

 

Congrats Charles..

The worlds happyiest sound, hearing the grand kid.

Second happiest sound, the thunk made when the trans slides all the way in, and does not stop half an inch before mating up with the engine because the freaking input shaft hit the edge of the bearing..

 

Congratulations! Your mission in life is to spoil him. AKA "parent's revenge."

Yep - you've got the idea.

Ken

 

Naw, put him in the back of the 8, give him the nitrous button....

 

This is not about spoiling the GS. It is about payback for the S.

 

Wow I didn't even know this thread was still going haha. BHR shipping is fantastic supposed to be getting everything today even the SS clutch line I ordered yesterday (I think)
Keep up the good work Charles and congrats!

To everyone else thanks for the tips. I know I'm gonna need them. I decided to diy it because I don't think he ever did an rx8 clutch replacement. I don't want him to mess up my drive shaft >.<
Wish me luck on the pilot bearing bread pull! And the alignment haha

 

If you don't have a 54mm(?) nut and air impact gun to pull the flywheel retaining nut off, then make sure you have a way to properly resurface the flywheel with it still attached to the engine.

 

I was gonna scotchbrite that ****...... Lmao

 

What's an inexpensive way to it diy style??

 

IMHO, sand it clean with 100 grit and a small, circular motion, until it is clean. If it is shinny, just scuff it a bit.

there is really not a lot of torque going through that interface to worry much about slipping.

When done, clean it with brake cleaner.

With both, make sure you do not get crap in around the pilot bearing.

 

congrats Ray! I still am working on getting the bulk of my brood out of the house.

 

Ok one more thing I want to let you guys know is that it it's more prone to locking up when it's warmed up. Before optimal operating temp it seems to act better and let's me shift. What does this mean?

 

Honestly does it seam like its locking up or just not working.

If you have air or water in your clutch line then it could be expanding and the hydraulics will not stroke to release the clutch.

How old is your brake fluid. If you've never replaced it you should do that.

 

I don't think it's a hydraulic issue because I never lost pressure in the pedal and it's always had the same exact feel. When it's not stuck it's got an ugly throwout bearing sound.

 

Just pick up some goodies😄

 

The throwout bearing does nothing unless you are holding down the pedal. If you are not sitting for long periods of time with the pedal down it should not become really hot. And the inner race is solid. The only way i see a clutch locking up is from the throwout bearing binding on the transmission input shaft.

Maybe from the pressure plate getting damaged but that would take major clutch abuse imho.

Either way you already have the parts and have changed out the rest of the parts. You might as well replace them all and see what happens.

Just. Let us know the end results so we can help people better in the future.

 

Sure thing I'll keep you guys posted. I'm actually on my way to get the car and try to drive it to my house and start this repair. I'll inspect the pedal bracket and hydraulics before anything too.

 

If your clutch is locked up and not disengaging and you have no hydraulic problems then your pedal should get extremely hard to push while trying to move the pressure plate. Its like trying to push a car with the brake on it takes more force to move.

Just a thought.

 

I need a breaker bar and torch -_- these stupid bolts. (Mainly cat converter flange bolts)