Recommend new clutch ?
 

I just bought this clutch: Exedy Genuine Clutch Pro Kit Set 2004 2008 Mazda RX 8 1 3L 13BMSP 6 Speed | eBay , but im having problems in high revs, the clutch slips and the rpm races up.

Can someone recommend a strong and good replacement clutch for the RX-8, preferrably from Ebay?

why ebay :scratchhe:

OEM is best, $375 shipped from forum vendor BHR. Comes with customer service and all. Mazmart, another forum vendor with customer service, has it for $360 + shipping.


Non-OEM clutch kits tend to have quality control issues, and OEM has more torque capacity than any N/A 8 can exceed. Just stick with OEM.

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You may also be leaking oil or slinging excess grease onto the clutch disc. Or you are turbocharged and haven't mentioned it.

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Hi.

No its NA, no tuning. The workshop is gonna give it another go, but they said it seems that this clutch cant cope with the torque. Also maybe to much grease as you said. This mainly happens at speeds over 90MPH.

Do you mean http://black-halo-racing.myshopify.c...ry-rx-8-clutch ?

Look here, upto 456 HP and 331 ft/lbs. torque: http://www.ebay.com/itm/XTR-STAGE-2-...245649&vxp=mtr

yes, that clutch from BHR.

N/A, you have 165ish crank torque at peak. The OEM clutch can take 250 or so. Torque capacity isn't your problem, don't introduce a new problem with a clutch that doesn't have the right clearances, stack height, etc. Lots of quality control problems on clutches out there.

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I have the Excedy Stage 1 clutch in there and have 0 problems with it. Excedy also has a 1 year warranty on their clutches, so if it was installed PROPERLY and you still have a bad clutch, you could exchange it; or at least mine does, and I bought mine off of Ebay as well.

Plenty of people have had early failure on the Exedy Stage1. They used to be solid, but now hit or miss. Not really worth the risk when the OEM is the same price and an N/A 8 can not use the extra torque capacity.

The warranty is smoke though. Zero coverage on either of my 2 failed stage 1s. One made it 12 months, 20,000 miles before exploding (same driving that got me 89k on OEM), the next made it 100 miles. Went back to OEM and the problems vanished.

OEM does seem to be the best quality clutch.

could it be slipping because it hasn't properly been broken in?

I mean I hope you've at least broken it in, and not gone out hammering on it immediately after install. I've seen a lot of people glaze clutch discs by doing that.

it is very possible if the flywheel was not resurfaced during the install.

Welcome to the club...

Issue is the "stack height". Been there, same problem. Charles (BHR) helped me sort it.

Fix is some thin, precision, 0.060" spacers (they look a lot like washers from Lowes), between the flywheel and the pressure plate. This raises the pressure plate, and causes the problem. I bet your clutch is very light at higher RPM as well. If that is the case, we are on the right track. Props to you for not buying a "Stage 1", I did, really wish I had not.

The problem. There are pieces of metal in the pressure plate that have mass. With the plate in the correct position, they will actually exert a little more force at higher RPM than lower RPM. This can help the clutch from slipping. If the plat is too high, they are more in a released position, and their weight will actually help release the clutch. At a 9,000 RPM redline, and you get the situation you are experiencing. With the trans out, you will see the tabs the release bearing presses against. They should form a dome or crown (crown is the Charles term). Mine were flat when I installed the clutch. I did not notice until I drove it. When I did washers, the crown was back (I pulled trans again, no buddy to help).

Another possibility is that the center piece of the clutch, I forget the name, needs to settle (squish). But, it sounds like the issue above. The settling should not take long.


There are 2 was to install the washers.

First, pull the trans.

Second, with a buddy, get a crow foot socket, pull the starer, and carefully, following the torque pattern, loosen all the bolts a few turns at a time through the hole. This will generate enough space to insert the washer. Then pull one bolt, use a magnet or magic to slide the washer in, and re-install the bolt to the same depth as before. Repeat 6 times. Now slowly, following the torque pattern, turning the bolts one turn at a time, get snug on the washers, then follow torque pattern one last time to the correct specs.

Your buddy is going to be doing nothing bu slowly turning the engine for you with a socket on main pulley bolt.

My stage 1 has been happy as a clam since I installed the washers. Multiple tack weekends, daughter learning to drive, all that stuff. I just hate the additional pedal pressure.

My stage1 was horrific with the washers installed :)

It's where Ray was theorizing that it is simple an inconsistent stack height problem. Then we found someone else that only had problems with the release bearing, and replaced the release bearing and everything went fine.

So no idea what Exedy is doing with the stage 1 that they can't keep it consistent.

@ riwwp.. define horrific.. Heavy pedal, or something else?

I hate mine, but that is just because I screwed up and bought the damn thing. It works. I just do not like the spring pressure. Although, the auto release feature at 5,000 rpm was interesting.... I just never had the guts to shift that way...

I can share that the clutch pack I put in was about 0.060" thicker than the one I took out. Maybe that was wear, maybe not. I would have put the old one back in if the exploding release bearing had not made a mess of it. I also could not compare the two release bearings, but I do not think it was the issue. The crown, or lack thereof, is the issue. It is amazing the difference a think washer makes on the crown.

The clutch would either not disengage at all, or never be fully engaged, even at idle. No clutch adjustment I could make would get it to do anything different. On top of this, the release bearing made a constant rattle that only changed tone/pitch/intensity with clutch pedal activity, and nothing I could do would get it to shut up.

I made it 100 miles before i pulled the starter to borescope the bellhousing to see if I could determine what has going on, and the starter teeth were filled with hredded clutch material. I decided to pull the transmission yet again, and found that the pressure plate hinges were likewise stuffed. No bluing on the flywheel, no burnt material, it was just starting to shred itself to bits. Installed an OEM clutch kit and everything landed perfectly, no noises, no clutch grip problems, clutch pedal adjusted perfectly the first try, and it's been fine ever since, including a couple track days with the new owner.

Yep,

That meets the definition of horrific.... I guess I should consider myself lucky....

I've decided to purchase the original factory Exedy clutch you recommend. Hope this solves the problem ! :rock:

that's the Exedy OE Replacement clutch and for all intents and purposes is the same as the factory OE clutch. It was installed improperly or has some other kind of problem. Otherwise that's a pretty good price for it, so this is "why eBay?".

I've raced on both with zero issues. Get a new mechanic.


.

Did they resurface the flywheel wrong? Seen that before :)

Did you break it in properly?

Set your trip.
Drive like a grandma for 300 clicks.
Then it's time to have fun.

If you glaze the clutch, it will slip...

You don't need to drive it like a granny. Just drive it normally but dont thrash the thing (no clutch kicks, aggressive starts, high rpm changes ect)

Since my car is pretty much competition only it doesn't really ever get broken in first, though its not a bad idea if you can. I never resurfaced a flywheel yet either. Never had a problem.

In other rx8 clutch news: 4.5" v drives are awesome :smoker: