You do know that OE clutches are made by Exedy right?

The throwout bearing sucks, the internal sleeve is made of plastic. You should contact black halo racing to see if they still have the upgraded, all metal ones.

 

I have discovered that exedy makes many of the factory clutches for various vehicles. I did assume they are also making the RX-8 clutch. This is why I bought an exedy stage 1. I'm also thinking Mazda or someone else (maybe the trans manufacturer) makes the T/O bearing.

 

Yes, Exedy makes the stock RX-8 clutch. Unfortunately, this hasn't prevented them from screwing up the Stage1 somehow in the past year or two. Install at your own risk.

 

Well the clutch is paid for and in my shop. Not much stopping my now but finding time. I appreciate the warning, but I can't bring my self to buy a another clutch. I will update with results. Wish me luck!

 

The clutch is in. It came with the Koyo bearing. It looked much stronger than my last one. The clutch feels great driving around town. The peddle has to be pushed deep to disengage the clutch. But is it close to what the service manual shows. I haven't made any adjustments to the peddle yet. The only issue I see is at high rpm the clutch will get a softer feel. I'm thinking that centrifugal force is causing the pressure plate to want to release a little. Thus increasing the distance the T/O bearing has to travel to disengage the clutch. This would explain the soft feel. I don't think it is enough to cause it to slip. I haven't tested it out. I'm still breaking it in. As long as it holds up in the higher rpms I will remain very happy with it. Any thoughts?

 

It starts to engage higher up as it breaks in. It was a pain to get used to for me, but it gets closer to where the oem clutch engages.

 

How many times must it be posted that the factory/OEM replacement clutch is more than adequate even for a competition RX8? Unless you do a turbo/SC conversion there is no need to spend more money, have a stiff pedal, and other potential issues using anything else.

the engagement point is adjustable. Installing a new clutch also means having to adjust the clutch pedal too

http://www.good-win-racing.com/Mazda...t/61-0247.html


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im running an exedy stage 2 with a light weight flywheel. all i can say is it helps off the line, very aggressive and i love it

 

That's not relevant to the topic is it? The thread is clearly stage 1 vs stock, and the reliability problems the stage 1 has.

 

There is nothing about a Stage (fill in the #) clutch that improves launching an RX8 off the line over a factory clutch. You might as well be trying to argue that your car is louder therefore the aggressive sound level makes it faster.

 

I have a 2005 and just put a SII R3 stock clutch on mine. Coming from a Stage 1 it is much more friendly daily driving.

The SII clutch is a little more beefy than the S1. I am very happy with it. plus its cheaper than the Stage 1

 

Wait, so you're saying you wish you had stuck with the Stage 1 clutch, or the OEM Clutch? Which did you like better, I mean?

 

if you read the entire thread and clicked on the links, he was one of the people that had issues with the Stage 1 clutch

just use the OE /OE replacement clutch, there really is no point and you‘ll only be opening yourself up for potential problems. I know Stage blah-blah-blah will sound cool to the people who have no clue (cough-cough) but you’ll look silly to anyone else who knows better.

just contact Ray at BHR and see what price he can give you on the Exedy replacement

.

 

So this is my exeddy


stage one clutch after one month

 

So this is my exeddy stage one clutch after one month

 

Well that’s not normal.

Are you sure it was genuine and not counterfeit slave-made in Wuhoo-fluville?

 

Yeah the auto shop had the order numbers