Hmm well the interesting thing is that most of the pedal pressure isn't directly supported by the spod welds. The nuts that hold the assembly to the master cylinder take care of that. It looks like the spot welds only see stress if the whole assembly is twisted side to side (pressing the pedal in sideways). To me it seems more likely that the sheet metal tears near the top, then once that part completely fails the spot weld also gets ripped out...

Since it's out anyway, I say you might as well stitch weld the entire thing for piece of mind.

The area marked in this image is what gets most of the stress of the pedal being pushed in.. Picture the way you would tear a piece of paper. The forces exerted on this part are exactly the same..

I will now go get this thing welded.. for peace of mind.

Please post a pic of the welded part.

If you have it out, just reinforce every possible areas.

Yes the problem with the design is that it allows(?!) the bracket to move side to side .... instead of just 1 way. :(

Damn.. shop was closed.. Will have to try this again next week. At least now that I've seen it, it looks like it could survive a little longer

Yay, the sound got worse today...

Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_74EbdtQnQ

Wow that sounds lovely, I would tell you to WD40 it but it isn't your bedroom door

wtf ? But it sound like ur clutch cut switch might be giving up. not the bracket itself.

I am trying to explain it to my dealership last time to replace it, but either he is a moron, or he was playing dumb. they just replaced the broken bracket. ahh I was like fuck that and left.

Forgot to reply to you, a month something late tho :)

Well, not every one can drive like that ! Some people might just panic and who knows what will happen next ~~~~ :)

It's not the switch.. While I was down there messing with the bracket I took the opportunity to jumper the dumb "press the clutch to start the car" switch.. Less times I gotta use the pedal, and less of a hassle.. Funny how European cars never had that "feature" :spank:

I'd be inclined to say that most "normal" drivers would panic in that situation. If you've never rev matched before there's no way you figure it out on the spot.. Maybe the real problem isn't the car but how easily they give out licenses in the States.. Hmm.. :rant:

So I get in the car this morning and the pedal feels perfect at no noise.. :banghead: Could it be a lubrication issue inside the MC?

Short trips, the pedal is perfect.. Longer trips, it starts to squeak.. This is driving me crazy. It is sounding more like a lack of lubrication now though..

I looked in the FSM and the only part of the MC that needs to be lubricated is the end of the piston that faces the push rod (it looks like there's a seal of some sort there).. The service manual calls for "grease" - does this mean any generic grease? Silicone grease?

that squeak is what mine sounded like before it snapped.

Be ready for a snap is all I'm saying.

Are you having any difficulty getting the car out of gear, or in upshifts from 1st-2nd, or 2nd-3rd? Just prior to mine snapping, I couldn't get the car out of gear....didn't have enough stroke in the clutch pedal..it was like 95% free play.....a long push all the way to the floor board, and still not enough stroke to disengage the clutch....

I am getting ready for it, just looking at other possible causes too... When I had the bracket out it still looked very healthy so..

If there is a rubber seal or boot involved, don't use petroleum-based grease because it tends to stretch some rubber. [And we don't want to stetch any rubbers do we?] Use a dialectric grease or as Mazda says in some of the intructions, "rubber" grease, whatever that is.

Just use whatever Grease that they say is for joints and rubber.

Couple of bux u can get like a huge bottle. Or just get Synthetic Grease. like 6 bux a can should last the life of ur car :)

If not longer!!!

I thought CRH's bracket was close to being finished. Several months later and we're still waiting!

I know exactly what you're talking about. My pedal does the exact same thing. It's sort lf like a crunching, but only when it's warm (longer trips). I've even had problems getting into gear when this happens.

Here's the kicker - mine started making the noises well after I got a replacement bracket assembly from Mazda. I brought it to the dearler and their Mazda techs "could not reproduce." On a semi-related note, my Mazda techs couldn't find their asses with two hands and a map.

Let us know if the grease works.

+1...

Hmm I'm not the only one eh..

The grease didn't stop the crunching, but it did make the pedal significantly easier to push down.. If nothing else, this will reduce the stress put on the bracket and hopefully make it last a tad longer...

Just found this - https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tech-garage-22/misserable-grinding-issues-help-please-139624/

It appears all of us have the ACT clutch/fly combo.

That's a bit different.. His synchros are grinding, but that could be any number of things including

- worn synchros (not likely since it's all gears)
- air in clutch line
- failing clutch (release bearing aka throw out bearing)
- improperly adjusted clutch pedal
- (and of course, the ever popular) failing bracket

From his wording, I thought it was a similar problem. Maybe not.