paulseclipse

I recently just intalled a new racing clutch on my rx8 since my old one started slipping under load. I did the install and everything seemed to be fine. It now has 400+ miles on the break in and I always felt like something was not right with the clutch. I have chatter but I am aware this is normal for racing clutches and expected it no big deal.

The other day I went to take off in first with a little more gas then how I have been to let it wear in properly and when I got to about 5-6k RPM's it felt like the clutch got stuck on something and I instantly put in the clutch went to second and it seemed to be fine. I haven't had it do it since but that was only a few days ago and I have been carefull since.

Today I went to put it up on ramps to change the oil and it makes a bad rattle sound so I let it down and the clutch made really bad noises and didnt want to seem to move. I am not sure what the problem is here. after backing up and pulling forward the sound got less and less till it went back to the normal chatter.

What could this problem be? I am not too good at doing clutch pedal adjustments but it seems okay. the engagement and disengagement seems very small to the old clutch but it seems to be about in the middle of the clutch pedal release so I assume that is okay. Also I was on a time contraint and have been working like hell and left a tiny clicp off the clutch line bracket but I dont see how that could be doing this problem. Maybe it is but the clutch line doesnt move so I didn't think i was a big deal.

Has anyone had these problems and what could the solution be? Thank in advance!

Charles R. Hill

iTrader: (7)

Which clutch is it?

paulseclipse

It's an F1 stage 3 6 puck clutch. I have installed clutches on other vehicles in the past with no problems including racing clutches. I will be putting a turbo on later this year so I wanted to make sure I got something that can handle it. After driving around more today after the oil change it was almost no sound on tak off except for the normal racing clutch chatter. Im wondering if that clip is letting the clutch line move just a tiny bit and not fully realeasing the clutch from the flywheel but it seems that it would just act more like riding the clutch then a rattle type sound. Also my pedal seems to release all the way. I did notice my pedal almost instantly starts pushing in the line so maybe I will throw in a little more play towards the top. Still doesn't seem like that noise would come from that.

Could it possibly be a transmission mount? Maybe with the new grabbing force of the clutch the old mount is letting the tranny move around a little? Just something I was considering as I will probably be putting new mounts on the car the same time I install the turbo.

Charles R. Hill

iTrader: (7)

Because of the chattering you describe, I always steer my customers away from puck-type or segmented discs and more in favor of full-face friction surfaces on the clutch disc. The Exedy Stage 1 and ACT HDSS clutches are more than adequate for handling the torque delivered by the Renesis engine, even in a power-adder situation.

You may also need to reinforce-weld or otherwise support the clutch pedal as they are a known failure point.

There is also the need to be sure the PPF is properly aligned.

paulseclipse

Well I knew about normal chatter issues with puck clutch designs and am fine with that. This not normal has me confused. My clutch pedal assembly is still strong and has not failed or shifted yet. I know there is a tsb about the clutch pedal shifting and breaking but I am not having that problem at all at least for right now lol.

That being said the PPF alignment has thrown in a good source to check. I did this per the service manual of course not 100% as there is no need to take off as much as they state such as the silencer for example. The manual tells you to install the nuts in a certain order on the PPF. It also states to make sure the tranny is aligned with the rear end prior to install. I figures it is aligned based on the fact the studs/pins of the PPF actually allow me to put it on. Am I wrong on this. Maybe I should drop the PPF and reinstall it again? Also I believe this 8 is on the original motor mounts as I never noticed it in the repairs performed since buying it at 27k miles. I was thinking of replacing the mounts with this much stronger clutch and reinstalling the PPF again after your comments to see if it helps.

Is there an exact way to make sure the alignment is correct on this such as an angle or height the tranny and rear end should be at? I did make sure to mark the shaft and rear end and put them back the exact same way. I just am now thinking of the PPF since you brought it up as others cars I did my clutches on did not have this type of PPF and I was actually surprised a bit to see I have to move the rear end around to line things up. Thank you for the help so far but if you have an exact way of installing the PPF please eleborate on this and good day.

paulseclipse

Well after hearing your great reply abou the PPF alignment I looked back at the installation notes in the service manual and realised I dropped the ball on that one big time. I dont have access to a garage so I decided with my 70-80 hours work weeks to call the dealer and ask them for a price quote on just doing the PPF alignment. I service admin I talked to didnt seem to have much knowledge as he said i believe we just bolt it back down. I even had to explain what the PPF was. Hopefully the mechanic is better then him. He said to lift the car would be about 100 bux and if it doesnt take long may even be cheaper. I decided to make an appointment to just have the PPF alignment done. I also told him if this does not take care of the majority I will instal motor mounts but would do myself.

I am confident this will take care of a big portion of this problem. I am just used to bolting the support back on like my old firebird formula not having to align this. for 100-150 its well worth me not having to borrow a garage again and take stuff off. I will post if this helps the car or not. Even if it does not at least it's not a huge investment.

Again thank you for the PPF alignment idea. It will hopefully fix my problems and I can move on to my next mods. I ordered a greddy exhaust that will be here friday so hopefully I will have that on this weekend as well.

Charles R. Hill

iTrader: (7)

The FSM actually makes things more complicated than they need to be on PPF alignment. Remember, these things are installed at the factory in 45 seconds or less;

There are 9 fasteners on the PPF. One is a countersink/tapered bolt on the differential housing and the others are 8 nuts. The countersunk bolt and it's associated location on the diff housing is the "locate" point for the entire assembly (hence the near-zero tolerance). Install the PPF and hand-start the 8 nuts. Then install the tapered bolt and torque it to spec. Return to the 4 nuts on the differential housing and torque them to spec. Move forward to the front of the PPF and lift the PPF/tranny together to either a point where you can see the driveline and PPF become parallel, or lift it until you see the nuts align themselves with the marks that will still be evident from the factory installation. Then torque the four nuts to factory spec.

Do not ask me what the factory spec is.

As for your clutch pedal; you will want to get it supported by some means (whether welding or additional bracketry) as the pedal will weaken before visual evidence arises. Take this advice from the guy who discovered the issue in the first place.

paulseclipse

I just wanted to give an update on everything.

I decided to do it myself instead of wasting the money at the dealer. I busted out my calipers and measured and sure enough it was too low. I raised my baby loosened all nuts and followed the service manual on the tightening order. I put it dead center of their tolerance and torqued down the bolts. I lowered my jack off the PPF and the darn thing lowered down still well past the tolerance. I went ahead and loosened them again and jacked up the PPF over the tolerance about what it dropped before. I torqued again and bam almost perfect center of tolerance.

I took it for a drive and perfect. All chatter was gone and even my idle shift **** vibration was gone for the first time since I have owned the vehicle. This is what probably ran my clutch out early in the first place and I always though it was normal. Plus the noise of letting off the clutch was gone that was always there. Unfortunately after driving for a day or two the vibration is back and the sound when i left off the clutch in nuetral is back along with some chatter on take off.

I have not had a chance to measure the dimesion called out but im sure it dropped some. This makes me believe the mounts are causing it to move around. I plan on buying new mounts this week and installing them also when I redo the dimension I am going to pull down hard on the PPF near the transmission and re measure to make sure it does not want to dip more.

All in all this is my problem and thanks for the info on it. You put my brain in the correct direction and it's only a matter of time before I get this thing better then the day I bought it. The first night driving around I was like wow what a difference and the clamp force and release on this clutch is amazing. One of the best performance clutches I have ever driven on. Now once my greddy cat back comes in Monday it's on to that . Thank god that's simple and will take only an hour or so.

cricha5

Did the new mounts solve the problem? I bought my rx8 a few months ago from someone who had just installed a new clutch. I got some chattering, but I thought it just might be grease on the clutch. The chatter has not gone away. I think it was a diy job, so I would guess that he did not follow the PPF alignment steps. I'm going to check if the PPF is drooping this weekend. Since I haven't checked out the PPF system yet, I'm still a bit muddy on how it affects the transmission height. Any tips?