diggyd357

2011 sport manual 6spd
101,000 miles
Engine rebuilt and clutch replaced at 90,063 miles
Service records/receipts look good
Seller included photocopy receipts for regular Amazon purchases for Idemitsu premix

I purchased the car a few months ago from a young kid who said he’d had a new stage 3 clutch installed about a year prior. I could smell the the clutch when I test drove it… the clutch was adjusted way outta spec and seller didn’t know he was supposed to adjust it. So he’s been driving it this way the whole time. I asked what brand clutch he used and he said he wasn’t sure , but it had really good reviews on eBay 🤦🏼‍♂️. So I bought the Exedy OEM and a lightweight flywheel for it. I dropped the trans and pulled the old clutch and flywheel…it was a ClutchMax stage 3 clutch and a totally trashed
stock flywheel. I installed the new parts, put it all back together the clutch pedal was
EXTREMELY soft. So I tried bleeding it and setting it perfectly to spec. Clutch pedal still was super soft. So I picked up a slave cylinder and put it on, bled it again….still super soft. The master cylinder is only about 8 weeks old and shows no signs of a leak anywhere so I’m ruling that out. I’ve ordered a SS braided clutch line that’ll be here next weekend, but I’m just feeling like that’s really the issue . However I will at least rule it out.
Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

_JB_

Are you having any shifting issues? The stock Exedy clutch pedal is light.

diggyd357

No shifting issues. I drove it in about a 3 mile circle in town and it did great shifting. Towards the end of that 3rd mile the pedal stuck to floor though. I went home and bled it some more and it didn’t have any air bubbles. I drove it around again and the pedal didn’t stick to the floor, but it felt just as light
. I’ve installed this same clutch (minus the lightweight flywheel) in my other 2004 RX8 and don’t remember it being this light. I too was thinking that maybe it’s just me coming off of using that rediculous stage 3 and now this one feels REALLY light from
comparison, but it just seems a lot lighter than it should be.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

they should just classify them all as either OE replacement or Stage Fulltard/Turbo.

if the MC was changed it tends to be the worst one to get bled properly.

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diggyd357

[QUOTE=TeamRX8;4974640]they should just classify them all as either OE replacement or Stage Fulltard/Turbo.

Team, I couldn’t agree more 👍🏻

Funny thing is, when the kid was trying to sell me the car, he told me about the new stage 3 clutch like THAT was the selling point right there… Like I should look no further because “this here car has a stage 3 clutch”. 🤣 Needless to say I wasn’t surprised to see the Clutch Masters brand clutch when I got in there.

So yes, the MC was changed, but that was a month ago. I bench bled it before putting it on and that made bleeding it out much easier. My pedal was solid after the MC all the way up till when I parked it to replace the clutch.
Now I did replace the slave AFTER I replaced the clutch, but that was because the pedal was so damned soft after the clutch was done. Bleeding didn’t help….and that’s where I’m at today.

I apologize if I’m being repetitive or long winded. I want to be as clear as possible, but I know I can ramble on with the best of them.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

the slave can be tricky too.

it’s been a while since I last did one, but I seem to recall the trick is to grab the engagement rod between the slave piston and TOB arm and push the slave piston inward to help clear out the internal air through the bleed screw Which I usually run the overflow tube vertical from the bleed screw, that then allows any bubbles that come out of the slave to float upward away from it so that when you let the slave piston back out it then has fluid only on the inlet line from the MC and the bleed line too to help purge it fully.
.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

sort of similar to this


.

diggyd357

Thanks Team, will try this weekend for sure 👍🏻

diggyd357

Just wanna put a bow on this one in case it can help someone down the line. Let me start by saying People, PLEASE .... When you buy a clutch for an S2 GET THE CORRECT CLUTCH KIT!!!!! I heard from so many people who'd done SOOOO many rx8 clutch installs that the clutch that fits the 04 will fit the '09-'11. Sure it'll fit, but your going to run into a stack height issue. From what I can tell, all the non Exedy brand clutches out there only offer one clutch for all rx8's. I get it....there's just not a big enough demand for S2 clutches to make it worth their while to manufacturer them. Just mark my words that if you go with an off brand or an Exedy NOT specifically for the 09-11 , your clutch will feel soft and when you get up to 8500 or so rpm's and you press that clutch pedal, it'll go to the floor. Luckily Charles at BHR was able to help me. I had to add a small washer on each of the 6 bolts between the flywheel and pressure plate to make up for the stack height problem. Charles explained that I could go in through the starter hole and add the washers. I just had to put a ratchet on the eshaft pulley and advance the motor to get to the next bolt and so on. It worked like a charm. A couple hours later, Car runs and shifts great. I love the lightweight flywheel and I'm moving on to my next project.... versatuner. I'm so glad this is over .....