black99

Oh and if you are replacing the flywheel but not the motor you might as well replace the rear main seal while your in there to keep away future headaches.

SPOautos

If you have everything like impact gun give it a shot. The biggest problem I'd see is the flywheel bolt. It take a GIANT socket like 1.5" or something crazy like that and you WILL need a good impact gun....or at least I did.

If your not worried about the flywheel bolt and think you can get it then go for it I just wanted to let you know cause it would suck to drop the trans and not be able to pull the flywheel bolt

Pull the starter, its only 2 bolts and cake to do. Pull the slave cyl thats right above the starter, its 3 bolts. I'd just let the stave dangle by its metal line so you dont get fluid everywhere. Next undo the 4 PPF bolts, your going to need a nice long breaker bar for it and a 6" extention for the 2 top ones. Now undo the harness connection, I think there is 4-5 connection all together on a little bracket, undo them. There is a inspection place on the bottom of the trans, open it up and turn the clutch(use a thick screwdriver or someting to turn the clutch) taking out the bolts. These bolt are the ones that hold the clutch to the flywheel. Undo them so the trans will seperate from the motor easier. Now you can put a jack under the trans for support(i just use a regular jack you dont need a trany jack when on the ground). Undo the bolts around the bell housing, there are about 5 and you'll need some good long extentions, when you get close to the end have someone support the bell housing to keep eveything level so it stays even on the jack and doesnt tip off. As you lower the trans the driveshaft should just come out the back on the trans, its not bolted or anything. You'll have to push up on the tail shaft to get the bolt studs out of the ppf holes. Anyway, once you have everything undone you should be able to figure out how to drop the trans. The clutch will just come off since its already unbolted and the flywheel has that giant nut to remove. Everything should go back together the same way except you bolt the clutch to the flywheel then lift the tranns in place. When bolting up the clutch to the flywheel you use the alignment tool to line it up right by sticking it thru the center of the clutch then sliding it into the center of the flywheel. Then you bolt the clutch down. When bolting down the clutch use 25ft lbs of torque.

Damn, I hope I'm not forgeting anything, that should cover it. If you run into any probs just post them or email me at SJWhite2000@aol.com

OR

you could spend $200-$250 and have it all done for ya then pick it up at the end of the day with a new clutch and nice clean clothes lol

Good Luck,
STEPHEN

kundo

Hey thanx guys, all this info is real helpfull I won't start working on the car until I clean the garage out. My dads friend is going to help me but I really don't trust him touching my car because all he works on is on mostly is on older style cars and I don't like the way he works (sloppy), thats why I was trying to get all the info I could before I try and tackle the clutch.

Oh yeah one more question, how hard is it to take out the rear main seal.

One more thing, I am going to take out the turbos to get them rebuilt, so do you recommend I take the turbos out first then do the clutch or should I drop the tranny then take out the turbos.

Zoomspeed

Thanks guys. You guys were alot fo help.

I plan on leaveing the flywheel so I think I'm gonna tackle this my self, that ~275 of labor can go towards my mid pipe or something.

Ninjak

Whats the rear main seal?
Thanks for all the help guys!
Huy

NoRice

Be warned, I thought "It's just a clutch, flywheel, and rear main seal. So, I can take it to about any shop, it doesn't have to be a 3rd Gen shop."

Well, since having the work done at a local shop, my car has been undriveable for a month now.

Somehow they broke/damaged or just plain messed up some of the wiring.

It wanted to stall when you put the clutch in. Once it was up to normal operating temperature, it would start to backfire, then stall. Once stalled and warm, it would not start.

Now it won't start at all. Also, the Commander display does NOT come On, but the buttons do light up.

The local shop kept the car for a week, but couldn't figure out what they did to it.

Took it to the local Mazda dealer, they won't look at it because of the mods.

The shop only charged $275, but now I really wish I just would have paid the $500 plus the Mazda dealer wanted. Of course the way they acted, they may have said No to that, once they saw the mods.

A clutch job REALLY should be SIMPLE!

Good luck,

SPOautos

There is a ground just past the tran on the exhaust. They wouldnt need to undo it for a clutch job but maybe they lowered the exhaust thinking they would need to room or something. They might have forgot to put that ground back on. To be honest I'm not sure what the ground is for but what your experiencing sounds alot like a ground problem so I thought I'm mention it.

Later,
STEPHEN

SPOautos

One thing to consider is the clutch warrenty. Pretty much ALL clutches require the flywheel to either be new or resurfaced, if its not it will void your warrenty. I have a friend that builds clutches and supposedly they can tell if it wasnt resurfaced or replaced somehow.

I just wanted you to be aware that it might void your clutch warrenty.

STEPHEN

Zoomspeed

I didn't know clutches had warranties.

how much does it cost and where do I go to get a clutch resurfaced?

black99

You don't get a clutch resurfaced. You usually get a flywheel resurfaced. Usually done by a machine shop that knows how to resurface a "2 step" flywheel and one that knows the angle of the step. Never had a FD flywheel resurfaced, but a flywheel from an older american car usually costs about 50 bucks to have resurfaced. Although that's not a two step flywheel. There aren't alot of machine shops around that can do this though. Hence when I asked Dave from KDR who could do it or if I should do it, he kinda steered me away from doing this and sold me a new flywheel for a good price instead since I was having some work done anywys. So most people to be on the safe side just buy a new flywheel or get a lightweight one I think.'

Oh and the bolt for the flywheel is 54mm or 2 1/8" in american size. Either size socket should work. Once you have the transmission and the clutch off. As long as you have an impact gun it's easy as cake to get off. So it's not much more time consuming to replace the flywheel while you're in there.

I don't know if ACT clutches have warrantys but SPEC Star clutches do, they sell them at BNR Supercars.

SPOautos

I think I pain $60 to have my stock flywheel resurfaced, it was one hour labor.

If you car a clutch shop they can tell you where to have it done for customers all the time.

The ACT might not have a warrenty, the STAR I believe comes with a one year. You could call Brian at BNR, he can tell you about the warrenty.

Good Luck,
STEPHEN

ttpowerd

any help on this one???

ttpowerd

^bump

anyone???

black99

It's not hard at all the remove the rear main seal, that's why most people do it when they replace or even just remove the flywheel. I don't think the seals expensive either. It sits behind the flywheel and it sits in the eccentric shaft hole. When the flywheel goes back on, the counterweight on the flywheel rests on it.