is there anything special i need to know about doing a clutch and removing the flywheel. or is it basicly just like any other cars.

 

Why are you removing the flywheel? You don't have to to get to the clutch.

The flywheel is on there with 250-300 Ft-Lbs. You will not be able to remove it while in the car without a big impact wrench. IIRC it is like 52mm.

As long as you are down there, you should replace the pilot bearing in the back of the eccentric shaft. It is a needle bearing, so there is nothing to pull or pry on to get it out. So, even though the bearing is $9 and the seal is $3, you need to buy a special tool ($114) from Mazdatrix to pull it.

Check in your area, somebody else might already have the tool and be willing to loan it to you.

You should read the Mazdatrix narrative on the clutch and flywheel.

--Brian TC

 

"Why are you removing the flywheel? You don't have to to get to the clutch."

it is recomended to have the flywheel turned when putting a new clutch in

everything else is straight foreward....

remove tranny, remove old clutch, put new clutch/pressure plate in , reinstall tranny...

and you dont need a huge inpact gun to remove the flywheel, the gun i got at harbor freight worked just fine....
oh, and when you reinstall the flywheel make sure and use loctite on the 52mm nut

 

25mm? its more like 58mm

 

Flywheel nut is 54mm or 2 1/8inches. I just found my BFSocket this past weekend...

 

thanks I forgot the right number, I have the socket too and a 3/4" snap on impact, set it on 5 and it will rip that nut right off there.. Of course when you go to retorque it you need it on like 3

 

I agree that it's recomended but not always done and quite frankly it's not always needed. Also be aware that the RX's flywheel is a special little beast. It has a counter weight in it so if you go and get it turned, make sure the shop doing the work can accomodate the counter weight.

 

I was kind of concerned about that, since I bought my flywheel off ebay, and it had already been turned. Yet it came off the same year/transmission car, and I cant see how turning the flywheel would really affect the counter-weight, since material is being taken off flywheel evenly, and the counterweight is on the opposite side of the flywheel being turned. Anyways, I could be wrong, we'll have to see if my motor shakes apart once I get it on the road!

 

I clearly didn't explained correctly. My fault, it was early and I didn't down my first cup of coffee yet. Lemme try again.....

The flywheel on the RX's has a counterweight built in it. From what I understand most other cars do not have this counterweight in the flywheel. You can't just throw an RX's flywheel on a lathe and true up the clutch surface. The lathe itself must have compensating counterweights on it or it'll shake the hell out of the lathe. So...... if you want to get the clutch surface cut, you need to discuss this fact with the shop doing the turning to be sure they can compensate. I don't think all flywheel cutting machines have this capability.

 

The lathe I used didn't have a problem with it at all. Just set it for a low speed and it should be fine.

Also, when you resurface it, you don't just do the surface the disk contacts. You also should pull out the 3 pins and do the surface the pressure plate bolts to.