Well Ill start by saying I am actually rather familiar with FB's, but this has me worried.

I recently bought a red SE from a forum member, and other than regular maintenance has been flawless to this point.

My problem is a mysterious noise coming from ahead of me when the clutch engages, sometimes

The noise I speak of is the exact same noise a door hinge makes when it needs greased. Heavy friction.

It has done it a few times under hard acceleration or a sloppy shift, but now is doing it virtually whenever the car is moving forward. Aside from a super slow release from a crawl.

A local mechanic told me it was just the throwout bearing touching the pressure plate and that it was nothing to worry about, and assured me driving the car would not hurt it.

My theory is hes a lying *** that charged me 591 bucks for a fuel pump on a 96 chevy tracker not 30 days ago.

That said, I fear the noise im hearing is a very worn clutch disc making metal to metal contact with my flywheel, and those things are stupid expensive.

Any opinions, or a glaringly obvious FB symptom im not yet familiar with?

Any help/advice is appreciated.

 

bump

 

bumpity

 

Im guessing that the noise is when the clutch is engaged. You might be on to the problem if so. If ur holding the pedal in when it happens then it could be the bearing. I have not heard the noise so its hard to tell for sure. Those 2 conditions would be the biggest deciding factors. Im an ASE mechanic and that would apply to more than just ur RX-7. Removal of a dust cover or starter may help give you a better idea. Find a bunch of metalic dust.....yeah clutch may just be done.

 

Well, this may sound unbelievable...


I decided to drive the car to a local shop owned by some friends of mine for a closer look at the clutch itself. After pulling misc. crap away from the engine we were able to pull the inspection plate and view the clutch disc. It was covered with a green, rock hard, mold or corrosion.

The clutch looked worn, but otherwise normal besides the mysterious green mold.

My theory to fix it was actually burning the surface of the clutch off with a hard launch or two, something I never do in this car. The 2-3 blips of the clucth at 5.5k RPM burned the surface away quickly and the noise stopped altogether.

I have decided that I am going to replace the clutch though lol... anyone have any experience with the F1 clutches?

 

How long did the car sit before u bought it. That sounds really weird..

 

About 4 months I believe but it was kept inside a garage lol.