loudazzrx7

iTrader: (6)

i just took my 86 gxl in to get a clutch job because the release bearing was rattling like crazy,well what started out as a normal job is now up to 758.00. thats for a clutch job with a used flywheel,they said my fly wheel could not be turned because it had hot spots.they also said i needed another slave cylinder,when i told them i had one that was brand new they could put on it they said no prob but the labor was 65 on the slave cylinder---jesus christ what the hell it should not take 30 minutes for them to put it on since its already in the air so i told them to screw that i would put it on my damn self.so what do you think 758.00 for a clutch job and its not even a upgraded clutch.?

HN

Did that come with vaseline at least? a stock sach's clutch costs $180. If the guy is any good at all he can have the tranny out in 15-20 minutes. it takes me that long on the floor. Figure total job can't take more than 2 hours if he screws off for 1 hour of it. All i can say right now because its to late now. Learn to work on your car. Don't feel to bad i got jacked by Mazda for about 1000 for a TPS fix when i first got my car. I didn't know **** about these cars then. Never again. We warn every rx owner to never take it to Mazda around here.

Six Rotors

iTrader: (17)

I would like to meet the guy who can pull an RX-7
transmission in 15-20 mins!(I obviously need some tips).On the other hand I know it can't be done.It is is hard to say whether or not you are being screwed,depends on what clutch kit they install,hourly rate,how good the replacement flywheel is etc.On the whole it seems not too bad if they do a good job.I think it's a bit cheeky to ask for an extra $65 for installing the slave.
I would ask for the old flywheel back right away.

13BAce

If you go by one of those standard labor books a clutch job is about 8-9 hours.

SpeedRacer

For the love of ****...8-9 hours to do a clutch? The first clutch job I ever did, knowing almost nothing about clutches took me less time than that. And that was on an 87 16v VW GTI...we had troubles getting the tranny out because of broken motor mounts, and we ran into almost every imaginable setback...Changing out the clutch on an RX-7 would be a lot faster than on that GTI(I've never done it, but I have dropped the tranny out before)

Jahoo88

I know a decent rx-7 mechanic. He owns and races a TII. Says he can do the clutch in under an hour by himself. Says the only difficult part is tilting the engine when reinstalling the tranny when he's by himself.

Six Rotors

iTrader: (17)

Look,just figure it out for yourself--on a standard TII with the heat shields in place and not having been off the car in the previous 2 years it would take you a minimum of 30 minutes just to get the front pipe off!Then you have to disconnect the battery,pull the starter,disconnect the wiring harness,pull the clutch slave(try doing that without taking the intercooler off),remove the shifterboot,unbolt the gearbox,unbolt the rear cross member.
If you believe somebody can do a clutch change in 1 hour ,I have a piece of land I can sell you in Florida.Get real!

13BAce

Alot of people who do clutches very quickly cut corners. They usually pry the downpipe out of the way instead of removing it, etc. Alot of times they don't grease everything that should be greased. You should always do the rear main seal and pilot bearing when the transmission is out. That requires draining the motor oil. If you're doing that you should change the filter. All of that stuff takes time. Getting a flywheel off for the first time in 100K miles can take a while. I always just take my time and do it right the first time.

Most shops usually charge about $250 to do an RX-7 clutch. That's about 4 hours labor. It usually takes me about 4-5 hours to do a clutch with jackstands. I take off the entire exhaust system and all of the heat shields before the real work starts. It makes it much easier. Putting everything back together should take more time than taking everything apart.

HN

six rotors i will give you the heat shields, if they have any. the slave you can reach without removing the ic. i don't know anybody who removes the ic to remove the slave.you remove the mid and cat out of the way and pry on the down pipe. I guess it depends on how often you do it. i always seem to be working on one car or another. i could care less how slow or fast you do it. loudassrx7 i think you are being robbed. i just purchased a 3rd gen pressure plate, 6 puck clutch from mazdatrix and that was only 300 something. 8-9 hours is absolute bullshit. i have yet to have a flywheel on any of my cars not be able to be resurfaced. i have plenty of rxs and owned alot more. .You're getting robbed.



P.S. I already own land in Tampa,Florida. Too late

Poindexter10thae

iTrader: (2)

if you think you can do a clutch job on ANY RX7 in under 5.5 hrs, you have putrid green runny diarhea coming out of your mouth(or fingers since you are typing) the 1999 Standard labor esitimate book(which all ASE mechanics use) list a clutch job for an 88 N/A at 7.8 hrs, and for a TII at 8.9hrs. so here goes the run down(this is with air tools, a lift, and a special tranny jack)

1. remove shift ****/boot/and shifter
2. remove drive shaft
3.remove exhaust components(only the 2 pre cats and main cats, leave manifold and Y pipe)<- AND THERE IS NO WAY YOU CAN "PRY" THAT OUT OF THE WAY FOR THE TRANNY
4. disconnect wiring connectors from tranny and starter, as well as speedo cable
5. remove starter
6. remove crossmember while supporting tranny with jack
7. unbolt bellhousing bolts
8. remove dust cover under engine
9. jack engine up with T jack
10. wiggle/angle/ fart with, the tranny until it comes loose
11. remove old pressure plate, clutch and T/O bearing
12. replace with new pressure plate, clutch disc, and T/O bearing
13. with engine still supported by T jack angle tranny up and align, get a few bellhousing bolts in
14. put on the crossmember
15. finish putting in bellhousing bolts
16. put starter on and connect leads
17. connect all electrical leads to tranny, and connect speedo cable
18. reconnect driveshaft
19. reinstall all exhaust components
20. reinstall shifter/boot/****
21. fill clutch fluid cylinder and bleed the system
22. Test drive

HN

i could care less about the book, this is how i do it and then i'm done.

1. remove the shifter
2. remove the upper starter bolt.
3. jack the car up put jackstands as high as possible under the car.
4. slide underneath and remove the shields.
5. remove the midpipe and maincat.
6. remove the driveshaft.
7. remove the rest of the bolts on the tranny including the slave.
8. remove the crossmember and disconnect the wires.
9. the tranny is now hanging down tilted downward. I am a big boy so the next step doesn't apply to little puny guys.
10. get under the tranny slide it out while holding onto the tranny. it only weighs about 80lbs no big deal. i set it on my chest and slide my self out from under the tranny, slide out and pull the tranny out from under the car.


lets get it back in.
1. slide the tranny under the car.
2. put a piece of pipe in the downpipe.
3. put the tranny on your chest and get into position.
4. lift the tranny up and start to slide it in you might have to giggle it around to get it in. if it doesn't go in use the lever in the downpipe to tilt the engine down. if you run into problems here go get the jack. use the jack to hold the back while you use the lever in the downpipe to tilt the engine down. it will 99% not need this to be done.
5. after it is in put everything back together.

i understand this is not by the book but it works. this can all be sped up by a friend if you have any. this is just a way to help loudassrx7 the next time. its to late to change his past now. this is removal of the tranny and putting it back in quick style. on the n/a cars obvously you wont have to deal with a dp. but you will have the header there. bye i'm done with this post.

ianbell

Had a clutch job done about 6 months ago - cost me $508 Canadian including 15% tax. Done by private shop - Mazda dealer quoted me $997 + tax. Shop around buddy!
Same dealer charged me $230 to change the flex hose on the clutch slave cylinder - $18.95 for the hose and 21/2 hrs labour. I could change that hose in 15 mins. including bleeding the system.
Conclusion - dealers are flat rate thieves.

loudazzrx7

iTrader: (6)

jezzzzzz-----------a simple yes or no would have be ok--lol thanks

PraxRX7

I dunno about being screwed but I am paying $1000 CDN for my clutch/throwoutbearing/flywheel re-machining etc.

Problem is my mechanic doesn't tell me when he notices things that are possibly wrong and might need fixing (just recently he has started which is good, but he needs to be able to diagnose a problem and not just fix problems I bring to him)

My mechanic can to any work I ask him to, but I have to tell him what needs to be done most of the time, many times he doesn't even check things or replace things that should be replaced when working on the car...

So I decided I would learn on my own and get him to do work, and very SPECIFICLY tell him what needs to be done...but don't get me wrong he is a great mechanic and he does the work good.

ItsNiceToBurnRice

**** man, Ive done clutches in 92 civics, and front wheel drive is much more of a pain in the ***. My neighbor has an 86 rx7, and hes only 17-dosent know dick about cars. He bought his clutch from autozone for 160, and managed to get his tranny out in a couple days of dickin around. Despite the fact he cant get his tranny back in.....anyhow, I think you couldve done it yourself, Ive never done an Rx7 clutch firsthand, but I know for a fact rear wheel drive clutches arent to hard to conquer. Good luck.

RX-7 GT

yea hondas are kinda of a bitch. you have to pull out the axles, the tranny's on those are light as hell though

thats how my brother changes his clutches on his 300zx just puts it on his chest

Mykl

Methink's you're misinfomed. I did a clutch job on my old GTU and I was able to reuse the driveshaft. Only thing was I didn't tighten the bolts that connect it to the diff tight enough and I almost lost it a couple weeks later. I didn't make that mistake twice, used Lok-Tite and tightened the **** out of the bolts, they weren't going nowheres.

As far as how long a clutch job takes, my first one took me a while. An afternoon to get the tranny out, and an evening to get it back in. Of course, both times I was really taking my time and going slow. I imagine if I hurried I could get the whole thing done in less than four hours.

TonyTurboII

Im really ****** glad I put a new clutch on my engine before I installed it. I had to put the engine in the back of my Explorer, and take it to a semi repair shop to have them take the nut off. Drove to Napa, had it re-surfaced, drove back to the semi place, had them put the nut back on, then took it home.

Mykl

You know what's so bad about Honda Civics and clutch changes? The engine has three mounts, two on the transaxle and one on the engine. So if you remove the transaxle, there's only one mount left to hold the engine, which obviously isn't enough.

We fixed this by chaining the engine to the strut tower bar, which held the weight up rather well. Otherwise we would have had to find a 2x4 somewhere to put across the engine bay.

Honda's aren't too difficult to change clutches in, other than that little annoyance. It's easily no more difficult to do than in an RX-7. After getting the transaxle back on I was able to put my friend's Civic EX back together in less than an hour. He would have done it hisself, but he mashed his thumb pretty bad.

RX-7 GT

yea, its kind of scaring when the motor is about to fall off with one mount. we just use a jack and a block of wood to keep that nice and level

The Ace

Ummm guys, I think loudazzrx7 must have his new clutch by now, so lets give it a rest....

RX-7 GT

damn..that was almost a month ago ....but its a damn good conversation topic, until we get a brake problem post or something

loudazzrx7

iTrader: (6)

yes --the clutch went in and --oh ya the damn thing sucks i put about 200 miles on it then started to get in it hard and guess what? the damn thing slips real bad.Alot when it gets hot.i come to find out they used a cheap clutch pack and now im stuck with a peace of **** clutch i have taken it back 2 times and they said that my car has to much power for the clutch,i said ok ,then why did the stock o.e.m clutch hold it and never sliped.then they said they were not sure,but they would put another in if this one went bad,i said-goes bad--it is bad.So now im pissed and i said if they want to continue to put cheap clutches in my car i would be back every 3 weeks and have another one installed,untill they finally get it.And put a better clutch in my car.

Mykl

500 miles is standard for a clutch break in. 200 miles isn't enough before you start getting on it hard.

Oh, and that block of wood and a jack idea is great if you aren't working with a lift. Also, we had to be able to move the car out of the garage and into the storage area when we were done.