1st gen RX-7 clutch R&R - any tips?

So as part of my Thanksgiving present to myself, I finally broke down and got the O.E. Exedy clutch kit for my '84 GS. Also have a new trans mount, motor mounts, FD alt & dual pulley, Bonez race pipe, big-ass Hella rally lights, and other goodies on the way...but first things first. I gotta replace the clutch on this thing. I've never done it on an RX-7. I was planning to pull the motor to do mine, but I was on the phone with Chris at Rotary Performance (rx7.com) earlier, and he said it would be way easier to do it by dropping the transmission. I had never thought of that. Would I just undo the driveshaft, exhaust, and trans mounts, and let it tip back to get it out, or do I have to unbolt more E36 M3? Can anyone give me some advice re: which is easier, or any general tips for the process? I just figured it might be easier to pull the engine, doesn't look that hard. At least not compared to my E28 that I just extracted the drivetrain from...

Very easy to do from underneath. The exhaust heat shields are hard to get out if you have rust. The easiest way to get the trans back in is to jack up the front of the engine a little so it tilts. Have a buddy help.

Don't pull the engine just drop the transmission. The exhaust is a bit of a pain, but nothing major. Pulling the engine isn't too bad,but isn't necessary for a clutch job. 6-7 bolts holding the trans to the engine, 4 bolts on the drive shaft,and 2 bolts holding the trans cross member up. Also you need to remove the exhaust and heat shields,and the shifter from the trans,but that is only a couple of bolts. Don't forget the two bolts on the slave cylinder either as you don't want to stretch the rubber hose on it.

I can do a clutch job on my RX-7 in a couple of hours now that I know what I am doing. It helps that I have the Racing Beat street port exhaust system that unbolts real easy,but even without that it is a pretty easy job. Replace the pilot bearing,and seal while you are in there. By the way I do this all on jack stands,and not a lift.

Chris

I found a couple things made the job a ton easier:

• Transmission jack. I tried using my floor jack as a transmission jack once, and I won't do that again.

• Before you put the transmission back in, take one of the bolts to the hardware store and buy either some really long bolts in the right thread or threaded rod. Cut the head off and grind a notch into it. You can then thread those into the engine with a flat blade screwdriver and use them to help you guide the transmission in to place.

• Take care to pull the transmission straight back, otherwise you stand a good chance of destroying the pilot bearing. And speaking of the pilot bearing, it can be tricky to get a puller into there, but I found the harbor freight cheap-o slide hammer had a fitting that was perfect enough.

The pilot bearing is probably the only really delicate part of the job. The Mazda tool has two jaws that slide in, then you turn a screw to spread the jaws, then pull the bearing but it's designed so that you can reuse the bearing. There are slide hammers out there which do it very well. The trick is to have the jaws good and tight.

I had to remove one from a 13B that someone had haxxored trying to remove without the proper tool. The engine was out of the car, so I used a Dremel with a carbide bit to split the bearing race. Not really difficult, just tedious. It can easily be done under the car too.

When you put the new bearing in, be sure to drive it in far enough that the seal will go in on top of it. If you don't have a fancy drift etc a socket of the right size works well, just make sure it starts straight. Doesn't hurt to add a little extra grease, too.

When we did my friend's convertible, we used a really big impact gun to get the nut off the flywheel. It was a 3/4" and like 600 ft lbs. Worked great.

Get a transmission jack. It's the only way to raise and lower that trans. I think Harbor Freight sells a tool you can attach to a normal jack to turn it into a transmission jack. I bench pressed mine. I was sore for a week.

Oh yeah, the flywheel nut is a 2 1/8". Once you loosen the nut with the impact like Dr Hess says (if you don't have an impact, you can make a flywheel lock tool out of scrap steel, then use a really long breaker bar to get the nut loose), you then spin the nut back on and leave ~1/8" between it and the flywheel. Then you gets yourself a big hammer and smack on the raised part of the flywheel away from the PP mount holes and the flywheel will practically jump off (that's why you put the nut back on).

http://www.mazdatrix.com/faq/flywheelremoval.htm

FWIW, you don't really need to remove the flywheel unless it's burnt up bad. If it has the usual blue spots here and there, use a air powered angle die grinder with 100 grit Roloc discs to polish it up.

Xceler8x wrote: Get a transmission jack. It's the only way to raise and lower that trans. I think Harbor Freight sells a tool you can attach to a normal jack to turn it into a transmission jack. I bench pressed mine. I was sore for a week.

Don't be a Bob Costas!

The transmission is a super light weight unit in my opinion. I just muscle them into place. Maybe once I used the floor jack,but that was only because I was having an alignment problem that turned out the be an alignment ring around the bolt hole on the engine or trans that was in a place that it shouldn't be. By that I mean the piece should have been on the other part,and now I had two in the same place,and it wasn't cooperating with me. Once I figured this out the floor jack wasn't needed. The trans is really just long,but not very heavy in my opinion. I see no need for a trans jack unless it is on a lift of course,but I do all my work on jack stands.

Agreed. I also bench-pressed my trans into my RX-7. It's easier with a buddy, but it's also super light (for a trans). In fact, I have a spare in my shed. Shall I weigh it for you?

Xceler8x wrote: Get a transmission jack. It's the only way to raise and lower that trans. I think Harbor Freight sells a tool you can attach to a normal jack to turn it into a transmission jack. I bench pressed mine. I was sore for a week.

Very true. It is a simple job, easier than a miata.

OK, a buddy of mine has a transmission jack, I'll borrow it just in case - but it sounds like I can work it by hand easily enough. I'm likely gonna have a buddy around helping out, too. Sounds like it'll be a convenient time to put the test pipe on. Then it's on to the FD alternator and probably pulling the air pump, then a dual leading ignitor setup...fingers crossed, I'm hoping I can get my typical fuel mileage above 18MPG with all this stuff

When I worked for a Jeep dealer, we did all of the clutch jobs on the floor and used a regular floor jack. Balancing a transmission with the transfer case attached can be fun. I don't recall that we ever had one fall off.

The alignment studs is a good idea. Makes things much easier.