And while I'm entertaining all of you, do you guys agree that it looks like the oil leak is from the pan gasket? I pulled the RMS out and it looked pretty good still (as did its bore & crank mating surface), and I've got a pretty good coating of oil all the way around, so I'm thinking of tossing a new gasket on...
There's a nice glob of sealant on the back of the flywheel, which caused me to look closer..
Here's what the front looks like on the better side:
I'm trying to balance effort vs reward for a beater ..
If the rear main seal housing's gasket is leaking, it will trail around and LOOK like an oil pan leak. (Honda V6s are bad for this, because the housing also has an O-ring on it to block off the back side of the main oil gallery, and this O-ring gets brittle after a while)
Make sure the bolts have a good amount of sealant on 'em, too. That's a fun one to deal with after the fact.
In reply to WonkoTheSane (FS) :
The nomenclature on the disc matches the Brute Power clutch discs sold by AutoZone, but those specific numbers don't show in a search.
DeadSkunk (Warren) said:
In reply to WonkoTheSane (FS) :
The nomenclature on the disc matches the Brute Power clutch discs sold by AutoZone, but those specific numbers don't show in a search.
Good to know, at least you found the brand! I find a few references to it on eBay, but they were always in ads listing other name brands so I didn't trust them.
Just for the record, I'm kinda leaning towards leaving the pan gasket, just replacing the rear main seal, and eventually doing the front seals when/if I do the timing belt later.
WonkoTheSane (FS) said:
Just for the record, I'm kinda leaning towards leaving the pan gasket, just replacing the rear main seal, and eventually doing the front seals when/if I do the timing belt later.
Oil pan gasket you're really better off pulling the motor out of the car, so I don't think it saves much effort to do it right now anyway.
In reply to WonkoTheSane (FS) :
"Brute Power" and "Perfection" clutch components are the same company, it appears.
codrus (Forum Supporter) said:
WonkoTheSane (FS) said:
Just for the record, I'm kinda leaning towards leaving the pan gasket, just replacing the rear main seal, and eventually doing the front seals when/if I do the timing belt later.
Oil pan gasket you're really better off pulling the motor out of the car, so I don't think it saves much effort to do it right now anyway.
You can do it with the engine in the car, but it's really messy and hard to do well. Those oil pan seals very rarely fail unless disturbed.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
"Rarely fail unless disturbed" probably doesn't apply to people that put washers behind pressure plates :p
DeadSkunk (Warren) said:
In reply to WonkoTheSane (FS) :
"Brute Power" and "Perfection" clutch components are the same company, it appears.
Okay, I also ended up at perfection brand as well, but I couldn't find any sort of numbers that aligned..
My working theory is that they didn't realize the clutch pedal was adjustable, and couldn't get the clutch to completely disengage?
In reply to WonkoTheSane (FS) :
What if they thought the parts were wrong because the new clutch had to compress a lot more than the old worn-out one?
WonkoTheSane (FS) said:
DeadSkunk (Warren) said:
In reply to WonkoTheSane (FS) :
"Brute Power" and "Perfection" clutch components are the same company, it appears.
Okay, I also ended up at perfection brand as well, but I couldn't find any sort of numbers that aligned..
My working theory is that they didn't realize the clutch pedal was adjustable, and couldn't get the clutch to completely disengage?
For the thirtieth time on this forum, adjusting the clutch pedal pushrod needs to be checked when installing a new master, and has absolutely nothing to do with adjusting the clutch itself.
Streetwiseguy said:
WonkoTheSane (FS) said:
DeadSkunk (Warren) said:
In reply to WonkoTheSane (FS) :
"Brute Power" and "Perfection" clutch components are the same company, it appears.
Okay, I also ended up at perfection brand as well, but I couldn't find any sort of numbers that aligned..
My working theory is that they didn't realize the clutch pedal was adjustable, and couldn't get the clutch to completely disengage?
For the thirtieth time on this forum, adjusting the clutch pedal pushrod needs to be checked when installing a new master, and has absolutely nothing to do with adjusting the clutch itself.
Some clutches do require adjustment of the pushrod in order to properly disengage. The guys who don't think you need to are the ones who call tech support about why the clutch doesn't work :)
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Is there an upper pedal stop in a Miata? If so, there is only a pushrod freeplay adjustment. It is either right, or wrong.
Streetwiseguy said:
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Is there an upper pedal stop in a Miata? If so, there is only a pushrod freeplay adjustment. It is either right, or wrong.
We had to adjust a friend's 90 out (longer) (so it engaged earlier) to have enough throw for a smooth release after replacing the stock clutch. Otherwise it was really notchy when cold.
Oh, while reassembling, I did have another thought on the oil leak.. There was no sign of thread sealant on the flywheel bolts. These things'll weep a bit if there's no sealant on them, won't they?
In reply to WonkoTheSane (FS) :
Yup. You'd see it as oil streaks on the backside of the flywheel maybe, more likely to see oil contamination of the clutch.
Streetwiseguy said:
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Is there an upper pedal stop in a Miata? If so, there is only a pushrod freeplay adjustment. It is either right, or wrong.
There is, but some clutches require less freeplay than the factory specs. So there are multiple values of right and wrong here.
We can always tell when an expert has installed one of our clutches because they know they don't have to read the instructions :)
Flywheel bolts are a wet joint, they definitely need loctite.
How do the flywheel bolts become a wet joint ?
They go all the way through the flange on the crank, and the crank rear seal is around the periphery of the flange. So the holes in the flange are exposed to the interior of the crankcase. They're not submerged, but it's a pretty thick atmosphere. It's not a problem if you put loctite on the threads like you're supposed to.
Red loc-tite and several ugga-duggas, I feel good about my flywheel staying put.
It's impossible to tell if the flywheel is streaked, but I did loctite 'em when I put them back as I recalled that was in the procedure.
Shocking to no one, the car drives a whole lot better with new engine mounts and no spacers under the pressure plate!
