Replacing AWD clutch myself?

[maxsideburn]

Ok guys, I've been away from the boards for a while. I now own a 90 Miata in addition to my Talon which I'm now driving daily, very fun little car, not the fastest in a straight line, but absolutely amazing in the corners.

Well my Talon's just been sitting in the yard because it needs some clutch work. It had a new ACT 2900 (I think that's what it was) when I got it from my friend. I put maybe 1000 miles on it and it started slipping like crazy, almost like when I released the pedal it wasn't disengaging fully.

If I decide to change this clutch myself in my front yard what kind of work am I looking at here? I've done a few FWD clutches before, but never anything on a turbo car, let alone an AWD car.

Also what is a recommended clutch and flywheel for a car with a few mods? (MBC @ 14-16psi, comp cams, shaved head...) The cheaper the better, but it's gotta last.

 

[Stainbox12]

Ebay, has cheap Clutches, that handle good power, try XTD clutches on ebay. ACT is very good though. Changing, the clutch yourself is not hard, you just need something to lift it up, when you are ready to put it back. If you want a good job done, you must replace the bearing, with a mitsu one, besides that, check The step of the flywheel. I would order first the clutch kit, if you are replacing it, and check what's the recommended step height that works best with that clutch kit. If it was slipping like you said, your flywheel could have some problems, so take it somewhere were it can be checked and resurfaced if necessary. Inspect the release fork, and pivot ball, while the tranny is out. When you are ready to put it back, the tranny has a trick to put it back in, you need to lift it up by one side, not straight up, and then line it up. But first of all, before you do all this stated above, try adjusting your clutch pedal, that it known to cause slipping problems, if that doesn't help, then drop the tranny. Wish you luck.

Here's a link that would help you a lot:

http://www.roadraceengineering.com/clutchandflywheeltech.htm

 

[jemsoccer]

I did my clutch about a year ago. Taking everything out wasn't an issue, gravity helps a lot. However, putting it back in was a whole different story. This was a GST I did, not AWD. I'm assuming just unbolt the t-case and get it out of the way, and it would be the same procedure as the GST (correct me if i'm wrong guys). The way I found to get the tranny back in was to set it on the ground under the car, strap it up with straps and use a cherry-picker to lift it up into place. The trick was to strap the tranny so that it was level with how it would bolt to the motor. This means if your car is on jacks and is all uneven, the tranny needs to be at that same uneven position. Once we did that, it pulled right up into place. (Alot better than my buddy trying to "bench press" it into place... haha)

 

[supercarbuilder]

I got an F1 racing 6 puck clutch off ebay and it works great, about 5000 miles so far and I beat the crap out of the car racing once in a while and launching my AWD alot! I have a big 16g with all the bolt ons making good power and it holds strong. I'm very happy for 170 bucks and it came with a release bearing. I used Vfaq's write up to do mine and it went fine. I had it done in 5 hrs by myself. Just make sure your flywheel is stepped correctly and the machine shop knows what to do. Also be gentle until it gets broke in or it won't last near as long.

 

[maxsideburn]

I tried adjusting the pedal before.

exactly where is it supposed to start engaging? near the floor, near the dash?

also could a problem with the slave cylinder cause it to not engage properly?



failing all of this the only other thing I can think that went wrong is either that there is something wrong with the flywheel or my friend and I drove it too hard before it was broken in properly. If I just got a new flywheel would that be an instant-fix for any flywheel issues whatsoever? (also how hard is it to change a flywheel??, never done it before)

 

[dsmsucks]

I got an F1 racing 6 puck clutch off ebay and it works great, about 5000 miles so far and I beat the crap out of the car racing once in a while and launching my AWD alot! I have a big 16g with all the bolt ons making good power and it holds strong. I'm very happy for 170 bucks and it came with a release bearing. I used Vfaq's write up to do mine and it went fine. I had it done in 5 hrs by myself. Just make sure your flywheel is stepped correctly and the machine shop knows what to do. Also be gentle until it gets broke in or it won't last near as long.

How much boost are u running?

 

[OSXer]

You can perform a clutch swap yourself.

Check the VFAQ (vfaq.com) for the procedure.