The joy of running a 26 year old car...

[CHC (RIP)]

Too late to take back to dealer for an engineering failure then!
Seriously Ian, I\'ve never seen such a failure in nearly 39 years of driving - how old was the clutch anyway?
As you say, it would seem pointless just to replace the clutch and then have to do alterations with Elford equipment later on - just frustrating more than anything I would imagine but don\'t thinks always break or fail when we least expect them too.
Good luck with the modifications mate.
:guinness

[shaunwil]

wow, you definitely got full life out of the clutch then !

Shaun

[David Nock (RIP)]

wow, you definitely got full life out of the clutch then !

Shaun

That\'s a good one    :Giggle

[Ian65]

got a clutch...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mazda-RX7-1978-1988-new-2-part-clutch-/280461217225?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item414cca8dc9

[A7RXY]

Ian that was the chap I was going to get my clutch from, but decided to go for the 225mm one from the States. Have you spoken to him as he is very knowledgeable and said he would fit the clutch for me. I my still use him as he is not that far away from me.

[Ian65]

Ian that was the chap I was going to get my clutch from, but decided to go for the 225mm one from the States. Have you spoken to him as he is very knowledgeable and said he would fit the clutch for me. I my still use him as he is not that far away from me.

Hi Dibs,
I haven\'t spoken to him, I bought it purely based on the price.
I\'ve being trying to work out which parts were fitted to my car and which new parts would therefore fit and with help from Keith I think we\'ve now bottomed it out.
The 225mm clutch plate is the correct clutch for the S3 and the right one for your car. You could have fitted the smaller clutch but on an original unmessed with car like yours, orginality is best.

My car had had an engine swap about 8 years back but I didn\'t know if the engine was a s1,s2 or s3 and if this affected anything.
We\'ve now worked out that it has a s3 gearbox mated to a s2 engine and a 215mm clutch

We\'ve also deduced the following which might help someone else sometime...

Gearboxes.
S2 & S3 boxes look the same and either will bolt up to either engine s2 or s3.
The splines are the same and will run either clutch 215mm or 225mm.
The internals however are slightly different. The way to identify which box you have is to undo the 10mm bolt and pull out the speedo drive.

A s2 box has this green drive with a coarse pitch....



A s3 box has this drive with the fine pitch....



neither drives are interchangeable. The fine pitch s3 drive gives the correct ratio for the 14" s3 wheels. Drop in a s2 box and your speedo readings will be out.

Clutch
The 215mm clutch will fit both gearboxes and both s2 & s3 engines.
The 225mm clutch will only fit the s3 engine.... this is because the flywheel is different between the 2 engines.
The s3 flywheel is has a wider mating surface to accomodate the wider clutch plate.

Elford put 165bhp through the 215mm clutch so if it was good enough for them, it\'ll do for me.
The difference in price between a new 225mm clutch and a 215mm one is huge. 35 quid for a complete clutch is a bargain.

[A7RXY]

Well that\'s that sorted ........Inspector Noch better watch out as there are new detectives about ........... all very good info thou.

  Good luck  with the rebuild

   Dibs

[CHC (RIP)]

Excellent info on the clutch plate sizing there Ian - I hve been watching the rBay seller for a few months but was not sure of it\'s suitability for the S2 but now you\'ve answerd that one.
So I immediately went to buy it for a spare and guess what - :flamedgone! Hmmm....wonder who might have bought it - well done.
Never mind I\'ll keep searching now I know for sure what size plate is required.
Cliff

[A7RXY]

Cliff
   You can ring the guy selling the clutch on 01375 378060 as I\'m sure when I spoke to him he had more than one set.
 
 Dibs

[David Nock (RIP)]

No difference in the oil filler plug level between boxes Ian? If not then that casts doubt on the reference to higher oil level in S3 boxes.

[CHC (RIP)]

Cliff
You can ring the guy selling the clutch on 01375 378060 as I\'m sure when I spoke to him he had more than one set.
 
Dibs

Might just do that Dibs - I bought a new clutch plate this morning for 25 + p&p off eBay.  As I say this is just for a spare in the event that it may not be required but after reading and seeing Ians\' failure, wow, who knows!.
Cheers for that

Cliff

[shaunwil]

I remember paying around £100 for mine but it was the 225mm one. Still got the original one as a spare though !

Shaun

[yehreally]

Have you tried Gary at Rotechniks :yes 01189 888555

[Ian65]

I remember paying around £100 for mine but it was the 225mm one. Still got the original one as a spare though !

Shaun

100 quid is a good price in the Uk for a 225mm clutch.... they are quite a bit cheaper overseas for some reason but then you\'ve got to ship them.
The 215mm clutch can be picked up really cheap, I\'ve just paid £35 for one, you\'d never get the S3 clutch for that price.

[shaunwil]

It was a blueprint one from a local motor factor. But it was almost 3yrs ago !

Shaun