Well, I replaced my clutch over the weekend, and I thought I'd share some things with you.

1. Symptoms. Drive along a level road at about 3000rpm in 4th or 5th, and put your foot down. If the engine revs rise and your speed doesn't (in proportion), your clutch is slipping and should be replaced PDQ. Another symptom is that the take up point will be very high - so if you can lift your foot a long way without the drive taking up, beware. Note that the clutch is adjustable, with a rod/locknut behind the top of the pedal. My clutch disc was worn to the point of one rivet each side just taking a polish - any more and the flywheel face could have been damaged. "Just in time" comes to mind!

2. Doing it yourself on your drive. Basic advice - DON'T. Actually removing and replacing the gearbox is a serious undertaking. Find a competent Mazda specialist who has done MX-5's before (see techy bit below for why). Not necessarily a Mazda dealer - few Mazdas are serviced by dealers after 3 years, and few clutches are replaced in that time. My local parts man in a very large dealership said he had only bought one clutch in the last two years, and that was for an RX-7 and it wasn't needed (just adjustment) so it 's still on the shelf. But this month he's bought three - mine and two 323 clutches. Like buses..

3. If you are still determined to do it yourself, negotiate the price. Current quoted prices - Powertrain - 85 + VAT. Blueprint - 115 + VAT. Mazda - 135 + VAT. I fancied the pukka thing, so I said "Look, I can buy a clutch for X. If you can do it all-in (disc, cover and release bearing) for Y I'll have it from you." They accepted. I paid more than the cost of a Powertrain one, but rather less than the cost of a Blueprint one for a Mazda clutch. Expect your local dealers to be rebadged "Souk" shortly! :-)

4. Having known for many years that Mazda source spare parts in Europe, I was only a little surprised to find my "Mazda" clutch labelled "Valeo". Aren 't they French? Perhaps I should have got the Powertrain one. Anyway the replacement was completely different from the old one.

5. Minimum requirements - first and most important - proper support for the car. You need it high and secure. I had the front wheels on ramps and the back sills on axle stands. It was OK, but I was unable to get the gearbox out from under the car. A bit inconvenient cleaning the bell housing and replacing the release bearing under there! Next, you need an excellent toolkit with wide choice of sockets, extensions, flexible joints, ratchet ring spanners, a proven method of supporting the gearbox during removal and replacement and a competent assistant. The gearbox is very big and very heavy (120 lbs ish?), and you're manoeuvring it in a very confined space. If it slips, it may injure you or damage itself or your car.

6. You need a workshop manual, but be careful. Both the Haynes manual and the official workshop manual are plain wrong describing the removal sequence of the PPF (the what? Power Plant Frame or Torque tube - basically a girder - ties the gearbox and differential together into a rigid assembly. If you fell over one in the street you'd swear it was a vital structural component of the Forth Bridge rather than part of a sports car). The problem is in separation of the PPF from the differential. Haynes manual, Chapter 7A, Section 5, item 7 - says "Remove the differential mounting spacer". Well, it is impossible to remove the spacer at this point, before the next step. In fact, it need not be removed at all. The next step is to "thread a M14 x 1.5 bolt .." This is not an item I had lying around my garage - it's the sort of thing that might be used to secure a railway line to a sleeper (I exaggerate). I acquired one - but it was too short - you need one at least 125mm, and preferably 150mm long - but you'll find most suppliers only stock long ones in 2mm pitch - which will not do. I eventually got by without it - a bit of judicious tapping made the sleeve which you're trying to extract drop by itself. But if it won't - you need the bolt. Be warned.

7. I don't think you need to remove the starter motor. It is very inaccessible, and I suppose you run a slight risk of damaging it. You do have to remove the rear bolts, but I would leave the front bracket and electrical connections in place.

8. And finally - BE CAREFUL with the gearbox. You have to wiggle it past a whole lot of obstructions - and I can't emphasise enough how big and heavy it seems, and how many handy little spigots to catch on things it has, when you're lying under the car with it! (3/00)

Point 1:

I had this sympton after long hard country drives. The take up point was about halfway, but the clutch was definetely slipping (a bit slow taking up the drive pulling away from roundabouts in 2nd). But it would only ever do this when hot. I had the clutch fluid changed and the slightly leaky clutch slave cylinder replaced. No more slipping clutch, even after a session at Nutts Corner. A year on, and there's still no problem, though maybe the bite point is a little higher (55000 miles on the "japanese spec" clutch).

Point 3:

Doesn't surprise me. Local Mazda dealer in Belfast tried to get a company like Blueprint to supply non-Mazda branded parts..... I wonder how many parts fitted by your Mazda dealer are actually sourced from local motor factors... (3/00)

The job isn't difficult, but it is a major PITA and it's not much fun lying under a car with the limited amount of head room that axle stands provide (you can only raise the car so far above your head) although with 4 axle stands there is enough room to get the transmission out from under the car. You will need many 1/2 inch drive extensions with 'wobble' ends to reach some difficult to get at bolts holding the Bell Housing to the engine. 3/8 drive won't do, I sheared a couple of 3/8 extensions before buying the extra 1/2 inch extensions that were required...the bolts were that tight.

Starter motor can be left in place.

I fitted a centerforce dual friction clutch late last summer, which I then upgraded to a Dealer Alternative ACT clutch and lightened flywheel in January when I went to the FMII around that time (to handle higher power output). I paid my local Mazda garage £120 to do the job the second time around. Doing it in a warm garage in the summer was bad enough, lying under a car with a 120 LB+ transmission over your head in the cold and damp of winter another. The reduction in stress and hassle was well worth the £120 IMHO.

BTW the PowerPlant frame can be left in place, remove the front 2 bolts holding it at the transmission end and the 'easy' to remove bolt at the other end. If you leave the second rear bolt in place (the difficult one with the sleeve), then the PowerPlant frame can be swung far enough out of the way by pushing it to one side (bit like a gate). (3/00)