Miata ('91) Clutch Question

Please confirm my suspicions before I spend a bunch of $$. So my Miata (127K, original clutch I think) has been making a squawk occasionally when I leave from a stop. Not a hard launch, but just letting the clutch out. It seems to have gotten worse but suddenly. Now, with the clutch pedal only part way off the floor, but not fully depressed, I get a definite bearing going bad sound. It doesn't happen with the pedal on the floor, or fully engaged. Also, there is no rattle coming from the transmission with the clutch out in gear or neutral.

So I'm thinking that either the throw out or the pilot bearing is going bad. Is there something I'm missing?

If they are bad, I'm just going to throw a FM Clutch Happy Meal deal at it. While I'm in there I'll be doing the rear main seal, and the transmission front seal and gasket, and rear seal.

Thanks in advance!

Phil

Occasionally, I hear of similar problems being fixed by applying a bit of grease between the slave cylinder and the lever that it actuates, but go ahead and feed FM. Keith needs to eat, you know. Your car will love you for it, and let you know by how much easier it revs.

In reply to mistanfo:

I did just replace the clutch master and slave, and liberally applied grease to the slave cylinder plunger. l guess I'll be pulling the trigger on the Happy Meal :)

You won't be disappointed. They are delicious.

Their brake happy meal setup is also terrific...they're probably noisy too, right?

The slave cylinder nose squeak tends to happen when you're idling in neutral. As soon as you put any pressure on the clutch pedal, it goes away. Makes a great imitation of a bad release bearing.

But it's not going to change partway through take-up. ACTs make a characteristic squeal on take-up if you drive them just right, but I've never heard a stock clutch do it. I think you're going into the bellhousing to fix this one, and if you've got a 127k mile clutch in there, might as well swap it.

I had good luck upgrading from my 1.6 flywheel to the larger 1.8 flywheel and s stock clutch. Going from slipping to extra gripping after break-in led to my next problem. Noticing the wallowing suspension under hard acceleration.

Happy meal ordered! Thanks FM!

UPDATE:

I have about 1000 miles on the Happy meal now and it is very nice. I notice NO difference from the factory clutch other than a longer throw on the clutch pedal and lower catch point. It does rev a bit quicker and I can accelerate in higher gears a bit easier. I don't know why Mazda didn't build them this way to begin with. My transmission actually rattles LESS with this setup, although I did a proper alignment on the PPF during reassembly.

The pilot bearing was dead on the flywheel in the car, but not much wear on the clutch, so I suspect there was a clutch disk change only at some point.

Thanks for the quality parts FM! Its a shame to hide that beautiful flywheel in the bellhousing.