Living with the GTX FEB '11

I've had it back for a week+ now, and so far it hasn't let me down. It's still restricted to urban duty though.
Passed 159,000 when I drove home from the shop.
Got to drive it in the snow for the first time, which is the reason I bought it. The AWD works great, and the car felt in control even when in a 4 wheel drift. Traction on acceleration seemed great.
I replaced the 3 wipers right before it snowed. The motors work, but slowly when pushing heavy snow. My rear defroster doesn't work. The button on the dash doesn't light up anything when down, and the window doesn't get warm. Gonna check the fuse and the hatch connection.
I had a scare the second night of the snow. The doors wouldn't open. I figured it was a lock problem, but I think it turned out to be the door freezing shut. Not sure how this happened, and can't remember it on any other vehicle. It was with both doors. I finally just started pulling real hard and the driver opened. Pushing on the passenger from the inside got that one open too.
The car doesn't have ABS. While traction in snow and ice seems superior, the lack of ABS caused me to slide into an intersection. It was very icy (drove up it later), and downhill. Once I figured it out, I used the skills I learned last spring at the Bridgestone Winter Driving School. It's hard to feel the 'loss of grip' point when there's no grip to be had in the first place. On regular packed snow, I tested out the grip and could feel and hear when the tires lost grip and when they regained grip, but on this downhill, nothing. I slid into the (blind) intersection but not across it (T intersection with me hitting the T), and regained control and slowed enough through the exercise that I was able to make my turn. Luckily no traffic at that time.

Strangely, I think the GTX was broken into. Came out the car this morning, and after I opened the front door, noticed that half the back seat had been folded down. Passenger was locked. Nothing was stolen, and I think I felt the lock unlock when I opened it. However, while unlocking it is easier than I remember, I can't lock it from the outside now.

Daily Update- Button her up

Shop agrees with my conclusions and ideas. They're going to mark the wear points on the bell housing with some paint and put it back together, Figure I should be on the road by the end of the week.

Daily Update- What we know, what I think

After a bunch of back and forth, a bunch of measuring, and a bunch of scientific method, here's what we know.
1- The pressure plate rubbed against the bell housing.
2- We've measured all the things that could be too long- The engine-transmission spacer plate; the flywheel; the clutch pack; and the pressure plate. All are correct thickness.
3- In a reversal, we found out the throwout bearing didn't engage too much, but instead it disengaged too much, getting wedged against the bell housing. This left a lot of space and no pressure against the pressure plate.

SO, since nothing is too long / thick, I believe that the pressure plate only came in contact with the bell housing because the throwout bearing wasn't supplying pressure against it due to the arm that normally puts pressure against it wasn't because the slave cylinder was broken in two.

THEREFORE, now that we've replaced the slave cylinder, we should be able to put everything back together without any further problems (in the bell housing). However, to double check this, we'll monitor the clutch fluid for metal pieces from the bell housing.

Daily Update- Clutch Performance

Still trying to figure out what parts from where go where. These are notes from the Yahoo GTX board:

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Looks like you've got a 2wd bellhousing plate. The oil pans are slightly different.

MT

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You definetly have an extra hole in the spacer plate. That should not be a big deal as long as the four critical holes (the two with the dowels and the two top ones) line up (the others are nice to have but not critical). Do you have equivelent rub marks on the clutch that match up with the rub marks on the bell housing? To answer your stack height question, assemble your clutch to your flywheel and measure the stack height and let us know how high it is and what is the highest point. Several of us either have measurements (Greg?) or have assemblies we can measure and compare.

Bob

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it looks about right, the thickness should be a bit less than 2mm.

MT and Bob say it a 2WD plate, but it should work even if it has an extra hole tab. I would cut that extra tab off if it were me.

What combination of flywheel and pressure plate are you using?

Greg Downing

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A centerforce clutch is easy to identify - there should be weights wired to the clutch pressure plate springs. Again, can you measure your stack height
or at least measure the flywheel? I'll compare your measurements to my
spare.

Bob

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I went out and checked the few I have here and no spring. The plates are exactly the same thickness 1.14mm the only difference is the extra mounting hole for the fwd tranny.

Clay

Daily Update- the thick and thin of it

Still at a standstill. It doesn't seem to be making sense with what parts are inside the clutch.
Still don't know why we had rubbing between the pressure plate and the bell housing.
Still don't know why the throwout bearing came of the shaft.
Still don't know why the spacer plate between the engine and the transmission has an extra mounting hole that was pounded 90 degrees off flat. Is it too thick or thin?

Going to take the shop manual back in and see if there's anything in there about any of these questions.

Daily Update- nothing

Pulled the clutch, and everything looks fine. Still trying to get mesurement specs on the pressure plate, but we're going to compare it to the part they have on hand. No contact with Mazda Racing yet. Going to give it a few days and see if anything happens.

Daily Update- Rubbin's Racing

Went down to the shop and brought up to speed. They had both clutch kits, and the Turbo housing matched the installed housing instead of the non-turbo.

From what I came to understand, the pressure plate has rubbed against the bell housing. We know the bell housing is correct, as it has the 4wd parts integral to the casting. We know the clutch kit/ pressure plate is correct, and that the clutch plates are not in need of replacement. We have no idea when the rubbing happened, but since the clutch kit looks new, it has to have been receintly.

So, the questions we currrently have are thus:
At what point does the Capri (engine) end and the GTX start?
There doesn't seem to be a spacer we can remove.
Is the flywheel housing correct for the Capri or GTX? Is it different?
I've checked the GTX vin# to confirm it's a GTX. Is there a way to check the Vin# of the Capri engine to tell if the engine is a turbo?