In the middle of clutch install
 

My tob took a ginormous dump the other day so I began my clutch install. I already had an eBay xtd clutch sitting in the house waiting for use. I have everything out of the car including the trans. I forgot to mark the drive shaft though, hopefully I didn't fuck myself. I have a couple questions before proceeding.
The guy at advanced said cv axle grease would be okay on the input shaft/inside tob/inside pilot bearing...is this true? I thought it had to be high temp.
I will be using the tob that came in the xtd kit. I have heard mixed reviews on its reliability. Comments....
Can someone please explain this ppf alignment a little better? I just have to measure the distance from the ppf to the frame and make sure it's near 65mm?

I just changed out my lower rad. hose. NAPA only had 1 1/8" hose and they said that would be the best bet. It was a tight fit but looks a lot smaller than the stock hose. Will this cause any flow problems?
What's the stock heater hose size?

Thanks.

Just throw the cheap Ebay bearing in. Yeah they have a pretty high failure rate, but some hold up just fine. You can always just redo the entire job again if that $20 part fails. I know I'd rather take my chances and try to save some green. Worst that could happen is it fail a few miles into the first drive and I'll have to order a good bearing and then redo the entire job again. Peanuts really.....

/sarcasm

Get the correct parts. I recommend all mazda OEM hoses and TOB. Hit up "rhosenthal mazda" .com (note I'm sure I didn't spell the R word right, google it). If one hose needs replacing, replace them all. Peace of mind and reliability are nice.

Also use high temp grease on the input shaft and make sure that shit's spotless before greasing it. I'd mark the PPF before removing it so I could install it EXACTLY the way it was before disassembly.

Rosenthal Mazda = www.finishlineperformance.com :)

And just a question since this applies, say I removed my PPF from the car and never marked anything. What then? (Because I actually did this and didn't know any better... :mad: )

Use high temp axle grease. I got mine at Ace hardware. Four tubes for like 11 bucks, originally intended for use in a grease gun.

Get a genuine TOB, dont dick around with cheap shit, not worth the hassle.

You dont have to mark the driveshaft, i didnt. Its fine.

As for aligning the power plant frame, thats easy. Bolt everything back on, attach the frame at the dif and torque it down while leaving it loose at the trans.Then just push the trans up and torque down the frame there. No measuring required. Just get it somewhere in the middle. I didn't measure anything.

Thanks for the tips. I put the new clutch in today and had the flywheel resurfaced. One question though, after torquing down the flywheel, putting the clutch disk on with the tool and then bolting down the pp ontop....is the clutch disk supposed to be very tight in between the flywheel and pp? Just wanted to make sure I did this right.

Also, I ordered a new oem tob from big 3(local shop) for 27 bucks...it will be here Monday, along with the fm comp mounts and new large shifter boot.

Should be pretty damn tight, considering it's engaged.

okay sweet, I guess I never understood how a clutch really works.

Why do you have to align the ppf? I dont remeber aligning mine when I did my clutch last winter and I defintaly dont remeber aligning Braineacks the several times we did his.