How-To Clutch Right Hand Drive Clutch Pedal / Clutch Master Cylinder Replacement MPS / Mazdaspeed 3

[Belps]

Howdy all! First post on here, so forgive me if I've done anything wrong.

There's plenty of guides out there on how to replace the clutch pedal/master cylinder on the LHD Speed 3s, but nothing about doing it on RHD ones. The process has a lot in common with LHD, but there are definitely some big differences. I'm not going to go super in depth with the common steps, so feel free to have a look at this guide too: https://mazdaspeeds.org/index.php?t...mbly-clutch-master-cylinder-replacement.6042/

I did this on a BK (Gen 1), not sure how different/similar the BLs are. I've had to go through the process twice - once to remove the pedal to get it welded up and put a fresh master cylinder in, and then a second time to put my original master cylinder back in due to the new one (OEM mind you) failing within a month. It's definitely a job that's much quicker the second time round, but still an awful time. I tried removing a heap of the dash the first time, but that didn't help at all, so don't waste your time. I spent a large amount of time over 2 or 3 days the first time, but the second time it took me under 4 hours.

Steps:

1. Remove driver seat.
   1. Not sure if this is strictly necessary, but I know it would have been a lot more of a pain with the seat in. It's literally 4 bolts, so just take it out (good excuse to give underneath the seat a clean too)
2. You're going to be lying on the ground with your head under the dash in the footwell, so get yourself some pillows or blankets to make it a bit more comfortable
3. Now that the inside is ready to go, head to the engine bay. You'll need to remove the big heatshield that's in front of the brake fluid reservoir/brake booster, as this is also blocking access to the clutch master cylinder lines
   1. There were 3 bolts and 2 nuts holding the heatshield on
   2. 
      
   3. Once you've got the nuts and bolts out, you now have the first PITA moment of this job - actually getting the heat shield out/out of the way. I don't really have any tips on how exactly to achieve this, as it really feels like Mazda never intended for this piece to come out. You may be able to just move the heatshield out of the way enough to get to the master cylinder lines.
4. Here are the 2 lines from the master cylinder that you'll need access to:
   1. 
      
   2. I wouldn't unhook them just yet - prefer to wait until the master cylinder is ready to be removed
5. Now to the comfy spot you've made inside the car
6. I removed the bolt (12mm) on the steering shaft, and moved the shaft out of the way for more room.
7. Now it's time to remove the nuts(12mm) from the clutch pedal assembly
   1. The bottom 3 nuts are straightforward
   2. The top one is awful - it's like Mazda never intended for the clutch pedal or master to ever be replaced. A ratcheting 12mm spanner without a swivel head would be ideal here, but I got by with regular 12mm spanner. Put your arm up the right side of the clutch pedal assembly (see blue line), and use your fingers to feel out where the clutch pedal spring is. Once you've found that, move your fingers up to find the stud where the last nut lives. Now that you're familiar with where the nut is, get your spanner up there and loosen the awful thing
   3. 
      
   4. There is also a position sensor on the pedal (see the strange hole above the bottom left red circle in the picture above) twist the sensor to remove it
8. Now it's time to get the master cylinder off of the pedal assembly. Go back to the engine bay and unhook those master cylinder lines we exposed before. Some fluid will drip out, so put some towel underneath the lines.
9. Back into the car, use a flat head screwdriver to pop the master cylinder's rod out of the pedal (white clip). You'll have to push the clip in from both sides to pop it out
10. Now you'll have to twist the master cylinder 90 degrees anti clockwise until the tabs line up with the holes to free it from the pedal assembly. Longnose pliers/vice grips or channel locks will be your friend here
11. You will now be able to remove the pedal assembly(separately from the master), followed by the master cylinder itself. You'll have to play around with the angle of the pedal assembly to get it out (pushing the pedal to the downwards position may give you more room)
12. Yay, we're halfway done! Follow the steps in reverse to get everything back together again, then proceed with bleeding your clutch!

 

[Raider]

Very nice documentation! You earned a membership upgrade!