Flyin' Miata Clutch

Pro's: 1. Strong, no slipping. 2. Faster engine rev. 3. Turbo spools faster. (I have FM's Voodoo 2) 4. Better shifting. Smoother both up and down, once you figure it out. 5. Quality unit (Typical of FM) 6. No more difficult to install than any other flywheel and clutch. Cons: 1. Takes a little getting used to. It took me a few days. No big deal. 2. My car has a rattling noise when letting off the throttle in gears 2 & 3. Be forewarned the rattling noise is common with a lightened flywheel. Some people like it. Me,...eh. FM lets you know about it on their website. Everyone I've talked to, all Miata experts, said it causes no transmission damage and is normal. Really, other than the rattle, no complaints here.

Fly'n Miata happy meal clutch/flywheel package

[12/24/2005] Reviewed by: philip guiral - guiral@juno.com

This is a quality product as expected from Fly'n Miata. I shopped around with many venders, but when considering shipping, tax, and price; Fly'n Miata was just a few dollars more.

I'm very happy with the overall results. Revs-up nicely and there is no difference with the clutch operation. Engagement point is the same. Did eliminate the chatter typical of 2002s.

Stage 2 clutch and light flywheel

[7/22/2005] Reviewed by: Ryan Dankowski - rgdankowsk21@tntech.com

I bought the Flying Miata Stage 2 clutch and light flywheel happy meal. The flywheel weighs 9 pounds and is almost to pretty to put under the car.

A friend and I decided to do this project on the ground instead of using a lift. Looking back, I highly recomend the lift. It took us about 8 hours to complete but was well worth the time and money. Flyin Miata is known for their service and of course I was very pleased with their patience and knowledge.

I can feel better throttle response in the higher gears and the rpms seem to jump in the lower gears. The clutch grabs really hard which i like and is smooth. I cant wait to see how much it will help me at the track.

FM clutch happy meal

[11/3/2004] Reviewed by: driftwood Mx-5

Installation: Prepare to take your time and take a lot of crap off of your car. Installation is pretty straightforward. Performance: Pedal engages REALLY low. I had to remove the original pedal bump stop to get more travel. The low engagement is not necessarily bad, it just takes some getting used too. I have never felt it slip. Pedal feel is heavier than stock.

Holds the turbo down. Takes some getting used too. A little pricey, but I like it.

Flyin' Miata Clutch Happy Meal

[9/2/2002] Reviewed by: Andy Schmidt - piorkosk@slu.edu

This is a kit including the following. Clutch,Pressure Plate,Throw-out bearing,pilot bearing and a purple 9 pound aluminum flywheel. The toy is your clutch alignment tool.

While researching lightened flywheels I discovered two things, one is true and the other is false. First, I had a friend (Now passed away) named Eric. Eric was quite the Miata nut, and when asked he said that lightened flywheels cause your oil pump to go out after 2K. Eric had 2 miatas, a turbo m2 and a na m2 both of which he auto crossed regularly and with some success. I was bummed due to the fact that I really liked the flywheels. So any way some time went by and I decided to get some other opinions. I called Bill Cardel over at FM. He assured me that there has never been a Miata which Puked its oil pump as a resuly of the installation of a lightened flywheel. He said that every Miata he knows of with OIl pump failure not brought on by high miles has been attributed to lightened under drive crank pullys. It turns out that the good ole harmonic balancer is there for a reason after all.

So I ordered the kit, it arrived in 5 days. The ACT pressure plate and clutch mate well with the Fidanza flywheel in FM's kit. the quality as expected was first rate as was the service. If some one tells you not to attack the clutch job in your Miata ignore them. I did mine in about 7 hours. With a good shop manual the job is a piece of cake. The clutch is nice aqnd engages a bit closer to the floor. pedal effort is increased a bit. With the flywheel in place accleration is better in all gears. Not turbo good. Just better.

Flyin' Miata Kevlar Clutch

Reviewed by: Lee Bohon - TopdownMX5@aol.com

High performance, high strength clutch for a 1.6L miata marketed from Dealer Alternative.

As of June 19, 1998 my FM Kevlar clutch drives as good as the day it was installed (approx. one year ago). So far, the clutch has only been subjected to 3 months of use with a turbo (Aerocharger FTD1) and about 5 different autocross events... but shows no signs of slipping what so ever. I've "popped" the clutch a few times and it grabbed without a hint of slippage.

For the most part, I try to drive pretty easy on the clutch. It really does feel VERY stock-like. Dealer Alternative says that the engage/disengage point in the pedal travel is about an inch further down towards the floor, but I could hardly notice the difference. From my understanding, the main differences between this clutch and the stock one are the following:

Kevlar clutch disk (excellent wear characteristics, however with a low coefficient of friction - thus needs stronger clamping force); Pressure Plate with Stronger (stiffer) springs located at a different fulcrum point to provide stronger clamping force. (to keep pedal effort the same as stock, the pedal travel is increased).

Bottom line, I'm very satisfied with this clutch although it wasn't cheap. I feel this is one of those "you get what you pay for" situations.

Flyin' Miata Kevlar Clutch

Reviewed by: JIM BARRICK - jbarrick@scican.net

GREAT! GREAT! GREAT! While tuning the BEGI system III the stock clutch lasted about 30 seconds! (FYI)Turns out the pilot bearing was leaking a bit of grease. The Flyin' Miata clutch was less expensive than most, feels exactly like a stock clutch - but NO SLIPPING.

According to Corky, the Centerforce DF clutch would not handle the HP of the 1.8L System III. Based on the info on the Net, he was right. I highly recommend the Flyin' Miata Kevlar clutch. Hasn't whimpered, roasted or otherwise complained through may hours of fuel management testing.

Flyin' Miata Kevlar Clutch

Reviewed by: Scott Pressley - huma@mindspring.com

I have a ‘93 1.6L, but had the 1.8L clutch and flywheel installed on my car at Brainstorm Products. The Kevlar clutch has the same feel as stock. In comparison to the Center Force which is much lighter, but releases very low to the floor. After the break-in period I went to the local drag strip and ran the clutch very hard. I did three runs and the clutch never slipped once; I have an Autorotor@11psi so hp’s are plenty so is torque. I would highly recommend this clutch if you are using any serious forced induction. I want to thank Bill Cardell for sending me the 1.8L clutch he knew the kind of hp my car has and sold me the bigger clutch. I think this is the best setup for 1.6L cars who are running serious horsepower.

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2 October, 2011

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