The car is garbage and certainly not the greatest candidate for a resto.
Ruined?
What some tin cut off firewall.
Thats the only thing altered big time.
Truth be told its a scrap yard canidate.
If and I do meannif I pull this project off this car will have a new lease on life, with a decent powerplant.
I have my reservations on this project too.
My biggest hurdle is the clutch throw out.
I may have to resort to an expensive hydraulic release bearing, I'm hoping not.
This could very well be the first 79 RX7 in the world eith a slant 6 and 833..

If you can't make the clutch work, an automatic should slide in there with ease. I think.

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If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.

Anything can be made to work at a certain price.
I have minimal space for the super long throwout fork.
If I can make clearance I should be able to rig up a slave cylinder to work it.
If not a hydraulic throwout bearing will be required.
Going A904 the initial price. A freshen up and shift kit, then a shigter and kick down cable as well a cooler will be needed. So thats not any cheaper than an expensive custom hydraulic setup.
If I cannot get tge clutch working in a budget.

Does anyone know how reliable and well hydraulic release bearings do work?
How about this setup would this work?

One advantage to the external slave cylinder is you
use a conventional throw out bearing.
IIRC ‘87 D150’s used a set up like that.
Concerning reliability, I have a ‘96 GMC Sonoma with
+200K miles with a hydraulic clutch and zero
maintenance on the hydraulic clutch system.
So they can be troublefree, there are issues with
the aftermarket installs, probably due to the
custom installation...

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Doo Ron Ron and the Duke of Earl are friends of mine.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX8Nj8ABEI8

The Tilton hydraulic release bearing has great reviews.
Im fighting for every bit of space in this area for the throw out fork etc.
Like to here from those who have these type of release bearing setups.
As this car is already set up for a hydraulic clutch it makes things a bit less complicated.

Turbo Toad on here used this setup. Not sure how well it worked but it moves the slave cylinder back as a puller.

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2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

That looks promising and less money.
If i have the room could fo this route.
All in the planning stage right now.
The question is can I shorten the long truck type shifter fork to gain clearance?

Hydraulic master and slave cylinders occasionally will fail.


But the external slaves are easy to replace (as compared to the slaves inside the bellhousing)..................


Just learn how to clutchless shift (and practice ever so often)...............

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

If it's a slot type fork, you can use a car fork which is another 3/4" shorter... You can cut and weld a fork, but reinforce it well as
they tend to bend or snap under heavy force or heavy clutch cover levers depending on the type of clutch you use
(diaphragm doesn't take much... but the 9 1/4" B&B does need some leverage to actuate compared to the 10" and diaphragm style clutches....)...
shorter will mean less leverage so the cylinder will need to exert more force to do the same job compared to the longer stock fork, FYI...

Any part and/ or system can fail, that is not the deal breaker for me unless there is so much of a reliabilty issue that renders these hydraulic systems to consistently break down.
There is a real issue of space so i will need to decide on how I will proceed.
I knew how to shift without a clutch 40 years ago, whats your point?

Yes of course all good points.
Travel and force as well as fork strength all considerations.
I would like to hear from those who have actually done this who are using a hydraulic release bearing setup...thanx

Thanx all for your comments.
I will only post now on progress.
Anyone who has converted to a hydraulic clutch system or release bearing can post if you want or message me.
Thanx again.

The RX7 should already have the clutch master and slave. Just adapt the leftover slave.


My point was you won't get stuck when one of the cylinders eventually fails. (and not many people know how to clutchless shift)

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

The RX7 master has a 5/8 bore and the slave is tiny not good candidates.
Yes in a pinch could drive if hydraulics failed.
A Fluid Drive coupler would help...lol