Installation Instructions - IS300 Slave Cylinder Conversion Kit for MazdaSpeed 3 (2007 - 2013)
Tools Required
- Allen wrench (Metric #5)
- 13mm socket or wrench
- 10mm - 13mm wrenches
- Metal pick
- DOT 3 brake fluid
- Shop towels
- Container for catching fluid
- Silicone hose (for bleeding the clutch)
Instructions
1. Be sure to have all the required tools on hand from the above list of required tools.
2. Jack up your car and safely support the front of your car using jack-stands. Be sure to verify that the car is securely placed on the jack-stands by briefly shaking the car with your hands. Then do the same with the rear of your car. We need the car to be level for when you bleed the clutch at the end of this installation. You can use the center jacking points as seen in this diagram:
3. With the car safely supported on jack-stands, remove the aerodynamic under-cover from the car. On the underside, there should be two bolts connecting each wheel splash-guard to the under-cover. Additionally, there are a few bolts holding the under-cover to the radiator-support towards the front underside of the car.
4. With the under-cover removed and set aside, the clutch slave cylinder should be visible on the front of the transmission. There will be a black hardline retained by a metal retaining clip. Prepare your catch container under the car. Using a metal pick, pull the retaining clip perpendicularly away from the fitting. Once removed, you can pull the hardline out of the slave cylinder and allow some of the brake fluid to drain out into the catch can.
5. Now disconnect the negative terminal, then positive terminal from your car's battery. With the hold-down removed and battery disconnected, remove the battery and battery tray from the car. This should give you access to the clutch master cylinder which is in the very back right corner of the engine bay on the firewall.
6. Once you have located the clutch master cylinder, prepare shop towels under the master cylinder then disconnect the hardline the same way you did with the clutch slave cylinder. Now that the hardline is disconnected on both ends, you need to remove the hardline completely from the engine bay. This may pose some challenge as the hardline rests just on top of the transmission and there are many wires, vacuum lines, and coolant lines between you and the transmission. With as much caution as possible, safely extract the clutch hardline from the engine bay
Note: The clutch line has two sections, one which is a soft line, and one which is a hard line. You are able to disconnect the two if you can find the connection behind the transmission, approximately under where the battery tray was. This could help in extracting the clutch lines.
7. With the clutch line removed, we can now work on removing the clutch slave cylinder. There are two bolts holding it in place on the transmission.
8. Now that the OEM slave cylinder has been removed, take the SleepyCustoms adapter plate and place the split washer over the shorter stud before threading the shorter stud into the transmission hole on the right. Spin the plate into the transmission until it is reasonably snug AND the left transmission hole aligns with the left adapter plate hole.
CAUTION: The transmission housing is aluminum and therefore you should be careful not to over-tighten anything threading into the transmission. Damaging the transmission housing threads would require you to re-tap the threads or worse.
9. Now take the M8 x 1.25 stud and, using an allen wrench, carefully thread the stud into the adapter plate and transmission. This aligns the plate to the transmission and prevents it from spinning when using the clutch.
10. Next, thread the metric to -3 AN adapter into the new clutch slave cylinder. Make sure that the fitment is snug.
11. You can now place the new clutch slave cylinder onto the adapter plate studs with the piston facing to the right. You may need to somewhat compress the piston with your finger in order for it to fit. Make sure that the metal piston tip is centered on the clutch fork. Use the two provided M8 x 1.25 nuts to secure the clutch slave cylinder to the adapter plate.
12. Next, take the brass clutch adapter fitting and the -3 AN braided line and thread them together. Afterwards insert the brass fitting into the clutch master cylinder. Once it is fully seated, you can push the master cylinder retaining clip back into place which will hold the fitting securely.
13. Run the braided line over the transmission and towards the clutch slave cylinder. Then, tighten the braided line onto the silver adapter fitting we inserted into the clutch slave cylinder earlier.
14. You must now open the clutch fluid reservoir found to the left of the clutch master cylinder. With a bottle of DOT 3 brake fluid on hand and someone to assist with pressing the clutch pedal, bleed the clutch to evacuate any air in the line. Make sure that the reservoir never goes too low during this process. Failure to bleed your clutch will give you many problems.
- Here is a useful resource on the matter
- If during the process of bleeding the clutch, you notice a leak coming from the brass fitting in the master cylinder, try re-seating the fitting as you may have incorrectly installed it.