Don---There appears to be at least two reasons for the squeal we have
heard. One is the coming up to speed thingy, and the other is when
bearings are protesting having to turn because of dryness, pressure, or
the bearing balls are starting to disintegrate. When it gets to the last
one, the clutch pedal will vibrate when stepped on, and there will be no
doubt about it.
The coming up to speed noise is more of an annoyance. The bearing may
not suffer at all from this. The clutch fingers will eventually have a
groove in them at the points of contact. I suspect this would take years
before causing a problem with the actual clutch operation, as the metal
dust it creates finds it's way into the bearing.
A "loose" bearing (RHP or others) will certainly spin easier, but could
also indicate that the grease is gone, and the next phase is bearing
disintegration. So installing one of these is a crap shoot.
The original preload wasn't a preload at all. As you suspected, the
light spring in the SC is meant to take up the play from wear in the
operating linkage, from the SC pushrod all the way to the clutch
fingers. Note: We know it will not make up for a fork pin that is broken
and whose stub causes the subsequent bending of the linkage when under
load.
I wonder what the Miata people will be discussing in 20 years?
Dick
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