I have a 1988 GTU 5 speed and the cluth is about toast it is making a whirling type of grind when clutch is in geear or in nutrale. when i press the pedal down the sound fades. what could that be? and the clutch hydrolics seem to be i crappy shape should i replace them as well? one more thing why does my shifter get hot.

 

That happened to my old S4 and it ended up being the clutch release bearing, you should get it checked out

 

if the clutch is gone then just replace the whole thing, while its out do the bearing and get the flywheel resurfaced, the bearing is cheap from Mazda and may even come with the clutch set.



new hydrolics are less then $200, you can see how things work out after the clutch set is in then do the hydrolics from there.



your shifter is getting hot from heat coming up through the shifter area, there are various boots and bushings in there that need to be replaced over time from the heat.

 

Thanks for the help ill see in a few days how bad it is.

 

That wirring sound is the input gear, bearings, & the countershaft spinning down.



Hopefully it's just normal worn tranny noise.

First thing to try - drain & refill it with synthetic gear oil.