I need a clutch

**kingdon** · 10-13-2008 09:18 AM

Last night I gave a friend my car for a test drive and He finish my clutch put it like this I could not see my car all I saw was smokes all over the place He burn up my clutch so bad I taught my car was on fire. so my car is stuck in the Bronx. So now I am thinking of getting a stage two clutch so later when I up grade my turbo I don't have to worry about the clutch.What brand name clutch can I get that is not too expensive but works good and also not too stiff.

**mike-2ptzero** · 10-13-2008 10:13 AM

What size turbo do you plan on going with later? I would suggest a SB stage 3 or 4 depending on what size turbo. Stage 3 kit will have a slightly stiffer pedal at first but nothing all that bad.

**00SantorinS4** · 10-13-2008 10:20 AM

could someone rephrase what the OP said in english?

**mike-2ptzero** · 10-13-2008 10:22 AM

Originally Posted by 00SantorinS4

could someone rephrase what the OP said in english?

Seemed to be pretty clear to me.

Friend drove car and killed the clutch. All he could see was smoke all over the place and thought the car was on fire. Needs new clutch but wants to make sure he has enough clutch for an upgraded turbo later. Wants to know what clutch to go with that doesn't cost too much money and wont be all that much stiffer then stock.

**djwimbo** · 10-13-2008 05:22 PM

I love my SPEC, but people hate on me for that.
Southbend has good stuff as well.

I bought a Stage 2+ Spec that's rated at 410 lb/ft torque, should be enough to handle anything I could afford to upgrade to during it's lifetime. I have almost 20K on it now(since Feb '08) and I haven't had any issues at the track, club racing, DD or AutoX.

The downside, clutch kit (pressure plate, hardware, clutch disc and a sweet cardboard box) cost me $580 + the steel single mass flywheel $400. SPEC was running a 10% discount at the time, so I think it was shipped to my door for ~$945.

**fernando** · 10-13-2008 08:15 PM

Originally Posted by kingdon

Last night I gave a friend my car for a test drive and He finish my clutch put it like this I could not see my car all I saw was smokes all over the place He burn up my clutch so bad I taught my car was on fire. so my car is stuck in the Bronx. So now I am thinking of getting a stage two clutch so later when I up grade my turbo I don't have to worry about the clutch.What brand name clutch can I get that is not too expensive but works good and also not too stiff.

what ever you do don't buy southbend.....i so regret getting mine......if the clutch worked fine i can see that it would be a really god clutch.....amd southbemd customer service really sucks

**mike-2ptzero** · 10-13-2008 08:41 PM

Originally Posted by fernando

what ever you do don't buy southbend.....i so regret getting mine......if the clutch worked fine i can see that it would be a really god clutch.....amd southbemd customer service really sucks

I talked to Andy, he thinks it might be an issue with the flywheel. Call me up when you get a chance.

**fernando** · 10-13-2008 08:48 PM

Originally Posted by mike-2ptzero

I talked to Andy, he thinks it might be an issue with the flywheel. Call me up when you get a chance.

k mike i will call u tomorrow....cause i am very pissed.....i tried the slave rod mod, and it was working but i should not be modding the slave to accommodate the clutch.

**djwimbo** · 10-13-2008 09:08 PM

Originally Posted by fernando

....cause i am very pissed.....

I'd make sure the issue was at a standstill or something seriously went wrong before I'd open up that can of worms. There are a LOT of happy SB customers.

I was cursing up and down about my SPEC when I installed it. I called up spec basically blaming them and thinking it was some fluke. Turns out it was my own installation that was the issue. I yanked my trans back out, found the problem, corrected it and told my roommate not to tell anyone. Yea, it sucked, but you gotta rule out all the possibilities before shifting the blame.

**fernando** · 10-13-2008 09:19 PM

Originally Posted by djwimbo

I'd make sure the issue was at a standstill or something seriously went wrong before I'd open up that can of worms. There are a LOT of happy SB customers.

I was cursing up and down about my SPEC when I installed it. I called up spec basically blaming them and thinking it was some fluke. Turns out it was my own installation that was the issue. I yanked my trans back out, found the problem, corrected it and told my roommate not to tell anyone. Yea, it sucked, but you gotta rule out all the possibilities before shifting the blame.

your absolutly right about that...if i had done the work my self i would know, but i had a shop put this cluch in for me...i didn't want to do this in my garage at home...now i am almost sure ta=hat the problem hass to be in the cluch, because if the engine is off the gears go in like butter,,,,and once the car gets going the go in nice....and specially when i am driving i usually tend not to use the clutch to shift and they are very smooth.....my only problem is getting it into gear when i am stopped...i almost have to shut the car off, put it in gear and start it back up

**djwimbo** · 10-13-2008 09:47 PM

Originally Posted by fernando

.....my only problem is getting it into gear when i am stopped...i almost have to shut the car off, put it in gear and start it back up

this is where I admit my failure, I am a tech, I've done clutch installs before, and I screwed up. On my own clutch install that is.
I was in a hurry to get the trans up in the car and done b/c the snow was coming and the Vette doesn't like snow. Turns out, in my hurry I basically forced the trans into place instead of letting it "pop" into place.

No, I did NOT use the bolts to pull the trans in, I pushed it by hand.

Turns out I rolled some of the metal from the splines on the clutch disc on install and the clutch disc couldn't slide on the splines like it should be able to.

I replaced the master cylinder thinking I had an internal leak, bled the system multiple times and pulled my hair out. Only when I pulled the trans back out did I realize what I had done.

Since you had somebody else put the clutch in for you, it's their responsibility to make sure it functions correctly. Even if it's a parts failure, they have to diagnose it properly to make sure it isn't an issue they created. I know how that goes, I've had customers do that to me. This is why I don't like installing customer supplied parts.