akaryrye

iTrader: (5)

I got mine from somewhere else, and they had it listed for $219 by mistake. I ordered it and they realized the mistake and offered it to me for $245 I think you can find em for like 300ish for the stage 3

Ben

iTrader: (33)

Stephanie,
Were you able do put this vehicle on the dyno? I assume not. Power estimate?

Stephanie Turner

We were able to dyno it once. We did not complete the tuning because the clutch started slipping. It made 199 rwhp @ 7.5 psi. It is capable of doing much more, however it is another 1000 miles before we will know.
Stephanie

PaKMaN

iTrader: (1)

You're telling me this clutch won't do a single track day? Yet these guys on here have had such great luck with them? Is it a gamble to buy this clutch or what?

Ben

iTrader: (33)

:gay: I think your dyno is a bit stingy compared to others, but that still doesn't say much for Spec. I assume that was with a 2560?

I hope for your client that his new Stage3 holds up better, but I am surprised that he decided to stay with the brand.

Ben

iTrader: (33)

Some people swear by them, others swear at them. Perhaps they have large variations in quality, or perhaps multiple manufacturing sites or suppliers?

You might get something that holds up great, or you might have thrown $350 and a whole day's labor out the window.

Stephanie Turner

I hope it would hold at a track day. We do not use Spec clutches. This is one recent experience we have had. Who know maybe it was defective? Maybe it should be broken in for 1500 miles? No clue why it did not work. The way it was damaged makes it to hard to discern if it was there prior to the dyno or after. I doubt it was installed wrong.

Our dyno is notoriously stingy, unfortunately. But his is a smaller turbo, a GT2554. So the numbers are pretty good. I was kinda surprised he decided to stay with it also, but I think he is going to try to return it under warranty or something. We'll see what happens.
Stephanie

curly

iTrader: (25)

hope nobody minds me bringing up a slightly old thread, but I thought I'd add my input on the debate.

I got a spec stage II kit and installed it about 7000 miles ago. its been great on my N/A car. recently (50 miles ago) I put on a greddy turbo kit, with bipes and full 2.5" (including dp and cat) exhaust, running at about 7.5 psi (too high I know) haven't dyno'ed it yet, but with this setup, driving around normally the clutch holds up fine.

however, if I attempt to slip the clutch from a stop in order to maintain traction during a hard launch, the clutch will slip like mad under any amount of boost once I go into 2nd gear. after that it will take about 5-7 minutes of next to no shifting before I can enter boost again without it slipping (I'm assuming its cooling down?)

the car has had one OEM replacement clutch before this one, so 2 flywheel resurfacing jobs. I'm not sure if that makes a difference though.

if this problem doesn't go away with a little bleeding, which I doubt it will, I'm going ACT and some sort of lightened flywheel, most likely a 1.8 setup.

m2cupcar

iTrader: (5)

My spec stage II kevlar disc failed before 5k on supercharged 1.6 running ~6psi
IMO it is/was a QC issue.

jayc72

iTrader: (14)

I'm willing to bet that the majority of the issues with the Spec stage II kevlar disk are the break-in procedure. Sounds like the break in needs to be done longer (1000miles?) and to not really baby it, just no drag launches.

I've got the 1.6 Spec in my car and I have had no problem running 10-12psi and beating the **** out of it autocrossing. The only time I notice any issues is when I do a number of runs in a short time period. The clutch takes longer to hook up. My understanding is that this is the nature of a kevlar disk.

When launching at autocross I slip the clutch quite a bit until the car is moving pretty good then I quick disengage. I'm doing this because I still have the 6" rear and don't want to break it. If the clutch was at all prone to slipping this is when it would happen.

If this clutch doesn't hold 220whp I'll be very surprised.

m2cupcar

iTrader: (5)

the kevlar just came apart on one side... The car wasn't driven hard or soft- after all, what can you do with a 6psi sc'd miata anyway? I ran centerforce, jackson racing, act, clutchnet and brainstorm (may have been clutchnet too) and never had any problems with any of them. If the spec is so sensitive to break-in, then that might be another reason to not buy one. Like I said, I think it's just a QC issue.

jayc72

iTrader: (14)

I wasn't talking specifically to your experience. Actually breaking and not holding the advertised power are two different things. Could be that SPEC QC sucks, or that you got a bad run of discs.

I was talking about the people that are having trouble with them slipping.

samnavy

iTrader: (7)

I've been beating on it harder and harder over the past few weeks. I can now hit it real hard into 4th and 5th with no slip issues. No track events yet, but certainly "like I stole it" on the street daily. I really like it. We'll see how it holds up over time.

Arkmage

iTrader: (3)

How about clutchnet? I've heard good things in other communities, but has anyone used their stuff here?

jayc72

iTrader: (14)

A couple of the people over on m.net swear by the clutchnet stuff. Ultimately you'll find people that love a product and hate a product. Somewhat of a crap shoot.

airbrush1

you can buy spec clutches ... from hell......

I hate mine, it slips under load (I can smell it) and has the harshest engagement ever. I even followed the break in procedure.

BTW it's a spec stage 3 and I'm running 260whp, and 202 ft lbs of torque

m2cupcar

iTrader: (5)

I like my clutchnet sprung 6 puck, but I haven't done any high rev launches on it. I'm using it with an ACT xtreme PP and IMO I think it would hold up to anything I threw at it. The transmission would die first. I should be running upwards of 275ftlbs at the crank and have done countless 4th gear runs from 1500 to redline and it has never slipped, yet my transmission has developed a howl through all this.

I took my spec stage II disc after the kevlar wore through and had some cerametallic pads installed in place of the kevlar. It lasted about 300 miles until the center section literally ripped from the outer ring. Granted, I used a kevlar hub and ring for a cerametallic friction surface, but I did expect the metal pieces to give. I did notice that Spec has since changed the disc construction- my old spec looks far wimpier. But my new clutchnet is built like a tank compared to the old spec.

As stated, it looks like a "crap shoot" surrounding QC. I know that both ACT and clutchnet have had failures... maybe less than spec?

SloS13

iTrader: (1)

I had a SPEC Stage III on my turbo 240sx and looved it but I'm having serious reservations about getting a SPEC for my miata after hearing all of the horror stories. :(

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

Clutches are such an expensive and time consuming gamble...I hope I ultimately dont regret pulling the ACT.

jayc72

iTrader: (14)

I was out last night tuning my link, and did a lot of long runs in 4th and 5th gear at 12psi. I banged through 1/2/3 at WOT a couple of times. Clutch seems to be holding fine. Not sure what HP I'm running but the car feels very quick.

But honestly, I'd choose something like the ACT next time. Put up with the issues and get something that will hold for sure. When I bought my SpecII I had no intention of going turbo ... hindsight is 20/20

Maybe I'll pull it out and sell the entire thing as a package and go with a 1.8 solution if it becomes a problem.