My new clutch
 

About 800 miles later. Look hard and you'll see an assortment of clutch disk springs trapped under the pp springs. No wonder I couldn't shift gears. This was a Spec disk with new copper ceramic pads installed (they're still there) after the kevlar wore out in just 5k miles. Looks like the rivets that hold the sprung center to the friction outer pulled through. I've had rotten luck with Spec.

:td: Very bad! I hope that spec warranties the clutch, and doesn't blame the failure on abuse.

Good luck.

I tried contacting them via voicemail and email when the kevlar pads wore out without any luck, so I gave up. This is the second time this spec disk has failed me- I've learned my lesson now.

God Damnnnnnnn! I dont even think my mom could mess a clutch up that bad.

what will you next clutch be...my friends spec in his charged Camaro sucked...and now this one...kinda like...eh.

Ok, I think we should boycott Spec here.

I have a SPEC story too. I used a sprung 4 puck much like the one you have. Its not that the clutch springs came apart, but the copper pads...they basically just broke off and the clutch would slip terribly when I would go for anything over 15psi. SPEC is junk.

Yeah, I don't have ANY confidence in them. They did sponsor a car I raced and that clutch worked fine- but we're talking a hundred horsepower or so on a road course. This is different.

I'm tempted to just get an ACT disk since I've got an ACT pp. I did notice that there looks to be a single 6 puck hipo sprung disk that's being sold by about ten different manufacturers. Clutchnet sells it for $170, yet on ebay you can get what looks to be the exact same thing in a kit with everything for the same price.

ACTs discs can be had for cheap. try prostreetonline.com

Am I the only person running a Spec with some success?

i ended up with an act this time around again. I was going to give RPS a shot but they discontinued the miata clutch. I had an act in my eclipse and loved it but some miata people complained about theirs squealing. However nobody complained about them failing so i went with them again, it's been fine for the couple hundred miles i have on it. I like it a lot

which ACT discs are you guys running? the street disc is rated to 200 tq...is that right, will it actually hold it?

Clutchnet has never failed me in any of the cars I have used them in

I can't find where they list torque limits on the site.

I was about a week away from ordering a SPEC Stage II, now I'm back to searching, it seems.

I've got a spec stage II and haven't had any trouble with it yet. Beat the shit out of it autocrossing and so far so good.

Looking at the pictures, my disk looks totally different.

street disc is rated at 200tq on the HD PP, 277tq on the Xtreme PP

His isn't a stage II, the stage II is a full disk, not a puck clutch.

sorry, thats what I meant w/ the HD PP, been watching football and not paying a whole lot of attention...but it will hold that much? my friend had an ACT in his GSX and never had any problems...I just need to do this right the first time x.X

Isn't the ACT street disk the just an OEM disk?

I dunno?


On topic: what would cause that clutch to fail the way it did? Just shoddy craftsmanship?

pretty sure act's street disk is oem or oe specs, they use heavier pressure plates to get their torque capacities instead of different friction materials

Most likely, it's an Exedy disc, and looks the exact same. :)


My HD kit is holding at 12psi, slipping just ever so slightly at 6k. Going to kit the disc and go witha new Xtreme PP and I should be good.

Yeah I am not sure why they don't list power levels. If I was going to recommend a disc and pressure plate for a street car making 300 wtq or less I would go for this disc
http://www.clutchnet.com/product.php...0&cat=0&page=1

And this Pressure Plate
http://www.clutchnet.com/product.php...4&cat=0&page=1

The pedal pressure is a lot lighter than the ACT while still holding well.
I will be using this same combo on the Gti to hold near 400 whp.
I have had that disc paired to a stock pressure plate holding 350 wtq with no issues.

I went with a Spec setup based on favorable reviews from the non-miata circles. I was going to go with ACT but the there seemed to be a lot of people having trouble with noise, chattery engagement and a heavy pedal. I love the way the Spec feels and drives, hopfully it lasts.

I kept crunching up clutches with my 84 rx7 gsl-se until I realized that my flywheel was warped. thank goodness we had a box of them because it was 11pm and I had to work the next morning 235 miles away. Oh to be young again.

My Spec install should be complete tomorrow. Stage II running 10psi, should be around 200rwhp or less, and way under the ftlb rating for it. After install and religious 450mile recommended break-in, I plan to abuse it terribly until the rear-end breaks, then go with a Torsen upgrade and abuse it some more... we'll see. I'll get back to y'all in about 6 months with the results.

Spec strikes again. A buddy of mine back home just had his pressure plate come apart at the rivets on his Vr6 turbo Cabriolet and Spec told him he was SOL. He was only making around 275 wtq.

The disk I had was from Spec before they got "big". They don't sell anything that looks like it now, but at that time it was the highest sprung disk they had.

re: Clutchnet- the next level up disk, sprung 6 puck looks exactly like the same disk sold by about ten other manufacturers. Know anything about it?

So sad RPS isnt making the MAX anymore. I honestly love this clutch to death. The pedal pressure is maybe 50% over stock and it grabs HARD and never slips. Holds 360 ft/lb so says RPS. I am going to email them and tell them to keep making it. Soon I may go with a better disk and retain the magic RPS PP.

I know that the Clutchnet 6 puck was not my cup of tea for daily driving. I ran one for about 8 months. I do remember hearing about it holding up well in another Miata that was making over 400 whp. Its also a popular disc for some pretty high power Volkswagens. The Gti that I just bought has the Clutchnet 6 puck in it actually but I haven't recieved the car yet to see if I will be keepign it or swapping it out for the Carbon Pro. Also I am pretty sure that Clutchnet manufactures discs for a lot of other companys.

my theory on copper pucks is that they shouldn't be used on a sprung hub. they dont slip so the moment the clutch engages, ALL the impact and impulse forces smash those springs. it's a pretty brutal setup generally speaking and i'm sure the springs dont like it much.

with an organic or kevlar disk, the clutch wont fully engage unless you do a clutch drop so the stress on the springs is way lower.

what's the MAX clutch disk built like? kevlar? copper/ceramic? puck? sprung?

one thing I noticed about the clutchnet sprung discs is how well the springs are enclosed. Matt- what you're saying looks fairly obvious in one of my pics that shows where the springs hammered the disc. That looked to be another failure point in the future, if not contributing to the problem. Looks like clutchnet has tried to address that my enclosed the springs ends in a cup.

I put my clutch in on a friday and then on saturday morning, me a my buddie drove up to D.C. Walked around for the day and then drove home. Round trip from here to D.C with all the little side stops was right around 450 miles. Then on Sunday, I had a broke in clutch and got to beat it up. The reason I did this is because I have no self control and there is no way I would have been able to drive around town to break that clutch in.

I went with the clutchnet sprung 6 puck. I don't drive the car in traffic so the on/off 1st gear from a stop over and over wasn't an issue. I mentioned the pucks with the sprung hub and the clutchnet guy assured me they had addressed the "shock" issue Y8s mentioned. Looking at the photos it appeared so, and after receiving the disc there's no doubt it's built like a tank. It probably weighs more the twice the Spec unit I had.

I blew up 2 in my vw.

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...90_31_full.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...90_32_full.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...90_33_full.jpg

If you've been able to get this bad boy installed, I'm curious to know how you like it.

Not yet. Maybe over the holiday break. Clutchnet uses the same sprung hub for their organic and carbon based disks. Ultimately I plan on running more power than the 300fltbs their carbon disk was rated for so I went with the cerametallic.

Hustler- your disk is built differently than mine. Looks like you wore the rivet heads off the plate that was holding the friction pads? I don't see any friction pads for a second side- just one.

They now rivet the pads to the plate, so there's not an extra ring like on your disk. The part that came apart on mine was the sprung hub and that's still intact on your disk.

The clutch was only two weeks old too, and had plenty of friction surface. here is another pic:
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...90_34_full.jpg

With that said, I'd still probably take the clutchnet kit over the ACT kit if pedal position is better.

Well- I still don't get their thinking behind those friction surface rings. You'd think that it's just one more point of failure. No doubt the torque ripped the rivets right through on those rings.

The clutchnet disc is in and I love it. It's nowhere near as grabby as the spec 3 puck disc with the copper ceramic friciton pads. The sweet spot for smooth launches is much larger than with the 3-puck- so it's easy to leave the light without shudders. I'll post back once it's broke in.

My, ebay (clutchnet) clutch has been in now for 3 days. So far it really feels great. I realize just how much my old clutch disc was slipping, alot even when not in boost. The disc itself had overheated so much that the hub is all sorts of purple, pink, and blue. Im keeping it as a trophy.

Good to hear!

Sweet, keep us updated both of you two!