Spec
 

Met the owner of SPEC Clutches on Saturday. Ends up we actually have a bunch of friends in common. Wanted to bring up the issue where SPECs in Miatas were grenading but it wasn't the best conversation topic.

What type of failures do the SPEC clutches in miatas usually have? Maybe I could send him an email and see what could be done about these in future manufacturing?

I met the owner a long time and he was good to me. He helped out a spec Miata I was racing with parts and they worked well. Then I got a got a clutch from him for my supercharged Miata and the kevlar wore out in less than 5k w/o any abuse whatsoever. I tried contacting him/them regarding the disk and could not get any response ever, period. I think it's just a quality control issue. Spec got very popular quickly and with an increase in production came some quality issues. It seems a lot of the issues just happened to come about in Miatas. Coincidence? :dunno:

Wideopentuning also had a failure. SamNavy had some issues, but that could have been due to break-in. Seems to be happy with it now.

Someone else had an issue, could have been Andyfloyd.

Mine seems to be holding fine at ~8-9 PSI, however, I may not have broken it in well, as it'll chatter pretty good when cold and moving from a standstill :(

On Sat, we saw a good example of the issues with this clutch. I guess that kevlar is picky about it's operating temp... too cold, too warm, just right. On my first dyno run, it slipped just a little at about 4000rpm, then caught and held fine all the way to redline (just needed a little heat in it). All 5 other runs held great. My StageII is rated for 240ftlbs at the motor. I make 185wtq (so maybe 220ftlbs at the motor, within about 20ftlbs of it's rated max).

The instructions that came with the clutch said it needed about 400miles of light (not boosted) driving to break in properly. I did almost all of the first 400miles in the city under moderate conditions. At just over 400miles I took it to the dyno and laid into it for the first time. It slipped like crazy at about 150ftlbs. I drove it for a few more weeks under wastegate only, and one afternoon cranked the boost controller up to 12psi and it's held awesome on the street ever since.

I'm making 190whp/185ftlbs @5500rpm and it holds great. It's been in about 3000miles, we'll see how long it lasts. I think a performance clutch like this, considering the price should get at least 30-40k miles. I was still on the stock clutch at 140k miles. If this one doesn't last, I'm going with ACT and never looking back.

I haven't had a failure personally but a buddy did. About the time the Miata failures started popping up units were failing in the VW world as well.

mine slips like hell at 260 wheel..... and it's a stage 3. Proper break in and all.... now sometimes it makes a weird squeaky noise on engagement also.... Odd...

keep telling you guys I had an RPS max and it felt great and held like a motherfucker.

my kevlar Centerforce DF is holding ;)

is that why you didn't come to the dyno day? hmmmmm?

Actually I forgot to take off work....so I had to go in, and I'm having some issues regardng boost control (long story short, I installed a fried AVC-R and I'm at wastegate pressure right now..... new avc-r should be in this week)

Clutch had some to do with it.... plus been busy gettin stuff together for my brothers swap in the RSX typeS (supercharged K24/K20a hybrid FTW!)...

I dunno, excuses excuses......

I may buy a lightened flywheel and a stage 3+ pressure plate and try the spec thing again one more time though.....

The stories I heard about SPEC clutches on this site drove me to an ACT. I don't regret the purchase. The clutch is not something you want to be worrying about.