Why you don't buy ebay clutches
 

So I thought I would post this thread since when I bought it I didn't really find anything conclusive about ebay clutches. There were mixed reviews and I couldn't really get to the bottom of them.

Anyways, I put a sprung kevlar "stage 2" f1 clutch in my car. It claimed that it could hold up to 2xx hp and 25x tq (Don't remember the exact numbers). I put it in over the winter so the car sat for a couple of months before I could actually use it so I can't give much comparison to the slipping stock clutch, but I can try.

The stage 2 felt exctly like the slipping stock clutch, only it engaged higher up. The engagement was so harsh that even with a kevlar disk I would commonly stall, being used to a much, much nicer clutch. It slipped under stock power, and when I turbocharged the car it would hold up until about 4,500rpm and then it would go nuts. This thing smelled BAD aswell. It slipped so much that it would start to burn, especially with spirited driving and traffic. It was rancid.

I finally got rid of that POS when the rear main seal blew. I have since replaced it with an unsprung ceramic 6-puck ACT clutch. You might be thinking that it would be impossible going from a sprung kevlar to an unsprung 6-puck. On a reputable clutch, that would be very true indeed. On this? The engagement actually got better. That's right, the engagement got BETTER because of how bad the ebay clutches are made.

Other people feel free to chime in as well. Just want to prevent someone from making the same mistake I did.

I've had a F1 stage 3 clutch in my car since I got it. Its fine.

I'm of the opinion that 75+% of ebay clutch failures are install related. JayL and I installed mine, were meticulously clean, and I've had absolutely no problems with it.

FM stage 1 is the only clutch I will recommend now for any non built boosted motor. I have done enough clutch jobs to know that it is something you do not cheap out on.

Ask Brain about that time were took out his transmission twice in a day and again the following weekend because he cheaped out on a clutch.

I've been on an ebay F1 stage 3 for about 15k now.
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don't buy a kevlar clutch and expect it to hold. Those things need to cautiously installed and babied or they glaze over and are ruined. Sounds like you did something during installation like not readjust your engagement rod, kevlar should engage easy, so long as it's a full faced disc.

That said, if you're buying a clutch other than the:

Exedy Stage I
ACT HD or XT (Street Disc)
FMI or FMII
949 Racing Twin Disk

You = Fail.

haha you bought kevlar.

ACT xtg6 here and its rough as fuck when it heats up
but it holds.
no problems so far

fail. you guys all fail at timing belts and clutches.

f u, my clutch is holding more powah than your car has ever seen.
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thanks for the thread. this definitely shows me that ebay clutches are hit or miss. looks like i have to decide between the act hd or fm1

I'd say FM1 for creature comfort. I've driven my brothers act equipped miata and to me its a pita to drive.

Fuck this! I've had my ebay for a month and I still haven't installed it. Its going in dammit! BTW if you're going to cheap route, go ahead and get the damn stage 3...

I had an ACT street disk and it worked great for 2 years. Since then I have driven several FM1 equiped cars and the clutch pedal is so much easier on them. So I have switched to only recommending the FM clutches unless you are baller and going for the 949 twin disk.

it's not ACT is that you bought a shitty fucking 6 pucked disc.

My 1.6 act xt organic street clutch has a much heavier pedal than stock but the engagement is just as smooth as oem. Does not bother me at all.

exactly.

FM2 clutch FTMFW ya'll! Yes, I listened to Brain and Shuiend. Besides, every one knows pink grips better.:giggle: Install ETA: Tomorrow

FM1 isn't anything to write off either. The specs on it are almost as good.

http://a.imageshack.us/img840/262/imag0113e.jpg

Go clog a cat.

I'm another that's been through an ebay clutch. Then again, it wasn't installed properly the first time and blew up fairly quickly. My current one WAS installed correctly, and is doing great, beyond the jerky starts. I'm fine living with that since it's showing zero signs of slipping.

The act xtreme pressure plate with stock disc is just as stiff(1.8fwd). Besides, that's just my opinion. My brother drives it with no complaints and wanders what all my bitchin is about.

FM2 here too. I have a suspicion that the pressure plates may be the only difference between Flyin' Miata Level 1 & 2 clutches.
Gotta clamp hard to hold up to 353 lb/ft so the pedal is firm.

Me having this clutch while still NA = rice.

Fixed!

99% of the people who i see have issues are the dumbasses who bought a stage 2 its not any cheaper why the fuck would you go with a inferior clutch for the same money as a good clutch stage 3 or bust i dont care if the car still has a bone stock everything anyone who buys weaker shit to justify there sensebility needs to fucking wake up and man up to driving a real car.

^^ Because I didn't know anything when I bought it. I didn't even know about different clutch materials. I looked at it and went "OMGSTAGE2 *jizz*" and bought it.

EDIT: And lol, you're saying the man thing to someone who DDs an unsprung 6-puck ceramic.

unsprung 4 puck here with xtreme pp.

Spec S3 here and happy with it...but not happy enough to deny the FM s2 clutch next time. I'll do the 949 clutch when the time comes though.

I did an F1 stage 1, didn't release right out of the box. Their flywheels seem OK, but I wouldn't buy my enemy an F1 clutch.

I have an ACT HD pp and stock disc in there now. The ACT plate came out of a Spec Miata and had one full year of racing on it, they changed it out as part of PM. I was out of choices and time, so I went ahead and used it. I've got 50+ n/a autocross launches on it so far, and it's fine.

I'll only be doing ACT 1.6 parts for now, if I had a 1.8 flywheel I'd do the FM1 as an option. I will be doing another clutch after this season, it'll be an ACT.

ACT HD was butter. ACT HD plate w/ ACT sprung 6 puck is a chattering SOB.

To the OP. Kevlar is great if you need to stop bullets. Sucks as a friction surface.

I had a Spec "stage 2" which is a sprung clutch with organic on one side and kevlar on the other. It was great but wore out fast. In 20k miles the organic side wore out completely.
Would their all-kevlar clutch be better? I didn't wager and got an FM.

ive been running act hd street/strip, full face, sprung.. for over a decade with numerous cars, great clutches at very reasonable prices

i dont understand why you guys are trying to cut costs on one of the most, if not the most, vital factors in how your car performs. its not like you shift often

FM stage 1 FTW. I have one.

The reason I recommend the FM clutches is because you know they will work correctly when you put them in. All the cheap clutches I have see have been hit or miss. Some are put in and work great, other fail right away or very quickly. It is when they do fail that sucks because changing clutches is a pain in the ass. The knowledge that I know I will not be dropping the tranny any time soon is worth paying the premium for the FM clutches.

Competition Clutch makes the FM clutches now, im on the fince to wether or not ill buy one directly from CC or just grab the one on FMs site...

Had an F1 Stage 3 clutch for around 15k boosted miles with zero problems. It chattered a bit in reverse, but thats it.

i did the clutch myself i mean the ebay clutch f1 stage 2 i hold up for me fine and i been driving it in the track for atleast 4 time no burn smell work fine for me

It's been said already in this thread - kevlar clutch = fail.

DO NOT BUY A KEVLAR CLUTCH.

There is a good reason why Goodwin sells the F1 stage 1 and stage 3, but does not sell the stage 2. The stage 2 is kevlar. It sucks balls. The XTR stage 2 is also kevlar - AVOID.

I had a SPEC stage 2 on my old turbo mk1 a few years ago and it was great. It never slipped the 175 torques/bhp and had OEM pedal feel. Although a friend had the same one on a beefier 1.8 flywheel/clutch set-up and his slipped with his FM2 turbo on track.

How are you guys rating SPEC?

I have an FM 'Extreme' or whatever it's called, with the 10 pound flywheel. Engagement is smooth, pedal pressure is much higher than stock. Once you get used to it there are no drive ability issues.

F1 Stage 3 in my car. Held up fine for 2 full seasons of abuse and thousands of road miles.

I hate it though. I will never use another 6 puck clutch again. Driveline chatter is bad enough to make me want to run 30psi and try to kill it, so I can justify getting a new clutch.

Next one will be the FM stage 2 clutch for sure.

To the op, did you resurface the flywheel after removal of the old clutch and before install of the new one?

My f1 Stage 1 clutch has held up over two years on my boosted 1.8 Miata,. Including 5-6 back to back drag strip passes. Although, I think if you're making over Stage 1 HP&torque its time to consider a higher quality clutch set-up.

I ran the ebay clutch and alum flywheel on my track car with no probems.

In defense of the Egay clutches, I have Phil's used-beat to shit-F1 stage 3 in my car now. The bitch holds 15psi of an Egay 2870 like a champ. :dunno:

I had the same ACT 6-PUK unsprung clutch and I loved it. I also made 350WHP 305WTQ and never slipped. Thats over what ACT rates the clutch for also.

That bitch held 26 psi from an eBay 2870, respect!
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I'm finding it real hard not to get another one for my NB. I'd love the FM kit, but it's hard to ignore my success with the ebay piece.
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The success with fleabay kits is sporadic. That's the real problem here.

Exactly, I am a lazy bum and do not want to pull a transmission again because the clutch dies after a week.

So aside from general cleanliness and not dropping/bending the damn thing, what is all the "installed right" stuff. I don't mean to call anyones skill level into question, but exactly how does one install a clutch wrong? I have a freshly resurfaced 1.8 flywheel here waiting and will be buying the F1 stage 3 when I am in the states in a month (they are MUCH cheaper there). any tips as to what special procedure I need to do?

Yes, I know this is an old thread, but hey I searched right?

Clean the flywheel, pressure plate and clutch disc surfaces with liberal amounts of brake cleaner.
Install a new pilot bearing.
Use new bolts on the pressure plate if you can.
Tighten them in a star pattern, and in three stages, using a torque wrench.
Grease the splines of the input shaft using graphite grease.
Bleed and adjust your clutch hydraulics, adjust the pedal height.
Break in the new clutch properly.

Lots of people use shitty throw out bearings and don't use a resurfaced flywheel. The resurfacing is very important. It is not a bolt off/on job.

Aside from replacing the bolts all stuff I would have done anyway. I am a pro mechanic so its all 2nd nature, but written out like that I suppose there is potential to screw it up. Been so long I forgot the days when I would reuse everything and tighten it all in a circle.

I was responding to Blaize's post where he said he had a resurfaced flywheel.
A true flywheel is imperative for a proper clutch job.

It has never been that the clutches were installed wrong, it is just clutches do not work correctly. For example Braineack and I installed a cheap clutch in his car that he got in a group buy. It installed fine in the morning, but then we could not get it to engage correctly, even when adjusting the clutch pedal rod. So we had to take it back out and install some spacers to get it to engage correctly. Then later that week it failed. So we changed the clutch 3 times within a weeks span. The savings of a hundred bucks or so was not worth the amount of times we had to pull the transmission. I would much rather splurge for an FM, ACT, or 949 Twin-Disk and only have to do it once, then cheap out and have to do the job multiple times.

I need to do this. :vash:

I had the F1 S3 on my '94 and it worked fine. A little chatter here and there, and I wouldn't do it again for a daily driver, but for the price I didn't have much to complain about. I went with the FM1 this time and it drives even better than stock.

Basically, for the price:

F1 Stage 1 - Win
F1 Stage 2 - Fail
F1 Stage 3 - Win

There's nothing hit or miss about it.

I have to say I've had pretty much good experiences with eBay clutches. Only problem I had was my old s13 had kind of a spongy pedal. But the other 4, number 4 being my miata is holding strong.