freakasis

im going to need a clutch soon. its not sliping yet. but the only day i have to do it is on sunday and no one is open to resurface the flytwheel. is it really necassary? this is a stock application by the way no racing.

gsxr1k05

not resurfacing the flywheel COULD cause the clutch to glaze or not seat right. same idea as not turning the rotors when you do brakes.

lsvtecturbosol

I have done some clutch installs without resurfacing the flywheel. You can drive around normally but none of the ones I did got seated correctly.

Meaning I spent 300 bucks on a competition clutch that slipped like it was stock becuase it never got seated.

It will work but will probably not feel as good and grip as good if you don't resurface teh flywheel.

sintype

yep.

honda_hackett

id def resurface when you can. do take the risk of having another shitty clutch

Jonathan_ED3

It's imperative that you resurface and also break the clutch in properly!

freakasis

alright, maybe ill get a used one form somone and get it resurfaced.

how do you break in a clutch?

t0p_sh0tta

Easy shifting for a couple hundred miles. It is my understanding that it's best to shift as much as possible during this time to get some heat into the clutch.

Jonathan_ED3

Yes. exactly - installing a clutch and taking a 500 mile highway road trip doesn't count as breaking it in

freakasis

so im supposed to shift often to heat it up, should i shift "wrong", like not match it up perfectly, so the clutch will actually do some work? when i normally drive i match it up perfectly so the clutch doesnt really have to work.

Jonathan_ED3

I wouldn't intentionally do anything 'wrong' - from what I've been told by most of the OE suppliers is just do several hundred miles of city driving.

Now, if you're trying to break in a race-spec clutch, I'm not real sure .....

BlackDeuceCoupe

Interesting comment!

What a LOT of ppl DON'T realize is - by definition...

<FONT COLOR="red">ALL CLUTCHES SLIP - AUTOMATIC AND MANUAL TRANNIES ALIKE!!!</FONT>

...every one of them! There's no such thing as a clutch that doesn't slip!

Top Fuelers use (multiple) clutch packs and they're glowing red by the end of the quarter-mile from slippage!

Having said that - you're absolutely right lsvtecturbosol!

If you don't resurface your flywheel/pressure plate it'll never hook up correctly - no matter what else you do! It'll be very happy to 'slip' forever - that's what clutches do...

OP: Do it right - have that flywheel resurfaced.

sageuvagony

Get it resurfaced. I did an auto to manual swap. I used new clutch components but never resurfaced the flywheel, and because of that, I have clutch chatter at low rpms. The car vibrates alot if I try to engage the clutch at very low RPM...

GET IT RESURFACED.

Sr420Det

Just my experiance: I got a egay six puck making around 300hp on a b16 without surfacing and had no problems yet well over 10,000 miles on it and probably 100,000 on the flywheel before i put the clutch in.

addiction2bass

well all depends how bad the old clutch was pushed before being replaced..... just like your brakes move your hand over the whole surface... if it doesnt feel smooth and flat as glass. get it smoothed. i didnt resurface my old 94civics flywheel when i swaped the clutch out but it was perfectly s mooth. i just sanded the surface alittle and never had a problem with it... drove it for abotu 6months before selling the car.

but if in doubt just have it resurfaced and be sure.... its not that much $$ and its more of a PITA to pull the clutch setup if you do have any problems......
and one thing i always do is when the tranny is removed go ahead and replace the motors rear main oil seal..... cheap preventive maintenance.

Jonathan_ED3

You could have a six puck clutch bolted to a rusty piece of iron and not be able to tell anything! The six puck clutch is probably hiding some engagement roughness by being inherently rough itself. Put a stock clutch on and I'm sure will be able to tell.

00b20vtecoupe

i did a clutch a while back at about 55,000 miles and didnt resurface with no problems. then i did another recently with a clutchmasters stage 5 on an aftermarket flywheel with about 10,000 on it and no issues. you can look at the flywheel and tell how bad it is and maybe not resurface. and ive heard of some ppl doing it them self if ur good at that kind of thing.

pk386

Not to thread jack...

But, what type of shops do you guys go to for machine work and what clues do you look for that the shop is decent.

I live in the middle of Mississippi and it's hard to find people people who know what the heck they are doing. (Or care about there work)

B18C5-EH2

It costs at most $75.00 to have a machine shop properly resurface the stepped flywheels that Hondas have.

If you care to risk clutch chatter, and reduced clutch life by all means try and save that extra $40.00-$75.00 it'll cost to have the flywheel resurfaced.

BTW:

A guy commented earlier about a Competition clutch slipping - I hate to say it but even if you had the flywheel turned that Comp clutch would have likely still slipped as they are IMO junk.

Also when discussing puck style clutches it's important to realize that they won't engage smoothly, and they can even cut deep grooves and leave a deep ridge/high lip on the edge of the flywheel after even short mileage. I've seen a stock ITR flywheel get ruined by a puck style clutch disc after only 10K worth of driving. Puck clutches transfer much more shock to the transmission too, as I've personally destoyed three final drive assemblies in my own ITR tranny(s).

BlackDeuceCoupe

Truth!

With clutches, less is more - and more is less...

Puck discs will usually grab so bad that your ride will be undriveable on the street - the less pucks, the worse it is!

IMHO, a full-sized street disc is where most ppl will want to be!

Another thing - make sure you get a sprung hub, not a solid one...

B18C5-EH2

Just for clarification:

You want a sprung hub when you are dealing with a solid full faced street type disc.

If you are going to go with a puck style clutch then you actually want a non-sprung hub, because believe it or not puck style clutches with a sprung hub can actually rathcte harder and deliver increased shock/load into the transmission, axles, etc. and do more damage than a non-sprung hub puck style clutch.

Ask me how I know!!!

For this very reason you won't find an ACT clutch that is sprung hub, puck style.

I'm sure BDC meant get a sprung hub solid faced disc, but for toehrs reading I didn't want anyone to miscontrue what he typed into thinking a sprung hub puck disc would be suggested.

Sr420Det

But thats what I heard about the ebay turbo kit and it fell to **** in no time. So..... If its recommended i would probably do it unless I didnt care or wouldnt mind doing it over.

romerosi

just by a light weight one. or clean it up with a wizzer wheel, honda doesnt recomend resurfacing fly wheels, they are steeped for a reason. when u resurface them u change the step and affects pressure plate pressures

BlackDeuceCoupe

Yes, absolutely!

BTW, I gotta ask - How did you know?

LoL! I wanna hear the horror story...

You spit some springs???

freakasis

price isnt the issue, its the fact that no ones open on sunday to resurface it. and this is my only car. im either gonna get another flywheel resurfaced and have it on hand to swap over, or just do it without resurfacing and if it ends up being bad, ill just redo it. and yes i ALWAYS change main seals whenever im in there, no matter how new they are, 10 years or 2 months. i hate doing hours of work over because i cheaped out on a $9 item.