Hello all

I will soon be in the market for a new clutch, as mine is going out. In the future (hopefully starting this winter) I will start somewhat of a N/A buildup, probably consisting of higher compression, decent cams, some headwork, maybe ITB's, looking for about 170-180 crank horsepower. I was looking at SPEC clutches available for my car, and it seems that I can get anywhere from stage 1 to 5.

Would a stage 1 be enough? I don't dragrace, so not many hard launches, I just want it to not have any problems holding up to the power I hope to be putting out.

Just to clarify, my car is a 1.8L Miata, not a Honda, sorry.

Ben

 

Anyone??

Ben

 

Fair warning, DO NOT buy one. I had one in my car and the preasure plate came apart at 9k, blowing a hole in my case and DAMN NEAR getting to the differential. The only good thing about it was that they replaced it for free, but I still don't trust it. Let me see if I can dig up some pics.

 

Sorry for the size, but you get the point. They called it a "defective preasure plate."






My Spoon flywheel, check the hot spots



....and how close it got to the LSD....



-Hope this helps...

 

i have never had a problem with my spec stage 3, 6 puck sprung clutch with pressure plate. it still looks almost new. i just recently pulled my tranny again. it looks great still. but in an old thread, it has been said that spec had a bad pressure plate batch, and they did replace all the 1s that were reported. the mr2 community and the 3000gt community swears by this brand, and so do i. personally i love this better than act and clutch masters. ill try something else for my next clutch.

 

Wow, insane pics

Well, so far I've got one for and one against...anyone else have some feedback?

Thanks

Ben

 

I have personally remove 4 spec clutches with under 4000 miles on them. all the flywheels and pressure plates were destroyed from way too aggressive friction pads on the disks..

 

OK, so what I'm kind of starting to see is that SPEC isn't all that great. I'm trying to see what other options I have....Clutchmaster and ACT? Anyone else? I'd like to buy a clutch and lightweight flywheel as a combo, any recommendations?

Ben

 

Ask for Miba frictin pads

 

We're a dealer for SPEC (along with being dealers for their competitors too) and use them on street/track cars. Any performance clutch will wear out faster than an OEM on a stock motor. An OEM clutch will wear out faster than a performance clutch on a modified motor. Get a stage clutch that is realistically within your power output. If it's rated at 500 ft lbs and your motor is putting out 600 ft lbs go with a higher stage clutch, if a clutch is rated at 500 ft lbs and your motor is putting out 150 ft lbs get a lower stage. Haven't had one fly apart on us and consider that most of the time when people complain about parts its because of installer error (improper assembly, torquing, etc.). SPEC has great customer service and we haven't had any problems with their products and we've installed them on everything from daily driven imports to high hp track only cars. No complaints.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by backpurge &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">We're a dealer for SPEC (along with being dealers for their competitors too) and use them on street/track cars. Any performance clutch will wear out faster than an OEM on a stock motor. An OEM clutch will wear out faster than a performance clutch on a modified motor. Get a stage clutch that is realistically within your power output. If it's rated at 500 ft lbs and your motor is putting out 600 ft lbs go with a higher stage clutch, if a clutch is rated at 500 ft lbs and your motor is putting out 150 ft lbs get a lower stage. Haven't had one fly apart on us and consider that most of the time when people complain about parts its because of installer error (improper assembly, torquing, etc.). SPEC has great customer service and we haven't had any problems with their products and we've installed them on everything from daily driven imports to high hp track only cars. No complaints. </TD></TR></TABLE>

of course your going to say that...your a dealer...go peddle your bullshit elsewhere

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by backpurge &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> and consider that most of the time when people complain about parts its because of installer error (improper assembly, torquing, etc.). </TD></TR></TABLE>

I can assure you thta my case was NOT instalation error. My friends and I have all personally installed MANY clutches over the past few years, ALL torquing sequences were done properly and double checked. Spec admitted that there product WAS at fault. My roomate also had problems with his preasure plate....thats why none of us run Spec anymore. He has since switched to a Excedy found in this motor here...
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1353343

 

From what I've seen Action 1MD / 2MD outlasts stock clutches.

Only compromise is that they have a faster engagement and the 2MD pedal is firmer.

 

ACT HD and street disc will serve you well...

 

they should name their company out of SPEC clutch!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by backpurge &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">We're a dealer for SPEC (along with being dealers for their competitors too) and use them on street/track cars. Any performance clutch will wear out faster than an OEM on a stock motor. An OEM clutch will wear out faster than a performance clutch on a modified motor. Get a stage clutch that is realistically within your power output. If it's rated at 500 ft lbs and your motor is putting out 600 ft lbs go with a higher stage clutch, if a clutch is rated at 500 ft lbs and your motor is putting out 150 ft lbs get a lower stage. Haven't had one fly apart on us and consider that most of the time when people complain about parts its because of installer error (improper assembly, torquing, etc.). SPEC has great customer service and we haven't had any problems with their products and we've installed them on everything from daily driven imports to high hp track only cars. No complaints. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Thats fine and dandy . but when a shop orders a clutch for a Lotus and the splines are a different pattern and dont fit well, the clutch company shouldnt take it back and hand file the slines and send it back to the customer who paid alot of money for a custom clutch.. SPEC did this and I saw it first hand.. I also have as stated before, removed several of them with issues.. INCLUDING the spec clutch disk thats in MY car right NOW.... I had to use it in an emergency situation and it sucks.. I'll take pics of what it did to the first flywheel..
And Its not installer error on my part..or any of the ones I removed from the other cars..
I will give the the benifit as these were all high hp rated clutches with 3 and 4 pucks.. But none of my other 4 pucks have done this damage this quickly , nor any of the ones I have removed.
I base my opinion on these facts..

 

ACT HDSS, or XTSS, Great clutches!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 2k.civic.si &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

of course your going to say that...your a dealer...go peddle your bullshit elsewhere</TD></TR></TABLE>

I love the reading comprehension. Note I said we're a dealer for their competitors too, so why would I "peddle my bullshit" when I could have just pointed him in the direction of a more expensive brand.


Modified by backpurge at 3:01 AM 10/22/2005

 

i broke my spec clutch in exactly like they said to in the instruction si believe it was 750 miles, and at 1200 it slipped like a bitch on a bolt on B16 i pulled it and put in an ACT i will never switch back again

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by backpurge &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">We're a dealer for SPEC (along with being dealers for their competitors too) and use them on street/track cars. Any performance clutch will wear out faster than an OEM on a stock motor. An OEM clutch will wear out faster than a performance clutch on a modified motor. Get a stage clutch that is realistically within your power output. If it's rated at 500 ft lbs and your motor is putting out 600 ft lbs go with a higher stage clutch, if a clutch is rated at 500 ft lbs and your motor is putting out 150 ft lbs get a lower stage. Haven't had one fly apart on us and consider that most of the time when people complain about parts its because of installer error (improper assembly, torquing, etc.). SPEC has great customer service and we haven't had any problems with their products and we've installed them on everything from daily driven imports to high hp track only cars. No complaints. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Just to clarify on my statements.. I agree what just about everything you did say here.. But in my personal experiences , I gave my results.. But I know for a fact that on my installs there was no installer error whatsoever.. I follow the book to a t whan it calls for proper step height and will even have the flywheels cut to proper step for pressure plate clamp. I use loctite, tq in sequence and use new bolts..I use snap on tq wrenches that are 2%.

 

yes this is true about the specs messing up previously before. it was not the clutches fault but the pressure plates were on a bad run. i personally use spec on all my cars once i have tried it. i have used clutch masters, exedy, act, spec, and a few other big name brands that i cant think off the top of my head. i personally think the spec felt the best, and lasts the longest out of all the cars i have put it in.

and personally, it all depends on your driving style on how long your clutch lasts. the cars that i daily drive, i never ever change the clutch out. not once due to clutch wear.

for all those suggesting act, i personally have seen those fall apart more often than any other clutch. the friction pads always tear off and split apart. i have 1 in the garage that i just took off for my friend and its all ate up from the pressure plate side. its not a rare thing for act from my experience to do this.

but if you would like to try the best combination clutch and pressure plate, id suggest the action set that rocket suggests. from the looks of it it should be the best. that is the next clutch/pressure plate combo i plan on getting next for my next setup.

 

My spec pressure plate broke as well.. contact face completely fell off.

I'm running the Competition Clutch stage 4 now

I've heard nothing but good reviews, I like mine.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gldndrgn14 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
for all those suggesting act, i personally have seen those fall apart more often than any other clutch. the friction pads always tear off and split apart. i have 1 in the garage that i just took off for my friend and its all ate up from the pressure plate side. its not a rare thing for act from my experience to do this.

but if you would like to try the best combination clutch and pressure plate, id suggest the action set that rocket suggests. from the looks of it it should be the best. that is the next clutch/pressure plate combo i plan on getting next for my next setup.</TD></TR></TABLE>


I agree with you 100% on what yopuve said here.

I have installed 6 Action clutches so far and removed a few of them. After 10,000 miles on one of the cars(Mansons 160 whp b17a). It had less wear then any other clutch I have seen with that amount of mileage on a performance clutch..( and he beats the crap out of it).

I have never run an ACT but have removed at least 10 of them.. I'm not impressed with them at all.. However these were all purchase at least 2-3 years ago , so their newer stuff might be ok..

 

Spec sucks. I put a stage two in my rebuilt Z6. Built for boost, but broken NA in for 1000 miles and nothing over 4500rpm (VTEC not even hooked up). I could cruise down the highway at 70mph (4000rpm), roll onto the throttle and the clutch would just slide. I took the clutch out at 1500miles and checked it out. Sent it back to SPEC and they send me a new disk and the same pressure plate. I haven't put it in yet, don't know if I want to, but don't want to put money into another clutch.

SPEC won't warranty the clutch either. They don't send invoices with their products and their customer service sucks ***.

 

I'm liking the sound of this 'Action' package. Where might I find more information?

Ben