I don't think I'll be doing any clutches any time soon.

My original clutch on my 1992 Honda Civic CX lasted 100,000 without a hiccup.

When I swapped in the 1995 Acura Integra GSR motor with 57,000 miles on it, I opted the ghetto way with no clutch changeover.

Saved me money, but whew.

I knew when I added the supercharger, things would get dicey. After one track event, about a month later - clutch started acting up. Poor shifting, and slipping. Eeech.

The fun begins. I went against conventional wisdom and got a centerforce (excellent reputation with the American Muscle boyeees). Seemed to be a nice clutch, buuut.... the version for the Integra doesn't include their "extra" technology (the extra weights). Great. Also no throwout bearing or pilot bearing OR clutch alignment tool. This was getting painful.

Ok. NOW add that you CAN'T GET THE INTERMEDIATE SHAFT OFF WITHOUT REMOVING THE JRSC supercharger. AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Now, here I am. Now I either remove the supercharger (HUGE pain in the butt), or I try to remove the transmission without removing the intermediate shaft. I chose the latter. In retrospect, if I had just committed to removing the supercharger, it would have probably taken a little less time.

Ok, so I get the tranny off after (literally) wrestling it from the engine. The clutch part went fine. THREE HOURS LATER, we finally wrestled the tranny on. You ever try to line up both an intermediate shaft and a transmission input shaft at the same time? AHHHHHH! I don't recommend it.

The tranny STILL didn't mate all the way up. We had to use the mounting bolts to 'snug' it up. (THAT really worried me).

Last, but NEVER least, while reassembling, one of the tiny bolts that holds the starter endcap on SNAPPED while tightening. Oh geez. Now my endcap is held on with bailing wire (and the other tiny bolt). I'll be looking for another tiny bolt to replace it.

Are all Honda clutches this much of a pain, or was it just mine?

Shawn

 

Just yours. I am thinking if there was no supercharger then it would have been easier. I have taken the intermediate shaft off my b16 while it was in the car and it was really simple. I think the supercharger was just creating less sapce to work in.

 

I think it would have been a lot easier if I could have gotten the intermediate shaft off.

I've e-mailed Jackson Racing about how they propose an owner remove the left intermediate shaft after installation, but so far no reply.

Shawn



[Modified by shawnhayes, 4:16 AM 3/11/2002]

 

i thought it was really simple. just mating the tranny back up was the hardest part.

but me not having a SC makes all the difference i guess.

 

The SC has made all the difference in the power. I was just hoping, in some regard, that everyone had as much trouble on this as I did, so that it wouldn't seem that ALL the trouble had been from the SC.

No such luck it seems. It was just mine.
ARRRGGHH!

 

Well...look on the bright side....at least the clutch is a part you don't have to change often. Imagine if you had to go through all that for lets say..an oil change.

 

I'd quit driving a car and buy a good bicycle.

Shawn

 

Mine was worse... kinda. I bought a slightly used(and defective) ITR clutch for my 99 Si. After fighting this and that for about 3 hours, we got it back in and the tranny woiuldn't go into any gear with the motor running. So, we took it back out and found three fingers on the PP bent, but only when the clutch is tightened down. We tried slightly bending the fingers, put it together again.. no luck. No ITR pressure plates in stock anywhere, and the stock disc was not too healthy. So the stock Si Pressure Plate went back on and I just used the Type R disc. Runs great for now, but I'm sure the turbo will take it's toll quickly.. might as well change it out while the motor's getting rebuilt anyways... ech.