Well I finally got some time this week-end to remove my transmission and my clutch. Can I say that it is a fun adventure when you do this alone...

Anyway I knew there was a problem with the clutch so I was anxious to see what it was but the results of the inspection surprised me a little: first when I removed the clutch from the flywheel, a metal piece fell to the ground, not a good sign. After a few minutes searching where that piece cam from, I found that it was part of the friction disc, one of the outer ridge of the center plate holding a spring in place broke off. Also I noticed that all the small lips preventing the springs from moving sideways are very worn along with the springs themselves. However, the friction material is still within tolerance at over 7mm thick.

My question are:
is there a weakness in the friction disc assembly?
did somebody else noticed the same failure of the friction disc?
am I too rough with the clutch?
I am going to install an Exedy racing clutch, is it better then stock? I noticed thicker plates holding the springs in place but will they suffer the same wear?

The other subject of this post is concerning the gears in the transmission. I am awaiting the arrival of an ATS FD so I opened the transmission housing and inspected as many parts / tolerances as I could according to the Helm manual (and my own experience). I was glad to see that everything was still within standard specs. However I noticed that all my gears have a small shallow "grove" at the tip of each teeth. I would tend to beleive that these small groves are there to prevent oil pressure build up at high RPM but I would be releived to hear that others have notice the same thing on their gears

Thank you for any inputs on these matters. Also if someone needs an information while the casing is open do not hesitate to ask.

 

The broken spring retainer on the clutch disk is a common probmem on the integras. There is a TSB for it. I would guess an aftermarket clutch would not have the same design flaw.