I'm hoping you guys can give me good advice on a new clutch (maybe flywheel). Personal experience advice would be awesome!
I have to replace my clutch (and maybe flywheel) and I'm not sure which one to get.

Priorities: Reliability, torque, easy clutch pedal (easier to push down, not sure if that has anything to do with clutch).
This is my daily driver, I never track and I barely ever push the car hard. Low end torque would be great if at all possible.

I am considering getting oem, exedy oem replacement or the Stage 1 Exedy clutch. Problem is, I don't know how a Stage 1 clutch feels in comparison to a oem clutch.

Thanks for any help before I make my order!

edit: Also I might replace my flywheel too. Should I just go OEM since its daily driver or get some other flywheel. Low end torque priority and easy drivability.

 

You really can't go wrong with an OEM Exedy clutch, you can buy them on ebay all day for around $100. (bare in mind that Daikin/Exedy makes Honda's OEM clutches, so the only difference between an Exedy clutch you buy on Ebay and and OEM clutch you buy from your local Honda dealer in a Honda box is about $300 - $400)

 

Thanks for your reply. I've been doing tons of searches and basically what I found out was oem has smoother engagement and the exedy oem has a little more bite to it which I think should be okay. Another thing that came up was the exedy release bearing having some problems so I might opt to just buy the oem release bearing just for peace of mind.

As for flywheels, Im not going to get a light one. If anything I'll either reuse the oem or order a new oem. Not sure if I need to get a new flywheel but the car has a lot of miles on it so it might be a good idea to do it now rather than later.

 

I'm not sure you follow, there is literally no difference between the two at all besides the packaging. Both will have the winged Daikin/Exedy logo stamped on the hub of the disc, the pressue plate will normally have Daikin stamped around edge. Disc and pressure plate are identical in every single way other than the price. As long as the release bearing is made by a reputable company you'll be ok (NSK/SKF/NTN are all good known brands)

If you're planning to buy one now you can usually find an OEM replacement bundled with an Exedy clutch for not that much money. Usually though unless they're really bad you can reuse the original flywheel, just get it resurfaced at a machine shop.

 

Thanks for the advice! Yeah I decided I want an OEM flywheel but like you said, it will most likely be fine so I probably won't end up spending extra on that unless I have to.

As for the clutch, I didnt know they were literally the exact same thing because a lot of people were saying the exedy has more bite. Also, after reading some message boards, people were saying how the exedy bearing failed faster and there were very small differences visually. The reason I wanted to just get the honda oem one was for peace of mind and then maybe I'll just sell the exedy one and just end up a few bucks short but now youre saying they are exactly the same. What was your source for the info about them being the same exact?

Thanks for the info and the help :D

 

Chances are anyone who said that Exedy has more bite were comparing a worn out slipping clutch to a brand new clutch, either that or it was all in their head) Exedy doesn't make bearings, when you buy a clutch from an ebay store It generally comes bundled with a release and pilot bearing along with an alignment tool. Sometimes they'll use a cheap bearing, just take a look at the bearing and see who made it, IIRC Honda's are made by NSK most of the time. NSK, SKF and NTN all make great bearings, so as long as it's made by one of them I wouldn't worry about it.

As far as how do I know they're exact? I used to work for Honda as a tech for a brief period, along with that I do a lot of side work. I've pulled lot's of original stock clutches and I have ended up installing at least one brand new clutch that came from the dealer, they're 100% the same when comparing new to new. Now in your case the one you pull out may look slightly different due to it being however old, Exedy does change the look of the disc friction material every so often the same as everyone else tends to change things either to make something work better or save a little money on manufacturing.

This will probably be the main selling point right here:
Exedy clutch purchased through an ebay store -> about $100 plus shipping
Exedy clutch purchased through Honda dealership -> about $400 - $500

 

^^^ 94EG8 is 100% correct from my experience - good advice!

 

Act extreme pressure plate
Act street disc
Fidanza 8 lb flywheel

 

Thank you for your very helpful advice! I went ahead and just purchased the Exedy clutch kit. I don't want the light weight flywheel and decided to just use an oem flywheel.

I want to replace anything that may cause problems in the future and since a lot of the parts were probably not changed before. Can I just use my original flywheel or better to get a new oem one for about $95? Also, I was considering getting the other bearing I saw in my helms manual (forgot specific name). Anything else I should get that may cause a problem or I should replace while I have the transmission open anyway? I don't want to have to open this thing up again lol so I want to replace anything I need to replace now.

 

Now would be the time to replace the rear main crank seal as it's directly behind the flywheel. If you see any signs of transmission fluid leaking out around the input shaft or if you can grab the input shaft and move it up and down now would also be the time to replace the input shaft seal and bearing.

You can usually just get the original flywheel resurfaced for about $30 - $50 at a machine shop.