I've recently completed my new build and installed a new clutch at the same time. It's a Gripforce F1 stage 2 clutch that I purchased off of Ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...h=005
Now before anyone starts to say it's a cheap clutch and can't hold the power etc.. I just want to say that I have used clutches of this type in the past without trouble. I don't race my car, it's a daily driver, so I wanted a clutch that engaged like stock but could handle higher than stock power levels if required for a reasonable price.

The first thing I noticed was that the clutch pedal had a lighter pedal pressure than normal when pressing it down. The gears shift and engage normally but the clutch seems to engage quite softly on take off and slip slightly/not fully engage until the pedal is all the way up. When driving the car in the lower gears, the clutch seems to hold fairly well in the lower gears until higher up in the rpm's at WOT, then it really starts to slip. In higer gears at nearly any rpm, if I open the throttle most of the way, the clutch will slip like crazy! I can launch the car off the line and spin the tires a little but higher up in the rpm/power range, it slips bad.

The car is a 00 SI with the stock hydraulic clutch system. The fluid level is fine, wasn't bled since it wasn't opened up at any point so shouldn't have any air in the line, nor does it act like there's air in the line. The flywheel was resurfaced, and both it and the pressure plate was thoroughly cleaned with brake cleaner to make sure the friction surfaces weren't contaminated with oil etc, during installation. Everything was torqued properly and an new release bearing was installed and the imput shaft greased.

Anyone have any ideas about what the problem is or experience anything similar? or is it just a faulty clutch (probably pressure plate)?


Modified by 00Red_SiR at 4:18 PM 4/22/2007


Modified by 00Red_SiR at 4:21 PM 4/22/2007

 

I like the saying "you get what you pay for" should have gotten oem type r clutch.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Amped &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I like the saying "you get what you pay for" should have gotten oem type r clutch.</TD></TR></TABLE>

If that were the case, none of these clutches would ever work for anyone and we know that's not the case, don't we. There's also another saying.."no need to pay for what you don't really need"...I don't need a $500-$1000 clutch so why should I pay for one when I and many others have used clutches of this type in the past successfully.

If I had beat this clutch senseless and then came on here asking why it failed, you'd have a point. The fact is this is a new clutch on a new build that's experiencing problems. It could be a faulty clutch, that's what I'm trying to determine, but I've had expensive brand name clutches fail on me in the past without really beating on them so does that also mean I got what I paid for?

Clutches fail period. All makes, at various times and for various reasons. My question was "anyone have any input on what might be wrong with mine".

OEM while good quality does not have the ability to handle high hp loads if I'd like to subject it to them from time to time.


Modified by 00Red_SiR at 4:23 PM 4/22/2007

 

i have that same problem! did you find out wat it is??

 

No I haven't. Do you have the exact same clutch? If not what type of clutch is it? I'm going to change it out shortly so if I see anything obvious when I remove it I will post here. I will be sending it back as long as I don't find anything wrong outside of the clutch. If I do, I will keep the clutch or sell it.

I read about someone else on here that had the exact same problem with the same clutch but got no reply from pm's.

 

so you would rather get an oem hype r instead of an action clutch or act kit

 

i have a exedy stage II clutch and it felt light when i first installed it. also the clutch didnt engage untill the pedal was almost at the top like you said. but after about 600-700miles of stop and go the clutch felt solid and the engagement point dropped. i dont know if you need a break in period for your clutch also.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by donnie_437 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i have a exedy stage II clutch and it felt light when i first installed it. also the clutch didnt engage untill the pedal was almost at the top like you said. but after about 600-700miles of stop and go the clutch felt solid and the engagement point dropped. i dont know if you need a break in period for your clutch also.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Did your clutch slip at all when you first installed it? Mine's got a kevlar disc which I know requires a longer break in period but I'm pretty sure it shouldn't slip. Is your clutch hydraulic or cable?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by maRcus of EF squaD &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i have that same problem! did you find out wat it is??</TD></TR></TABLE>

edit this was not my post! someone hacked into my account

 

did you break the clutch in???

You should always bleed the clutch after any work in that area.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by homicydalboy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">did you break the clutch in???

You should always bleed the clutch after any work in that area.</TD></TR></TABLE>

If you're asking me, I can't break the clutch in if it's slipping. You shouldn't need to bleed the clutch if you never opened up the line for any reason (which I didn't). You don't bleed your brakes everytime you change your pads because you're not opening up the lines to allow any air to get in.

 

A couple questions for you - when they resurfaced the flywheel did they resurface where the clutch disc rides and then resurface where the pressure plate sits, honda flywheels have a stepped flywheel so they need to take the same amount of both sections, if they don't you could loose pressure from the material they took out - also you aren't leaking any fluid into the clutch area causing it to slip - and last did you spray everything down with brake cleaner before installing to remove and grease, very important to clean flywheel and pressure plate

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by base-op.1320 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">A couple questions for you - when they resurfaced the flywheel did they resurface where the clutch disc rides and then resurface where the pressure plate sits, honda flywheels have a stepped flywheel so they need to take the same amount of both sections, if they don't you could loose pressure from the material they took out - also you aren't leaking any fluid into the clutch area causing it to slip - and last did you spray everything down with brake cleaner before installing to remove and grease, very important to clean flywheel and pressure plate</TD></TR></TABLE>

Definitely not leaking any fluid onto clutch area and I completely washed down the flywheel and pressure-plate with brake cleaner when assembling. Now what you mentioned about getting the flywheel resurfaced has me interested. I know the surface was done but I'm not sure if they removed the same amount of material from the pressure plate seat area. I'm pretty sure they didn't remove a lot of material from the flywheel surface, I wonder if .010" would be enough to make a clutch slip....?

 

I'm sure you could look up the specs on what the step should be and check it when you pull it out - I don't know how much of a difference it would make either but it is definately a difference and something to look into - I have always made it very clear when having mine resurfaced - who knows maybe they took more than .010 or maybe it's the second time it's been done? good luck though

 

I was thinking the same thing with the resurfacing portion of this dilemna. But, it could be that and the fact that the clutch might not be able to take the power of the motor?

 

Or, you got that one bad apple in the bunch.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 200kCivicSI &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I was thinking the same thing with the resurfacing portion of this dilemna. But, it could be that and the fact that the clutch might not be able to take the power of the motor?</TD></TR></TABLE>

The clutch was certainly designed to handle the power, it was simply slipping.

I took the clutch out and could find nothing wrong with the installation etc, just obvious evidence of slippage. I took the flywheel back to the machine shop and had them check the step height on the flywheel and it was .118 thou. My new Clutchmasters clutch said to have the step set at .110 thou so I had it re-cut to that spec. I checked the thickness of the faulty clutch disc against the new CM clutch disk and they were both exactly the same. The interesting thing is that I would have got more holding pressure with the friction surface at .118 thou than I would with it at .110 thou, so if this new clutch works, I'm sure it will end up being a faulty pressure plate.

 

please keep us posted

 

I am willing to bet money that the pressure plate is the culprit. Some companies are selling "high performance" clutch kits for next to nothing and are able to do so because they are selling you a cheap sub-OE replacement pressure plate or even a rebuilt unit. If you have a shop test the plate load of that pressure plate I bet it's less than stock. That along with a Kevlar lined disc equals slippage. The Kevlar linings require higher plate loads to work effectively.

 

It would appear that you are correct, the pressure plate is faulty. The new Clutch Masters clutch that I installed works perfectly.