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I was in the midst of ordering an ACT street/strip clutch and thought I had better ask the guys on the forum first. My clutch is barely slipping. I can lay rubber from a stop but I cant blast it into second without it slipping. Should I be looking into just replacing my stock clutch disc and machining the flywheel and pressure plate or should I get the whole clutch set from ACT? I am a machinist so I can do all of the work myself. I could even cheat a bit and add pressure to the plate if I wanted. I also have the option of getting a jobber clutch but I am scared of doing that. However, I'm feeling a little violated paying $800 Canadian(yes exchange is nasty) for a clutch when it is possible that I might not need to do so. Mods are in my sig. I plan on a midpipe, cold air intake and PFC for future mods. Thanks for advise guys.... helps me a bunch!
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Lovin 400 rwhp! Finally it comes together
If your future mods are going for power, you may as well upgrade to the ACT clutch now.
Typically when the clutch starts slipping, you will only notice it in the upper gears. As it gets worse, it is move down (I have a slipping clutch as well).
As for the flywheel, if you don't purchase a new one, you'll need to get your stock one resurfaced. I'm no expert on flywheels so I don't know if that is something you can do yourself and what machinery you would need to make it happen.
My power upgrades aren't too major in my opinion.... So you think a stock clutch redone wouldn't hold up? What about a better disc? I can resurface my flywheel no prob... my job is rebuilding piston engines( oh my god the "p" word!! hehe) so I can just take the stuff to work and freshen it up. It would sure save me money .....for now.....Thanks again.
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Lovin 400 rwhp! Finally it comes together
You would be fine with a stock clutch with the mods you listed. If you upgrade it would suit you better to upgrade the pressure plate and not the disc, you only need to upgrade the disc if you are going for some big power. I have an ACT street/strip in my car and it is single turbo (granted, only a TO4E) but it still holds fine. I believe the S/S still uses the stock disc, just an upgraded pressure plate.
You said you know how to cheat on the clutch to get more pressure, so does my mechanic ,he would tell you not to undercut to deep so the plate will not drag .Check the clearance before you cut because the pull type clutch has less travel. Good skill not luck.
I went with the street/strip clutch and pressure plate that www.mazdatrix.com sells, as well as the Racing Beat lightened flywheel. I have not had it slip at all and it actually drives pretty good. I was afraid the light flywheel would compromise my comfortable starts and cruising, but the low-end torque of the FD is enough to where it's not a problem.
But back to the clutch/pressure plate, it was the opinion of Mazdatrix's engine builder, and even some of the other younger "racer kids" that work there, that the ACT clutches increase the pedal effort too much while not really giving that much more grab than the stuff they sell.
Obviously, they want to sell their products, but the racer kids seem to be pretty honest and sincere in their opinion; they probably could care less what I bought, they were just telling me what they thought when they drove a car with the ACT stuff.
duboisr, your absolutely right. Good rule of thumb when doing something like that... always measure first! Good advise, as always Tom.... thanks bud. I'll check out the mazdatrix goodies as well.
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Lovin 400 rwhp! Finally it comes together
I went with the street/strip clutch and pressure plate that www.mazdatrix.com sells, as well as the Racing Beat lightened flywheel. I have not had it slip at all and it actually drives pretty good. I was afraid the light flywheel would compromise my comfortable starts and cruising, but the low-end torque of the FD is enough to where it's not a problem.
But back to the clutch/pressure plate, it was the opinion of Mazdatrix's engine builder, and even some of the other younger "racer kids" that work there, that the ACT clutches increase the pedal effort too much while not really giving that much more grab than the stuff they sell.
Obviously, they want to sell their products, but the racer kids seem to be pretty honest and sincere in their opinion; they probably could care less what I bought, they were just telling me what they thought when they drove a car with the ACT stuff.
Take it easy,
Tom
If I was to redo my clutch I would probably try the mazdatrix clutch. The pedal on my clutch is a bit too stiff after I put in the act extreme.
Does Mazdatrix have a package or does a guy have to buy the stuff seperate? I guess I could always buy the bearings at my local Mazda dealer. How much extra clamping pressure is on the Mazdatrix street/strip plate? Thanks guys for the help...
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Lovin 400 rwhp! Finally it comes together
I just recently installed the ACT S/S clutch disk with the HD (Heavy Duty) pressure plate + a Racing Beat 9.5# lightened Al flywheel. It's probably the best mod I've done to date. The S/S clutch disk by itself is very much similar to stock. By direct comparison, there's some springs in the disk that probably give it the extra durability. If you were to go with just the disk itself, you probably wouldn't notice a difference.
The HD pressure plate is slightly stiffer than the stock pressure plate. FWIW, I don't even notice the difference nowadays. The one thing I do notice is that it is a lot grabbier than the stock setup. You will have to slip the clutch a little more when starting out of first gear ... unless you like lurching around. I've heard that the Extreme pressure plate is a lot meatier and, thus, the increased effort in operating the clutch.
I recommend the lightened flywheel upgrade simply because of the response the car has to it. The rpms climb so fast ... it's a whole new car since the upgrade. Plus, after dropping that friggin' 200 lb tranny, you're not going to want to do that again just so you can install the flywheel and/or pressure plate that you should've just done the first time you had the thing off.
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1993 VR RX-7 R1 - **SOLD**
1994 Ford Lightning
redrotorR1, is your clutch part# ZX3-HD00 ? What kind of %age in pressure increase is the s/s clutch?
The reason I would want to just change the disc is for the purpose of starting fresh, with machined flywheel and plate. Was the ACT a bit to get used to? You mentioned that you don't notice a difference between pedal pressure now so it must not have been to bad to begin with huh?
Thanks for the insight!
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Lovin 400 rwhp! Finally it comes together
Oh man...clutch Question.....
Linear Mode
