ACT Performance street clutch PN#3000203
05-22-10, 12:57 PM
#1
ACT Performance street clutch PN#3000203
I should have asked this here, first.
Who here has tried this ACT Performance street clutch disc? Part number 3000203
I picked up one recently. Is anyone here using one of these? How do you like it? How grabby is it on an aluminum flywheel? Did you get the complete package with the HD or Xtreme pressure plate?
Looks like this disc with the HD pressure plate can hold 268ft/lbs of torque.
I would have gotten the HD pressure plate but I already had a brand new RB SS pressure plate sitting here. Does anyone know how the RB SS compares with the ACT HD? Are they the same? What about ACT's Xtreme vs RB's race? Again same?
My car is an '81 so it has the shorter pedal set. This means it takes more effort than the '84-'85 cars which have a longer pedal with longer travel = more leverage than the earlier cars. An RB "race" pressure plate in an '84-'85 car feels very similar to an RB "street strip" pressure plate in an '81-'83. Sorry, I don't have access to an SA so I don't know how they compare.
I'm not looking for a heavy clutch pedal. This is not a track car. I want a medium effort pedal with a decent grab but not too grabby. No pucks.
Has anyone here tried an ACT disc with an RB SS pressure plate on an aluminum flywheel in an '81-'83 car? How do you like it? Or even anything similar like an RB HD disc or a sprung center 6 puck?
I know hyper4mance2k has an RB "race" pressure plate, ACT 6 puck disc and RB aluminum flywheel that he daily drives. I tried his pedal once at a meet and it wasn't as stiff as I was thinking... then remembered his car is an '84 or '85.
I also tried z-beater's FD swapped GSL-SE. Can't recall which clutch setup it had (probably an ACT of some sort) but directly compared it to my REPU as both were at the same meet. Both felt about the same, actually. I wasn't happy about the heavy pedal in my REPU which was caused directly by the tired original clutch disc that had worn down to 6.9mm uncompressed. The REPU pressure plates were also more heavily sprung than the passenger car versions. A thick stock disc would have been fine, so I'm replacing the REPU stuff with updated stuff and a GSL-SE flywheel. Should have plenty of capacity and drive better than stock.
Lastly I tested Chris' car, which notveryhappyjack bought. This had a wickedly stiff pedal. The new owner said it hurt the ball of his foot so he got a new clutch setup. The old setup was a 6 puck ACT I believe. I test drove it around the parking lot and was glad my car wasn't that stiff. Then I remembered his car is an '81. No wonder! If that same clutch package was in an '84-'85 car, it would feel a lot more pleasant.
One more story to relate that's more apples to oranges. My friend has an FD with an RB T2/FD aluminum flywheel, 240mm RB HD disc, and the FD pull type RB SS pressure plate. However his engine only has nearly stock power with stock twins and a cat-back. After it was all in and running, he said it was retarded to try to drive in parking lots and low speed stuff because the clutch is so touchy/twitchy and unecessary/too extreme for an essentially stock setup (it dynoed at 205 to the wheels, which we know a stock FD clutch handles fine). The pedal is pretty stiff too.
My 20B will go in my '81. It will have a gtorx7-inspired port job and should make similar power levels to his like 300HP and 200ft/lbs at the wheels. This means 15% more at the flywheel. This also means if I had the full ACT package I'd be set. But since I have the RB SS pressure plate instead, do you think it will hold up?
Who here has tried this ACT Performance street clutch disc? Part number 3000203
I picked up one recently. Is anyone here using one of these? How do you like it? How grabby is it on an aluminum flywheel? Did you get the complete package with the HD or Xtreme pressure plate?
Looks like this disc with the HD pressure plate can hold 268ft/lbs of torque.
I would have gotten the HD pressure plate but I already had a brand new RB SS pressure plate sitting here. Does anyone know how the RB SS compares with the ACT HD? Are they the same? What about ACT's Xtreme vs RB's race? Again same?
My car is an '81 so it has the shorter pedal set. This means it takes more effort than the '84-'85 cars which have a longer pedal with longer travel = more leverage than the earlier cars. An RB "race" pressure plate in an '84-'85 car feels very similar to an RB "street strip" pressure plate in an '81-'83. Sorry, I don't have access to an SA so I don't know how they compare.
I'm not looking for a heavy clutch pedal. This is not a track car. I want a medium effort pedal with a decent grab but not too grabby. No pucks.
Has anyone here tried an ACT disc with an RB SS pressure plate on an aluminum flywheel in an '81-'83 car? How do you like it? Or even anything similar like an RB HD disc or a sprung center 6 puck?
I know hyper4mance2k has an RB "race" pressure plate, ACT 6 puck disc and RB aluminum flywheel that he daily drives. I tried his pedal once at a meet and it wasn't as stiff as I was thinking... then remembered his car is an '84 or '85.
I also tried z-beater's FD swapped GSL-SE. Can't recall which clutch setup it had (probably an ACT of some sort) but directly compared it to my REPU as both were at the same meet. Both felt about the same, actually. I wasn't happy about the heavy pedal in my REPU which was caused directly by the tired original clutch disc that had worn down to 6.9mm uncompressed. The REPU pressure plates were also more heavily sprung than the passenger car versions. A thick stock disc would have been fine, so I'm replacing the REPU stuff with updated stuff and a GSL-SE flywheel. Should have plenty of capacity and drive better than stock.
Lastly I tested Chris' car, which notveryhappyjack bought. This had a wickedly stiff pedal. The new owner said it hurt the ball of his foot so he got a new clutch setup. The old setup was a 6 puck ACT I believe. I test drove it around the parking lot and was glad my car wasn't that stiff. Then I remembered his car is an '81. No wonder! If that same clutch package was in an '84-'85 car, it would feel a lot more pleasant.
One more story to relate that's more apples to oranges. My friend has an FD with an RB T2/FD aluminum flywheel, 240mm RB HD disc, and the FD pull type RB SS pressure plate. However his engine only has nearly stock power with stock twins and a cat-back. After it was all in and running, he said it was retarded to try to drive in parking lots and low speed stuff because the clutch is so touchy/twitchy and unecessary/too extreme for an essentially stock setup (it dynoed at 205 to the wheels, which we know a stock FD clutch handles fine). The pedal is pretty stiff too.
My 20B will go in my '81. It will have a gtorx7-inspired port job and should make similar power levels to his like 300HP and 200ft/lbs at the wheels. This means 15% more at the flywheel. This also means if I had the full ACT package I'd be set. But since I have the RB SS pressure plate instead, do you think it will hold up?
05-24-10, 11:48 AM
#2
I got it in but it's way too heavy for a daily driver. Remember my car is an '81. If I had an '84-'85 I'd be fine but the early cars have a shorter pedal and shorter travel. I've got a centerforce pressure plate that I'll try next. I hope it acts like a centerforce dual friction with my ACT disc. 
05-24-10, 01:37 PM
#3
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so you're saying mazda redesigned the whole pedal assembly to keep clutch effort the same when they put a stronger clutch in the car?
BMW would have just put the bigger clutch in.... if people started complaining, they would have fixed it by calling it a "sport" clutch, or an "M" type or something
BMW would have just put the bigger clutch in.... if people started complaining, they would have fixed it by calling it a "sport" clutch, or an "M" type or something
05-24-10, 01:56 PM
#4
All my personal research suggests that this is so. Every '84-'85 I've ever driven or even just pushed the clutch pedal has been like this. Even an RB "race" pressure plate is not all that heavy feeling in an '84-'85. Try it in an earlier chassis and watch your left leg grow.
05-24-10, 02:14 PM
#5
Waffles - hmmm good
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I have a Centerforce stage II setup (from Mazdatrix) in my SA and it feels fine.
Easy to modulate and doesn't require a lot of extra pressure. Of course I
have no clue what the SA clutch pedal mechanism is like compared to an FB.
Easy to modulate and doesn't require a lot of extra pressure. Of course I
have no clue what the SA clutch pedal mechanism is like compared to an FB.
05-24-10, 02:16 PM
#6
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i am under the impression that the pedal assembly is 79-83 and then 84-85
05-24-10, 02:26 PM
#7
Same here. I've never even driven an SA. But I've driven enough old schools to know they have an even shorter pedal travel than an '81-'83.
Just last week I tested three different pressure plates in my 76 Cosmo and compared the findings with two pressure plates I previously tride in it. I could easily tell the difference between a "race", an SS, the centerforce (that I'm gojng to try in the '81 next), a regular OEM Daikin and an early short finger ressure plate. All 225mm.
The OEM Daikin was the softest, the short finger was a soft-medium (perfect, actually), the CF was a heavy medium, the RB SS was hard and the race was very hard. Looks like I'm going with the short finger pressure plate again in the Cosmo.
To be fair, when I tried the OEM Daikin pressure plate, it also had a thick new disc, which as we all know, the thicker the disc, the easier the clutch pedal; all other things being equal. The short finger had a somewhat thinner used disc, so I'll probably have to change it in 25 thousand miles. That's years away.
If the centerforce works out well in the '81, I'll throw the OEM Daikin pressure plate and the thick stock disc in my REPU. Gonna break in my rotary baja's new engine in the truck to see how much torque it really has. 
What better place for it for a quick break in, eh?
Just last week I tested three different pressure plates in my 76 Cosmo and compared the findings with two pressure plates I previously tride in it. I could easily tell the difference between a "race", an SS, the centerforce (that I'm gojng to try in the '81 next), a regular OEM Daikin and an early short finger ressure plate. All 225mm.
The OEM Daikin was the softest, the short finger was a soft-medium (perfect, actually), the CF was a heavy medium, the RB SS was hard and the race was very hard. Looks like I'm going with the short finger pressure plate again in the Cosmo.
To be fair, when I tried the OEM Daikin pressure plate, it also had a thick new disc, which as we all know, the thicker the disc, the easier the clutch pedal; all other things being equal. The short finger had a somewhat thinner used disc, so I'll probably have to change it in 25 thousand miles. That's years away.
If the centerforce works out well in the '81, I'll throw the OEM Daikin pressure plate and the thick stock disc in my REPU.
Gonna break in my rotary baja's new engine in the truck to see how much torque it really has. What better place for it for a quick break in, eh?
