ok guys, here's the deal.

I've had a noise that we thought was the throwout bearing and I've burned up my clutch now twice and I'm starting to wonder if the noise could be the clutch plate against one of the pressure surfaces.

I checked my fluid (done it before but it was always the same so I didn't bother adding any) added some and now it seems like the noise is gone. Shifting is a little easier but it was never that hard. Could the pressure plate have been staying connected enough to rub the friction surface and not make shifting much harder? I guess they're actually been burning up, not just wearing them. They start to flake off and get dusty.

 

Well, if the pressure plate wasn't releasing, and "disc dragging" shifting would be very difficult, and wouldn't burn it up. How about the play in the pedal. Have you noticed any slippage? That will certainly heat the disc up. If poor quality and driven hard, that combination could ultimately destroy the disc.

 

It's probably just the way I drive it. I'm pretty hard on the thing. There's not any spill from anything except certain parts of the oil system Not much play in the pedal, a little. It slips like king kong down a greased building now but only for the first few minutes of driving. After I've been driving for a while it only slips on hard starts. It's probably like you said, a combination of quality and driving hard. I just wish I knew if getting a more expensive street race style clutch would stop it. I like to drive pretty hard and the only way I can get people to race here is off the line at stop lights. Hehe, but I took a frat-boy with his tiny little girlfriend in a brand-new cilica before it started slipping. Of course, I never got to third gear cause there wasn't any room.