JScott

I spent 2 nights putting a new Centerforce DF clutch in earlier this week. Quite a job. I broke it in for a couple days then tried it out last night. Worked good till I finally reved it out far. I pulled to 7500 in 4th and the clutch peddle stuck in. I have no clutch. I limped it home avoiding stoplights and starting it in gear. At first I thought it was the hydraulics but I can move the fork back and forth and feel the throwout bearing moving too. On the drive home I heard metal rattling, sounded like my weights falling off.

I appears my new fancy weighted pressure plate is screwed. I am one pissed off dude right now!

Has anyone ever had one of these fail like this. Anyone have success w/ the Centerforce? I was told to get an ACT but couldn't find one locally.

Scott

RETed

1) Centerforce clutches are very finicky about break-in.&nbsp You got in 500 miles over two days to break the clutch in properly???

2) I dunno what you meant by "I can move the fork back and forth", but if you can move the clutch fork by hand, it sounds like it popped off the pivot or broke.

You really need to take everything apart to see what exactly went wrong.&nbsp I know this is not a fun project, as I had a pilot bearing disintegrate on me after I put in my CFDF...




-Ted

tims

I have had this same failure with a centerforce DF clutch on my RX2. what usually happens when you rev or over rev the motor is the clutch disc seperates and will wedge itself between the leftover clutch disc and the pressure plate, so the clutch will not disengage. I have not seen to many pressure plate failures or weights coming loose but anything is possible. I like the pressure plate they make but the clutch discs are junk. On my race car I use a solid six puck ceramic ACT clutch disc and a Centerforce pressure plate. this is great and has been trouble free. I think when it needs replacing I will use the whole package from ACT, they seem to work very well at the high revs a rotary can achieve

Racer 13B

I agree with Tims

I have had a couple of this clutchs fail on me and on friends 7's.
Try an ACT.

1FastT2

iTrader: (1)

I have two words to say:CenterForce Sucks!
This is my second one thinking that the first one was a fluke.

JScott

Ted, the fork stays where the slave pushes it. It moves back and forth by hand and I can "feel" the throwout sliding on the collar smoothly so the PP isn't releasing like somethings caught in it holding it open. I took the cover off the bottom and the disc looks intact but I didn't rotate the engine(it was late last night) to see if it was good all the way around. That's why I figured the weights came loose, that and the rattling I heard.

I broke it in the last 3 days putting over 300 miles w/ lots of stop and go. Can't believe cutting it 200 miles short would lead to a catostrophic failure. I'll pull it out tonight and see what really happened. I was just curious if anyone else had problems. I have to decide whether to exchange it or return it for an ACT.

1FastT2, what failed with yours? I only heard they didn't last quite as long as people expected. Not that they come apart.

Scott

Driftfc3s

iTrader: (11)

Centerforce does suck. Try an ACT this time....

1FastT2

iTrader: (1)

Well mines fairly new, probally about 4-5 months old. Whenever im at the track it slips when shifting into the next gear, other than that its fine, I would just think that it should be able to hold the power.

supergoat

Typical of centerforce. Buy an ACT.

MikeL

When my car went from the stock clutch setup and about 220 bhp to the Bönez street/strip setup and about 400 bhp, it didn't take long (3 weeks) to eat the disc.

I then installed the ACT un-sprung 6-puck along with the old Bönez (+35%) presure plate.

I have had no problems.

Mike

JScott

Just pulled the old one out. The clutch disc lost half the lining on the pressure plate side. This didn't happen on launch, it did it shifting into 4th gear. I called Centerforce and they're like "well send us the disc, we'll evaluate it and decide whether to waranty it". MY white ***. THEY WILL WARANTY IT! The clutch was not damaged when it was installed(I've probably done 25 clutches in my 35yrs) and it was broken in sufficiently.

If they cared at all about their customers they'd get one on the way to the shop I bought it from since it took a week last time. I'm going to talk to the shop tomorrow about just refunding the money. I'm going HD ACT w/ a new stock disc. That's what I was recomended to get in the first place. I should listen to you guys!

Scott

TriangleMan

this isn't good, i just got a centerforce I about 3000 miles ago. granted i have as much hp as a 79 volkswagon bug but i followed the break-in pretty religiously, only went to 5000 once, under 4000 almost all the time, and it's great now. when i hit my 3-4 shift the car feels like it's launching, unlike before when the clutch just slipped back down in revs (stock clutch + 120,000 miles + racing and catching 2nd all the time = clutch go dead). if i catch second now instead of a solid brrrr and then traction it grabs so hard that the tires make a funny noise because they're trying to keep up with the clutch. i remember not too long after the break in i lit up third so bad it almost went sideways, just from a 2-3 shift with the gas floored. i have never done that before, but i can't anymore so i guess it was a fluke.

JScott

Mike, how do you like the 6 puck on the street. Is it always chirping the tires or is it at all civilized?

Scott

MikeL

Hi Scott,

You just have to rev it higher to get going. Then, you sure do know the point at which you've let it all of the way out. I really am comfortable with it though.

If you get one, be prepared to go about 500 miles to break it in and, it has to get warmed up in the morning before it's real smooth.

The bottom line is, whenever anyone gets in it to go change the oil or work on it or whatever, I always hear them kill it at least once.

You would get very used to it though and, you won't have to worry about slip again. It actually works better when it's hot.

I have about 16k miles on mine now. I saw it when it had 11k miles on it (I blew up the engine). Before getting the engine out, I just assumed that I would need another disc. I didn't. I have a new spare one here now. They seem to last a long time.

Mike

JScott

Just another update on my Centerforce nightmare. I put my 2nd complete new CF DF in the other night. Started it up and noticed the car shaking. Took it for a little drive hoping that maybe the weights needed to "center" themselves or something. NO luck! Somethings out of balance. It vibrates really bad in the upper rpms to the point of making my hand numb. I wont rev it anymore since I'm rather fond of my feet. WTF is the deal? It vibrates sitting still in gear w/ the clutch pushed in too. That pretty much narrows it to the pressure plate I think. Disgusted doesn't even beging to describe how I feel right now. I'm out a ton of labor, around 6 qts of synthetic gear oil and my exhaust gaskets need replaced from all the teardowns. Any ideas on what I should do guys?

Scott

RarestRX

Bro,


Dude, that totally sucks, I don't know what to tell you other than get rid of that Centerforce **** and never use it again. Document all your problems, take pics, and send Centerforce a nasty letter telling them you will never use their products again and you will tell all your hundreds of Internet RX-7 buddies the same. Get a refund, and take comfort in the fact I will /never/ buy a Centerforce product because of your troubles. I'm sure there are others that will do the same thing, so the silver lining is that your pain has prevented all of us possible Centerforce buyers from getting screwed as well. Best of luck to you and stay frosty.

Your friend at 8000rpm,

Kevin Sproul
1989 GTUs "98% fat free"

jizzajuice

I'm so sorry to hear about the trouble you're going through right now. I was seriously thinking about getting CF for the longest time until I started hearing horror stories like the one you just told us over the internet. Shoot, I'm glad there are forums like this one which tells people the TRUTH about products out there! In the future ACT all the way!!!

Peace,
AJ ^_^

rx7_turbo2

Well I wont be buying anything from Centerforce that's for sure.

COYOTE-1

I have a clutch master stage 3...and omg its an awsome clutch...it holds like 110% over stock...my friend put it in for me..and i broke in 500 miles on it....i let it go at any rpm and it doesnt slip....it bad ***....you cant go wrong with there clutches..

Peace
Buddy

N1XRR

I have JUST had my CF clutch crap out on me also. I've had in it for about 9-10K miles, and yesterday at the auto-x I heard a loud THUMP from about where my feet were. Everything felt fine at first...idling and whatnot, but when I started driving(not going up in the rev's quite yet) I noticed it wasn't gripping as hard even in the low RPM shifts...then I brought it up to 7K. I have not felt a car vibrate this bad since my brother trying to put a pully on his Pulsar that was GROSSLY out of balence. Sure enough, took the bottom cover off of the bell-housing and guess what, a nice, large chunk of metal(a weight) fell out. Well, time for a new clutch, probably get something ACT and only slightly better than stock, the CF2DF did NOT impress me. It really didn't hold that much better than stock.

Michael

vosko

iTrader: (4)

i have a six puck sprung on my FD its not too bad to drive just gotta slip it alot like mikeL said. whenever my clutch gives on my GTU (burned it 3 or 4 times @ drag strip) but still holds like the day one. i will probably get an act pp with racing beat six puck sprung

RarestRX

Yo,



Damn, this thread came back from the dead....*grin*

KS
1989 GTUs "I remember posting to it WAY back when..."

pp13bnos

iTrader: (1)

Well, i'll add my .02 then The stock clutch/pressure plate is pretty good. Unless you're running some serious hp, upgrading the pressure plate should'nt even be an issue. On my 12a peripheral, i ran a 6 puck sprun hub, and it held fine, with a stock pressure plate. Then on my peripheral 13B without nitrous, i ran a solid hub 4 puck, stock pressure plate. PP 13B with 150 shot nitrous, i ran a solid hub 4 puck with dual diaphram pressure plate. Never once did they slip.

On my n/a i'm still using the stock (but new) clutch/pressure plate. It will break loose shifting into 3rd, and hold.

CJ

crossbar17

where to buy clutches??? for cheap$$ and also what brands are the best???




crossbar

Anderson

I have always heard bad coments about Centerforce.

Never heard anything bad about ACT, the seem to be the popular choice, and very reputable.


As far as where to get them cheap, Click on RX-7 Store link on the top of your screen, Jason has some excellent prices.