New disc

[mitsunut]

Well here it is finally , south bend clutch kevlar friction surface. Decided to go this route instead of the pucks. Heard it will hold up well and doesn't chatter.
Jim.

[yokotabrat]

If that's the TZ kevlar disk, that's what I have. It's a little chattery with my ACT 2600 pressure plate, but I like it so far.

[Wazzelby]

Ooohhh, that looks nice. Let us know what you think of it at the track.

[TerryLiv]

When I get mine back on the road again It will have South Bend Feramic sprung 6 puck with their SS pressure plate. I hope I will like it.

Terry

[drcustom]

I'm exited to hear about some abuse on SB clutches on a DSM...I'm hoping to hear all good things!

[mitsunut]

Yup it is the tz disc. It can't be worse than the 6puck sprung act.
Jim.

[scooby]

Curious to see how this works out Jim, I just put an unsprung act 6 puck and 2900 pp in and its pretty grabby...

[mitsunut]

Yes me too , I won't know till sometime late this month till the car runs again. I will post the results.
Jim.

[mitsunut]

Well I thought I would report on this disc. After 800 miles and 5 passes at the track I am happy to report ,NO PROBLEMS!! It doesn't chatter, doesn't slip with back to back runs at the track , I don't slip it too much or dump the clutch.I don't smell any burning smells nor is there any slippage. This is with a 2100 act pp too. If I have to slip the clutch under low load, as in traffic or backing into the garage up a small incline there is no chatter. I couldn't be more pleased. I haven't pulled the tranny to inspect it of course , so I would assume it is ok. Much better than the 6 puck act sprung disc ,which I will never run again. I hope this helps some one with their decision on a clutch disc. This is an exedy disc , which I couldn't buy separate anywhere but Horsepowerfreaks.com.
Jim.

[HisandHerTurbo]

Glad to hear it's working out for ya!!!

[Scott Y]

I have a newly rebuilt tranny and a new SBC SS-X and kevlar disk from tmz. I put it all together last night, and.......
The damn clutch drags so bad that I can't shift the tranny. Even before 1st gear is engaged fully, the wheels start turning. The car is up on jackstands.

I am going to start pulling it all apart tonight to see what I did wrong. It's a newly resurfaced fidanza (done by Fidanza when I sent it back to have a new starter ring installed - they told me it measured and spec'd out perfectly), so the drag is completely unexpected.

Clutch hydraulic system is fine and adjusted, the ACT 2600/street disk that was on the car worked well before the car was torn down to redo the tranny.

So, once I get this all figured out I'll add my feedback on the SBC, I'm looking forward to testing it.

[drcustom]

Clutch hydraulic system is fine and adjusted

Can you measure the amount of clutch fork movement? I've seen some freak situations where air will get trapped even after being bled.

I've also seen a rebuilt tranny problem where it has to run on jackstands before you could shift it...I'm assuming you can shift it when the car is off, can you start it in gear?

Hopefully not a step issue! Such a pain to have to dig back in there for something like that.

[Scott Y]

Clutch hydraulics seem fine. It was working flawlessly when the car was parked a few months ago and I've not broken any seals.
I have already started tearing down, I'll let you know.

[Scott Y]

I picked up a cheap dial gauge and measured the Fidanza, and I could not get a consistent step measurement, it varied between .607 and .614, but my measurement method was fairly shoddy. Time and patience were short, so I ordered a new XAct flywheel based on recommendations from TMZ, which he recommends over the Fidanza for hot-lapping at the strip. I bolted it all together expecting much wonderfulness, but the results were much the same, insane clutch drag and hard shifting.

Getting desperate, I thought maybe I had to put some miles on to set everything so I put 75 miles on the car. If I drove the clutch pedal into the floorboard hard enough to lift me off the seat I could shift gingerly and slowly, but it was essentially undriveable. I tore it down again, and sent the clutch back to SBC for them to measure it out and find out what was wrong. A week later they called me back and measured it while we were together on the phone and it spec'd out a little better than normal, lots of clamping force and lots of release distance. They sent it back unchanged.

In my despair I was sitting in the carhole looking at the tranny, and I took a look at the washer under the pivot ball. The washer was installed during the build and it was holy crap thick, a full 1/8". I compared it to a normal 1/16" washer and it looks much more massive than a doubling of thickness suggests. The clutch fork was way over the driver's side, nearly hitting the bellhousing on that side when everything was installed; I remember thinking that extra leverage always had to be good and didn't give it another thought at the time.

I pulled the washer out and reinstalled everything. The fork is nearly centered in the hole now, just slightly toward the driver's side. I tested it while the car was up on stands and........it works! Engagement is now up off the floor, I can hit the stutterbox and the wheels don't turn, the car shifts fine.

So, the car's been down for a very long time (and much extra expense while chasing parts) because there was an extra thick washer under the pivot ball.

I look forward to putting few hundred miles on the car and hitting Bandi on some future TnT and giving my report on the SBC + Kevlar combo. The pedal is lighter than the 2600 it replaces, in the 10 miles I drove the car last night the engagement is silky silky smooth.

[Cloud]

So was it just so close that the fingers were catching on the inner part of the disk or the fork itself was catching the pressure plate? I would expect it to slip rather than improperly engage if the fork pointed to the drivers side, but theoretically if you go far enough you will start touching other parts, I can't say I have shimmed it that far so I wouldn't know!

[Scott Y]

Don't know exactly what was messed enough in the geometry that it didn't work, it was after 11 last night when I finally got it running. I didn't see any strange wear marks on the fork, but I didn't look specifically for that.

All I know is, fat washer = fail, in this circumstance.

[Scott Y]

Put car back together sans stupid fat washer on pivot ball, and all is well.

The trans had a non-oem axle seal that disintegrated after the first 2 installations so I had to pick up some oem seals before I could actually do any work. Why people use non-oem stuff just to save a few .01 I'll never know, it never saves money in the long run. Anyway...

I've got a little over 300 miles on the clutch, and it works fine. I've not run over 12ish lbs or pushed the car at all, but what I have noticed is that the engagement is smoother than any clutch I've previously used. There is not even the slightest hint of chatter, and the pedal is about as light as what I remember my ACT 2100 was, so many years ago. I plan to put a few hundred more commuting miles on it, then let 'er rip to see if it holds up at a TnT. I hope it both doesn't slip much, and it allowing smooth NLTS at 7500rpm. I'll keep you posted.