ratedZ Posted August 30, 2003 Share Posted August 30, 2003 Hey guys, just got my SPEC clutch in the mail...only thing is I originally ordered the Stage II as the car is a daily driver. Soo, I now have the 6puck sprung hub disk instead of the Kevlar sprung disk...I know that the 6puck has a harsher engagement but can anyone tell me if this clutch will be ok to use as a daily driver?....not too worried about the engagement, just worried about the flywheel ect. and maybe some unecessary wear and tear of other parts. Also, just noticed on the invoice that it says... "Spec Clutch Stage 2 - 280z; 84-89 300zx NA; 84-86 300zx Turbo" Can this be used on the Borg Warner T5 on my 83 zxt?...I hope so because if this won't work, my plans to drop the motor in this Saturday is totally wasted. Dammit, why can't people get their friggen order right? This is the second time this year so far that I've been screwed with wrong parts. grrrrrrr..... >o( btw..here's the link to Nippon Power where I ordered the clutch http://www.nipponpower.com/drivetrain/clutch/spec.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratedZ Posted August 30, 2003 Author Share Posted August 30, 2003 Checked to see if the mounting holes line up with my old cover...looks like it does so it should be OK as far as the fitment. BUT still wondering about the "sharp aggressive engagement"...haven't really been in a car that has this to see exactly what sharp engagement feels like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted August 30, 2003 Share Posted August 30, 2003 Well, I have an ACT 6 puck, and it is a great clutch, but it's not always fun. They are very hard to slip w/o revving excessively high, so for street driving, whenever you leave a light or whatever, get the car rolling, if you do it the way you would do with a normal clutch, there is usually some chatter as you let the clutch out. I've been driving mine for like 3 years and you do get used to it and learn how to limit the chattering. The other bad thing about them is the clutch pedal stiffness increases immensley (sp.??). If you do a lot of street driving, or more importantly a lot of driving in stop and go traffic... you will HATE that clutch during those times. They are great for making it easy to chirp tires when shifting though About accelerated wear and tear, I'm sure there is some, most likely from shock, on parts like the u-joints or maybe even the diff and tranny themselves. As far as the clutch, flywheel and pressure plate themselves... well I pulled mine two months ago when I swapped from my N/A to my turbo motor... I've put close to 40,000 miles on them. The throwout bearing was going bad at that point also, I could hear it when I pushed the clutch in, but, to my amazement, when we pulled everything out, the clutch looked damn near the same as it did the day i bought it, the flywheel looked perfect, and the pressure plate surface had the slightest wear to it. Mind you this is with lots of hard driving and slamming gears, high rev clutch drops and high rev slipping. So, they can take a lot of abuse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcus70ZT Posted August 31, 2003 Share Posted August 31, 2003 i have the 4 puck stage 3 for my 225mm flywheel. i haven't even fully broken it in yet, but i am pleased with it's streetability. (we car people like to invent words, don't we ) i'm not sure what the stage 4 uses for friction material, but mine is some sort of carbon composite that they told me would be street friendly, which it is. i wouldn't compare the spec to the ACT for two reasons. first, the SPEC unit has a sprung hub which cut's down the chatter and eases engagement considerably. second, the SPEC uses a better levering system on the springs so that you get the same clamping force with similar to stock pedal effort. similar concept to using a longer breaker bar. same force from you, more torque on the object. i was aprehensive about the puck style clutch too, but with the sprung hub and the carbon friction surface, it is exactly what i wanted. i'm not sure about your stage 4, though. there could be some differences. call spec directly and talk to them. they were very knowledgeable and friendly when i was going through this process. and from your experience, i would just order direct from them and forget nippon power. their site is http://www.speclutches.com good luck with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fl327 Posted September 2, 2003 Share Posted September 2, 2003 Marcus, wondering how that 225 mm spec clutch is doing for you? thinking about runnng one with a turbo engine with around 300lbs crank hp. does it hold up to it??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcus70ZT Posted September 2, 2003 Share Posted September 2, 2003 i still haven't fully broken it in yet; they strongly recommended a 500 mile break in period before beating on it, but i have tried several pulls at full throttle through 1st, 2nd and 3rd. couldn't resist. it held great, but this is still at stock boost levels. maybe 225 torque or so with my open intake and exhaust. i am also shooting for about 300 crank HP and spec guaranteed me that the clutch would hold it's listed torque rating (345 lb/ft on my model). i asked them if the clutch started slipping and i put it on a dyno to prove the torque numbers, would they stand behind it and they said yes. i'm not sure if this would be in the form of a refund or a credit on a bigger unit, but hopefully i will not have to cross that bridge. but definitely none of those "90% increase over stock" ambiguities. the clutch looked to be well designed and my machine shop guy was pleasantly surprised at how well it was balanced from the factory when he balanced my clutch and FW. the sprung hub is well integrated so that you don't just have those thin tabs holding the disk to the inner hub like on a stock clutch. yes i am very pleased, at least so far... and i have the stage 3, SN543 in my car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fl327 Posted September 2, 2003 Share Posted September 2, 2003 cool, i will give it a shot then. already had a spare flywheel and didnt want to buy another flywheel if i didnt have to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lockjaw Posted September 2, 2003 Share Posted September 2, 2003 Why did you get a spec? I would not spend my money with them, I have seen to many issues. But all the applications you listed interchange, and there is no problem with the BW trans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcus70ZT Posted September 2, 2003 Share Posted September 2, 2003 got it direct form them. http://www.specclutch.com now you have me worried. what issues have you heard of? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperZ Posted September 2, 2003 Share Posted September 2, 2003 Why did you get a spec? I would not spend my money with them' date=' I have seen to many issues. But all the applications you listed interchange, and there is no problem with the BW trans.[/quote'] I'm curious too, LJ, what issues have you with the SPEC? I just installed a used/broken-in ClutchMasters stage 4, and I don't expect to get many runs before it wears out. But I'm cheap and didn't want to take the time to get a new clutch this season. Hopefully I'll get a 12 second 1/4 out of it before it retires.... The SPEC is rated higher than any sprung hub clutch I've looked at - better than the CM stage 4, I won't even consider Centerforce (no ratings that I could find), and ACT only comes with solid hubs in the puck-type clutches. What are you running? Any problems? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lockjaw Posted September 3, 2003 Share Posted September 3, 2003 Disc failures, and the hubs in the disc being in off center. I am telling you right now, there is no way there will ever be a spec clutch in my car. Some people have good luck with them, but I have never seen one so destroyed as the one they sold my friend for his GTO with a 6 speed. There was nothing left of the disc. He had their super duper whoopdy do clutch too, not just an OEM style replacement. And he was just driving it when it let go. Imagine what would have happened had he been on it. Get an ACT or something, and be done with it. Thats what I am going to do. I am running a stock 300ZXTT pressure plate on a redrilled flywheel with an 89 300ZXT disc, and it has worked fine so far, I think all my 12 second passes have been made on this clutch, with no problems. Considering my car is about 3150 with me in it, I would say that is pretty good, and I could always step up to a juiced 300ZXTT one from JWT that looks like the stocker, and not have to worry either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RB26powered74zcar Posted September 3, 2003 Share Posted September 3, 2003 hummm... I had a Clutch Masters stg4 explode during decel while doing a dyno pull over in Tallyhasie Fla. James 240 turbo and I were tuning my car when it let go and blew a hole in my bell housing. I now use a Spec 4 and have had no issues. I can't remember who, but someone in the know told me that mostly all the major clutch sellers, all get their presure plates from the same place, then re badge them. Its the disc that is the real differnce, (***second hand info***) One thing I can say for sure is, you do not want a CenterForce duel slipper. If you have over 250 or so hp/tq. That was a total waste of my money.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody 82 ZXT Posted September 5, 2003 Share Posted September 5, 2003 One thing I can say for sure is, you do not want a CenterForce duel slipper. If you have over 250 or so hp/tq. That was a total waste of my money.... I certainly agree with Joel here. I run a clutch from Dial-a-Clutch that is easy to use but, the spring pressure is alittle high. So far I've had no proublems with it at the track or on the street. My car is proublably the heavist one on this board and that can be another factor in how well a clutch holds up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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