Clutch!

So what type of clutch would you ever-experienced enthusiasts recommend? Here's one I was looking at:
http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/products/products.php?year=2001&make_text=ford&model_text=focus&category=clutch&subcategory=clutch_kit

Its the 'ACT CLUTCH KIT, HEAVY DUTY PRESSURE PLATE WITH 6 PAD' one. Reliability and long life are the two things I'm looking for, and I'm sure rallying isn't easy on a clutch. Whaddaya think?

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Ben Hetland
1973 Volvo 142 project car (with some cone-smashing on dirt in it's future, however)

"No. Rally Racing is a back alley sport filled with jackals, headhunters and thugs!"
-Pops Racer (Speed Racer movie)

www.utahrallygroup.com

What kinda of motor modifications have you done to your Focus? The stock ford clutch is actually a pretty good unit. I am still running at stock power levels and I have 80,000 miles on my clutch and it is working flawlessly.

I ran a 6 puck solid clutch in my old scirocco, it did save me on one rally when I lost all but 3rd and had to do standing starts in third with Tarmac tires.

Andrew_Frick Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What kinda of motor modifications have you done to
> your Focus? The stock ford clutch is actually a
> pretty good unit. I am still running at stock
> power levels and I have 80,000 miles on my clutch
> and it is working flawlessly.
>
> I ran a 6 puck solid clutch in my old scirocco, it
> did save me on one rally when I lost all but 3rd
> and had to do standing starts in third with Tarmac
> tires.
Agreed.
He has stockish motor, and stock gearing, if you really had a big itch to spend money, a 6 puck sintered type thing will be a good 30% upgrade.
I supply Clutchnet for 22 years now.

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

I hate the fuck out of mine. It's a hydraulic system so things like engagement point are not adjustable (self adjusting) so the engagement point is determined solely by the clutch itself, and the ACT on-off switch piece of shit engages right off the floor. I am used to dabbing an inch, maybe two, on the clutch pedal to snap off a shift, and really it should be like that for this one too given that it's a PUCK CLUTCH, but they did something with the pressure plate to reduce pedal effort so it requires a deep knee bend to get it disengaged, and there still doesn't seem to be a way to shift quickly because of that. But the pedal does feel nice and light like I'm stepping into a fresh angel food cake or something, instead of something that needs two feet but is driveable.

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Pete Remner
Cleveland, Ohio

1984 RX-7 (rallycross thing)
1978
Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver.

So its good or bad?

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Ben Hetland
1973 Volvo 142 project car (with some cone-smashing on dirt in it's future, however)

"No. Rally Racing is a back alley sport filled with jackals, headhunters and thugs!"
-Pops Racer (Speed Racer movie)

www.utahrallygroup.com

Oh don't get me wrong, it never slips, and I'll probably hang on to it, but I'm seriously considering either redrilling the clutch pedal for more travel or switching to a 3/4" bore MC for the clutch (leaving me with a good 5/8" bore MC for the handbrake ).

It's a driver issue, mainly. My brain says it's not right to do, but holding the pedal halfway down just before the shift does help.

It's also destroying the transmission and keeps loosening the pinion flange on the diff, but that's an RX-7 thing, and mainly my own damn fault for trying to drive it on the street.

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Pete Remner
Cleveland, Ohio

1984 RX-7 (rallycross thing)
1978
Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver.

Pete the Clutch net disc material is slightly thicker than OEM Jap stuff (and You're a peein stuff too) so when you pull down the bolts the fingers sink in towards the flywheel another x amount, so release bearing has to travel further.
I often use a 1/2 thickness AN washer tween the PP and the flywheel. They're 1/32 thick and flat.
Try it, I hate it when the pedal has to be dipped all the way to the floor, its undrivable in my book.


Wait, hold on! Don't read that! I see this:
"Old Today, 09:50 AM
P Remner P Remner is offline
Trogdor

Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
Posts: 805
Send a message via AIM to P Remner


Ignore the other forums. IMO. Especially a certain forum that claims to be a "club" for "rx7" owners. There's a lot of noise to signal and a lot of that noise is phenomenal crap - I saw someone recommend putting spacers between the strut/shock tops and the body to get the ride height up. (So still no travel, but at least it's sitting too damned high while doing it)"

What the fuck, there's more and better info here than there, more like mainded for folks who really prefer to build things themselves for finacial or other reasons.

Bad Pete, bad.
As a Godlike Moderator I suggest you write on the other board "I must not forget to suggest RallyAnarchy to others.I must not forget to suggest RallyAnarchy to others.I must not forget to suggest RallyAnarchy to others.I must not forget to suggest RallyAnarchy to others.I must not forget to suggest RallyAnarchy to others.I must not forget to suggest RallyAnarchy to others.I must not forget to suggest RallyAnarchy to others.I must not forget to suggest RallyAnarchy to others.I must not forget to suggest RallyAnarchy to others.I must not forget to suggest RallyAnarchy to others.I must not forget to suggest RallyAnarchy to others."

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/2007 01:46PM by john vanlandingham.

Centerforce, period. I've ran one since building my RX-7 turbo many years ago. The same clutch, yes the same one has been behind two motors now. After 10 rallies, it still grips tight and is very streetable. When they say that there is no extra pedal effort, they are honest. I know several fellas at the factory and know that they are producing a true to claim product. Go for the dual friction, which will be a regular disc material on one side of the clutch disk and a puck design on the other. I spen $350 or so on the clutch and have been happy with it. I also had one on my first gen with the same results.

Cable


http://www.centerforce.com/clutches.tpl?cart=1191176767305660&subsection=clutchtypes

---

Cable Rhodes
Boise, Idaho
'87 Mazda RX-7 Turbo



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/2007 12:23PM by cablerhodes.

cablerhodes Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Centerforce, period. I've ran one since building
> my RX-7 turbo many years ago. The same clutch, yes
> the same one has been behind two motors now. After
> 10 rallies, it still grips tight and is very
> streetable. When they say that there is no extra
> pedal effort, they are honest. I know several
> fellas at the factory and know that they are
> producing a true to claim product. Go for the dual
> friction, which will be a regular disc material on
> one side of the clutch disk and a puck design on
> the other. I spen $350 or so on the clutch and
> have been happy with it. I also had one on my
> first gen with the same results.

Well in some circles they are known as sCenter-Farce, because they stink and they provide no extra clamping force and they consistanty slip when subjected to serious power.
I wouldn't touch them.
Your results obviously have varied.
Don't try this at home
>
> Cable
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> <br /><br
> /&gt;<br />
>
>
>
> Edited 1 times. Last edit at Sep 30, 2007 by
> cablerhodes.

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

In a completely non-helpful post, I've heard good things about the "spec" clutches on low power machines.

---

Kirk Coughlin
Woodbury, MN and River Falls, WI

Quemadmodum gladius neminem occidit, occidentis telum est.

In John's black and white world, maybe the centerforce sucks. But, mine has been subjected to serious power, on tarmac, with rally tires etc. It has held up to being beat on, but some guys can ruin anything, well built or not. There's a certain amount of finesse that goes into making things work well AND last. I've had many tell me a 2nd gen RX-7 wouldn't work well or last, but there are many out there that spent many thousands more wondering what I did and how I did it. I definitely wouldn't trade to a higher pedal effort clutch that wears you out because John says these suck.

Cable

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Cable Rhodes
Boise, Idaho
'87 Mazda RX-7 Turbo

cablerhodes Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In John's black and white world, maybe the
> centerforce sucks. But, mine has been subjected to
> serious power, on tarmac, with rally tires etc. It
> has held up to being beat on, but some guys can
> ruin anything, well built or not. There's a
> certain amount of finesse that goes into making
> things work well AND last. I've had many tell me a
> 2nd gen RX-7 wouldn't work well or last, but there
> are many out there that spent many thousands more
> wondering what I did and how I did it. I
> definitely wouldn't trade to a higher pedal effort
> clutch that wears you out because John says these
> suck.
>
> Cable

Geeze Cable, I say they suck donkey dicks because the 4, 2 Volvo turbos, 1 GTX and one Sub-a-rat, they were useless. I don't just say, I'm reporting actual experience.

And where did I suggest something with higher pedal effort?

A suggested a 6 puck disc and stock cover untill he has moar powah.

>
> &amp;lt;br /&amp;gt;&lt;br
> /&gt;<br />

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

I've seen some mixed luck with the center force. My clutch in my DD was not working correctly due to the fact that the "sachs sport" disc I threw in it was .325" and the OEM new volvo thing was more like .275". 50 thou in pressure plate travel is a TON.

My car had the numb pedal angel food cake feel too where it would grab just off the floor. I machined a 50 thou step into the flywheel and it works absolutely beautifully. I then changed the disc to a kevlar-6puck thing from clutchnet with the same pressure plate that also measured .325" thick, so the 50 thou step in the friction surface of the flywheel remains.

In center force land, center force sells you the disc and PP as a matched set, so on a car with a "flat" flywheel, it should be setup to work if center force is to be believed. The disc in the centerforce 1 or single friction or stage 1 or whatever the crap they call it gets real grouchy when you get it nice and hot. Using the slightly stiffer of the CF pressure plates sold with the "stage 2" (whatever the fuck that means) and a 6-puck disc you get a barely streetable clutch with great pedal feel that we have abused the crap out of in a built volvo turbo. I don't believe CF still sells the DF for a volvo, but those seem to work pretty decently well. The CF 1 doesn't help over stock a heck of a ton other than to save the miserably weak gearbox in the volvo.