Hey Guys,

I bought a Spec Stage 3 off of BoostedEclipse here on the forums. I put the clutch in when rebuilding the motor and now everything is up and running. When the car idles the motor is shaking quite a bit. My dad and I checked all over and it seems like it is coming from the bell housing/ clutch area. Almost as if something is off balance.

It settles down a tiny bit once the car is warmed up but never fully goes away. My dad thinks it has something to do with the pressure plate or maybe a bad pad (or missing pad) in the clutch...

Anyone ran into this? If there a way to check any issues without removing the bell housing/clutch? Trying to diagnose it before pursuing the job of taking the damn clutch out after having recently dropped everything back in the car.


Thanks in advance!

Most aftermarket clutches have a decent amount of clutch chatter at idle. Mine makes a lot of noise at times that go away when you press the clutch. This is normal. If the actual engine is shaking a lot I think you may have other issues. A rough running motor will make the clutch even more noisy than normal. If the clutch releases and drives fine I wouldnt be to worried about it.

I can tell you about my disdain for spec if I see you this weekend (or you can search on here).

As for checking, You can check the 4 bolts on the flexplate (to see if they are loose or have a problem) through the inspection plate.

And (I'm sure you didn't do this but I'll put this in for others) you didn't oblong (or even redrill) the bolt holes on the flexplate because they weren't lining up? The bolt holes are that way because you can only put the clutch on one way (for balancing purposes).

Haha Unfortunately I read all those posts AFTER buying a SPEC clutch. So I drove the car around a bit this weekend and there is still quite a bit of chatter and shaking at idle. The shaking eases up after the car warms up (could be the crappy temporary SFMU setup I have) but the chattering is still noticeable. When driving he clutch feels pretty good minus some funky bouncing in First and Reverse (which seems to go away the more miles I put on it).

I will let you guys know of any progress as I inspect it more.

I had a shake problem using a SPEC Stage 3 Clutch AND a Centerforce clutch in the early days. One shook at idle, the other shook between 3500 and 4000rpm. My problem was that I assumed the aftermarket clutch centered itself to the Crankshaft and Flexplate in the same way the OEM clutch did.

I jacked the car up, opened the inspection plate on the transmission and measured the distance between the flex plate teeth and the flywheel at each of the four bolt locations. The clutch was indeed bolted down slightly off center. Got everything centered up within 20 minutes and it was smooth sailing after that.

As for the chatter and rattling, thats just par for the course. I haven't met anyone with a Stage 3 clutch that didn't make some sort of noise at idle.

If things have changed in the last two years, by all means update me. I'd love a Stage 3, quite, 6 puck, sprung disc with hulk strength pressure plate, but light weight clutch pedal feel :) Santa?

Thanks for the reply... I will check out the inspection plate and do what you said. That really might be the solution... It does seem like something is off center ...

Another update for future reference and searches...

My pops and I unbolted the pressure plate and ran the engine.... There was no vibration at all... There is something clearly off balance because right after unbolted the thing spun down to a specific spot (every time you spun it it would end in the same spot).

Looks like I need to look for a new clutch...

It's a shame because I have had such great experienced with buying other users stuff.!

Why not have it balanced? Depending on cost, it shouldn't be a problem for a shop to remove some weight and balance it.

That's odd, I have been running my SPEC Stage 3 for almost a year now, no abnormal vibration, noise, and no real issues in general.

Originally posted by Rtistyk
That's odd, I have been running my SPEC Stage 3 for almost a year now, no abnormal vibration, noise, and no real issues in general.

Yeah I spoke to the seller (from this forum) and he claims it was fine on his car but it did sit in his garage for some time... I don't know what would cause it to get off balance somehow from sitting.

Originally posted by chipdogg
Why not have it balanced? Depending on cost, it shouldn't be a problem for a shop to remove some weight and balance it.

I didn't know you could do that with a modular clutch.... I will look into it! Thanks!

I wouldn't think it would be a problem. They'll probably have to drill a little bit on one edge of the flywheel to remove a little weight and it'll be good. Doesn't hurt to ask a few places.

Originally posted by chipdogg
I wouldn't think it would be a problem. They'll probably have to drill a little bit on one edge of the flywheel to remove a little weight and it'll be good. Doesn't hurt to ask a few places.

Does anyone know where I can get this done. Either locally or send it out? I am in Connecticut.

Have you asked any local machine shops? If they can't do it, they'll know someone who can.

I asked around and no one will touch a SPEC modular clutch... Either they tell me it's not worth it or they wont even try.

Really? That's weird, I guess you're SOL if you can't find someone to balance it.

You could try my buddy Mikey over at Northeast Auto Machine in East Hartford. He does all my machine work. Reference me. But I don't know if it would be worth it. Cost may outweigh benefit. Plus, I imagine his answer would be that he could do it but he couldn't guarantee it wouldn't chatter due to it being run for an amount of time while out of balance.

I was thinking about this the other day, and I'd venture to guess why they won't balance it. The disc spins inside the clutch, so if they balance the assembly as it sits, as soon as the disc moves, it can be back out of balance. Especially if the disc itself has a piece missing and is off balance.

Im not sure if you resolved your problem yet but I went through something similar. One of the dowel pins that aligns the trans and block fell out during install and went unnoticed. This causes a hell of a vibration due to the disc not being centered. Figured its worth posting regardless.