That's right... My SPEC Stage 3 clutch is officially toast after 4100 miles of use. I went to the track tonight and couldn't pull off under a 16 sec quarter at 17 psi of boost because the damn thing would start slipping in 3rd. I made 2 runs and then had to park it. I was told that the 4 clutch facings were made of sintered iron, but I'd be willing to bet that they are carbonic facings. We'll see very soon.

make sure you don't have a leaking rear main seal, or a leaking input shaft seal on the trans. If there is any oil in it, it'll slip its ass off simply because it is lubricated. I almost ruined a CM stg$ that way.

As well, if you're using the stock presure plate, don't act suprised that it is slipping - the stock pressure plate doesn't have anywhere near the clamping force needed to hold it together at those HP levels. It'll slip no matter what sort of disc facing you use if the pressure plate can't push it down against the flywheel enough.

Better luck next stage.

I've been on the lookout for awhile to find a pressure plate that has more load than a stock one for a local custom clutch builder. Do you know off hand of any supplier I can buy a nice pressure plate from?

I was also told by Howell that the SPEC Stage 3 pressure plate was an upgrade from stock to help compliment the sintered iron disk. It is possible that the input shaft seal is leaking very slightly, but I don't think it is. I pulled off the lower plate and looked at the bottom of the clutch and bellhousing and they were bone dry. Also, I am 99% sure that the rear main isn't leaking since it was perfect about 1000 miles ago, but I guess you never know till you take it all apart.

A bit off the subject, but it makes me laugh that you said "Better luck next stage." Don't you hate it how companies sell products in "Stages" lol. It sure would be nice if they just gave the specifications of what they are selling instead of putting a turd in a box and calling it "Stage 3-5" so you assume that its sweet hahaha. Oh well... no more of that stuff for me .:thumbsup .

Mine was bone dry too.. till iay ran my fingeer over it and took up a bunch of thin, contaminated black 90w. Nasty.

You never DO know, until it all comes apart. But hey, i trashed a CFDF, then trashed a CMstg4, then fixed my leak, cleaned my 4 puck ceramic stg4, and its been good since. Barsol does wonders.

So hey.. maybe you're ok. Maybe you're not. You'v got a good disk regardless - somneone should be able to make a better pressure plate.

Im working with dan at clutch dynamics and i also have the clutches we had made from pro clutch that offer up 50% increase in clamp load,

pro clutches products are made to each user i call the warehosue up and say i need a clutch for this application we double check our suggestions discuss it a bit he builds it and sends it out that day,


standard pro clutches that ive got on the webpage come 15% increase in clamp load,

Matt when your ready for something new hit me up ill get u a good deal sucks when things liek this happens....

Thanks alot for the help man! I spoke to Dan today and I am going to test a true ferramic clutch for him. I should have it all together by early June (I'm leaving for 3 weeks to VA for job interviews next week). We are going to check the facings on the SPEC clutch and test the pressure plate in his plate load tester and see what the SPEC Stage 3 is in reality. I will be very interested to see the results. If the SPEC pressure plate doesnt measure up to what I need, I will most definately be in touch with you for acquiring a pressure plate. Thanks again for the help and the sympathy :7 .

Just too much powa kid!

*sigh*
my stage 1 CM is still holding....i wonder for how much longer.
You guys scare me.


Jon

1997 Eclipse RS

14.21@101mph 10/4/02

my stock clutch with an unknown amount of miles (my car has 138k miles, no idea when the clutch was last replaced) is still holding up at 10-12 psi of boost. it's been holding up for 2 months, and before the rebuild it held 5-8 psi fine. it definately doesn't grab like it used to though...