hey ya'll, my clutch pressure plate had lost its grip since almost a month ago. took it to the shop and opened it up: OMFG, the stock pressure plate and flywheel are so F-ed up. All I see are spinned and grinded glazed friction surfaces. Then the car sat in the shop for 3 weeks and finally got the SPEC Stage II and Stillen Flywheel combo in. Man that's a $750 combo+ $300 labor.
Today I went to the shop and worked with the mechanics to put these puppies in. Took the whole day and here are some details I learned to be careful about:

This chattering feeling that everyone's talking about, actually came from dirty friction surfaces. I read articles and posts about this in the mustang forum. they whom installed the Spec II clutch talked over and over about this chattering in detail. The fact is, even a fingerprint on the kevlar or flywheel friction surface will cause chatter. I used a bottle of the mechanical spray solution to clean everything off. then intalled carefully making sure that nothing touches the frictional area of the pieces. After installation, NO CHATTERS AT ALL!!!

I got the earlier production of the 95 maxima's, so I cannot use the flywheel from fidanza. fidanza makes flywheels for later 95's and on. The fitment difference occurs in that extra hole needed for the earlier 95 flywheels. It has "9" ring gear screws to put on that flywheel. Fidanza flywheels only have 8 holes. you can drill another hole but that'll set off the balancing issues. So be careful. If you are a earlier 95, get one from stillen, tell them the production date of your vehicle. They will get you the correct flywheel.

Also, the throw bearing that came with the SPEC kit is BS. they just simply gave you some throw bearings that has no clippings to fit on the throw arm tips. And the size of the bearing is not even right. I end up using the Stock throw bearing. My stock bearing looked like $hit, but I had no choice. I ain't waitin anymore to get the bearing in.

After all, driving is incredible. First, there is no chattering. It grabs great and engages fast (really really fast!). I am not so used to it yet. About this lightened flywheel high rpm drag down due to lost momentum, I haven't experienced a bit of it, yet. I dared not drive it to red line just yet. I am waiting for breaking in at 500 miles. After all, the combo is great. Very streetable and race-ready.

So it goes like this...
CLUTCH DOWN-GEAR IN "1"-GAS DOWN+CLUTCH (LOUD STOMP) UP AND REV!!!!!!! Before I expect, that STOMP came in so quick, I stalled the car several times. Then I slowly learned to drive it right. It's really nice.

I already post this in the all motor section, but figures not much orgers go there. So I posted again in here. It's ok that the org guys delete my post. but please delete the one in the all motor section. thanx alot.

 

wow, that's awesome. I'll make a note of not leaving a dang thing on the surfaces. How do you like the speed at which the engine revs up now with the Stillen flywheel?

 

Oh My God. Let me tell you about this. that flywheel is lightened and just literally awaits my foot to go any .01 inch deeper into that pedal, it responds like your foot is actually pumping the car to move. I don't know what to say. The car now runs and jerks slightly if you are hesitating on that gas pedal. I hardly can drive at constant speed now, because any movement I make on the pedal, the car responds right away to it. And it revs and revs and revs!!! I'd say that I gain power from this nice combo, but our "wise orgers" would come bashing me and say "lightened flywheel only released the power used up to turn the..." and blah blah blah forever. It's all true, but this is horse power gain in my view. I love this Nissan power!!!

yeah man, it revs really fast now but I only took it to about 4k rpm and changed gears already. I heard that we can't really rev it too high right after the installation. It needs breakin in. On my way back home from the interstates though, I drove up to 80 mph and a dodge ram came passing me like I'm a turtle, then I down shifted this Puppy to 4th gear and it picks up right away and hit 100 easily and passed the dodge ram. I also want to note that this lightened flywheel really released "alot of" horse power. I can definitely feel the high end power much more than before. I think I gain more in this mod than when I gained power in the y-pipe. It's just incredible!!!

 

good. at least 30 people read this thread. then i wouldn't be so sad. i am just trying to help those who are not so knowledgeable about the clutches and flywheels. i know my post is really long, but i need to be thorough. thanx for looking everyone...

 

nice detail information cyu1, you must be the guy from baton rouge that can't drive a stick. I heard you got smoked by a 95 auto GXE with only y-pipe. Looks like the new clutch/flywheel setup didn't help that much!!!

 

Yes, my brother just stopped me from ordering the fidanza flywheel because of the fitment issuse. My car was made in 94, Im def going with the stillen flywheel. Stillen seems like a way better company. Im also going with a ACT stage1 clutch im pretty sure there shouldn't be a problem with the pressure plate bolting on the flywheel. 2 quick questions DO you highly recommend the stillen flywheel and what did you Torque the flywheel 2? Its aluminum you can't TQ it to factory specs.

 

tell u the truth, i did my flywheel and clutch in my friend's shop. though i only helped a bit at the time of the job, they lowered my labor cost down to only 250 bucks for the whole thing: flywheel and spec clutch. they used the impact torque wrench from the air tools, torque-ing the flywheel screws was done by the mechanic guy. i didn't remember any of the specs needed. you may ask stephen max about it, he can definitely input some good info. also, if you are not sure, you can always ask stillen. their customer service was beyond excellent when i was dealing with them. in my opinion, though, aluminum flywheel can be torqued close to factory specs because the screw plate was treated to be even harder. check it just to make sure...

 

How do you feel about the flywheel, do you like it? its pretty light compaired to stock and even to the fid flywheel. How is the driveabilty? I need some feedback.

 

the flywheel is fine. i will never take it off again. however, now that i also put on the udp, the rev drop is very fast. if you run the track with both mods, you'll need to learn how to shift really fast, or else, the lightweightness will hurt more than benefit.

another thing...make sure you change the throw out bearing as well. i really don't think the throwout bearing they give you along with the kit is going to fit because most of them are too big. i went to the dealership and got a brand new one. and it's great.

 

I know now what my next mods will be for spring time. It would be a waste to thrown in all that clutch and have no go cause there is 8" of snow everywhere. good write up cyu1

 

hey. i'm glad i read this because i'm about to get my clutch changed. i know i have to get the clutch, pp, and throw out bearing changed. now i can get a stage one and pp from a 5th gen. now do you know if i can do this and get a stillen flywheel? and if i do i need to get the flywheel made for the same year correct? i just wanna know if this is what needs to happen before i waste a bunch of money

 

Im not going with an udp. Im going going to stick to the stillen flywheel with the ACT stage 1 clutch. So your saying I should order a throw-out bearing from nissan to be on the safe side because the size of the ACT one might be bigger? Also my main question in this is how does it feel to drive with the stillen flywheel? Is it streetable? Are the RPM drops really bad? This is all without a udp, im not going to make the crank even lighter... I need 100% pure feedback, neg and pos anything before I make my order...

 

I installed a SPEC stage 3 a few days ago. The first few miles were chatter city, but with 110 miles on it now, it's slowly getting better.

Interesting about the chatter/clean surface idea. I made sure of it that the PP, flywheel, and clutch disc were spotless.

 

thanks...

for your case, if you go with the 5th gen clutch setup, you can still use the stillen flywheel, just tell them that you're doing the 5th gen clutch-to be safe. the unmatching flywheel issue is applied to the early 95's only. other than that, don't matter what clutch kit you are using, it's all fine...



yes, order a throw out bearing to be safe. you can return it if you don't get to use it. about the flywheel, i personally feel the quick responses the car immediately gives. feels like the car is picking up a lighter load off the line. with out the udp, you'll not notice a problem with the quick rev drop. the stillen flywheel is very streetable; coupled with my previous stage 2 spec clutch setup, my brother took a joy ride and said that the car rides smooth as heck. it's not bad at all. the most positive thing i felt was when i punched that gas pedal, after the car revs past 3500 rpms, it start to pull harder than if i had the stock flywheel. it helps reaching the the target redline a little bit faster. there are no negative things about it unless udp comes into the picture.



how do you like your spec stage 3? i'm not totally done with my replacement yet. should be ready within a week. this time, it's a beast with a stage 3 clutch in it. hopefully it doesn't "thump" too hard during shifts because i don't think i can live with that all the time i drive.


for all your clutch jobs, make sure all the friction surfaces are cleaned before installed. that way you don't have to find that chatter and have to open up the tranny case again.

 

^ The pedal feel on the stage 3 is ALOT like stock. It grabs really well too. I've WOT'd a few times already and it doesn't slip at all. I'm still breaking it in though.

 

good, i'll see to mine at the end of this week. it should be done by then...