I installed a gripforce f1 racing clutch stage 1. I already had a couple thousand miles on it and it was chirping gears at WOT. however after a few bolt-ons like the mevi/jwt combo and y pipe it's now trash. After 7200 rpm shifts too many it now slips like butter when dumping on it. By the way I can smell the clutch a lot.

 

sounds like youve treated it pretty harsh, eh?

 

Not harsh enough I am sure an exedy stage 1 would have sufficed

 

you may be right....but yu did beat on it a lil there.^^

 

 

Chirping at WOT.. this isnt a camaro bro... beating on them before they are worn in will depreciate its life greatly.... i got mevi ypipe lightweight flywheel among many other supporting mods and i can chirp gears from time to time even with super grippy tires... i got a stage 1 no name clutch setup and its still ok..

 

I hear you but I thought it was broken in since I initially babied it for 1500 miles. I'm going to take it for a test run today it had all night to cool down.

 

i can burn the tires up in first and chirp in second with a stock clutch no slipage yet...but i dont dump clutch from a high rpm. and if you can smell burning clutch material than i would advise to quit beating on it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK9TX...7C7BD373237F12

is this you? lol im only kidding

 

Ok so I'm going to purchase a new clutch kit. I want your opinion. My power performance mods are simple, MEVI/JWT (7200 rev cut), y-pipe and will eventually install NWP spacers. I prefer going back to Exedy and I am considering a Stage 1 or Stage 2. My concerns are driveability as an every day driver and durability. I need a forgiving clutch that can withstand me dumping the clutch at 7200 RPMs as I used to do with my Exedy OEM clutch; which held up fairly well.

 

I guess stage two would be your best bet.

 

Don't be a wuss.

Stage 3 4 puck unsprung.

 

LOL I won't be able to drive that junk around as a daily driver.

 

wtf you dump your clutch at 7200?!?!? i have the same mods as you but i have an 00vi and a tune and i can get decent launches at 3000 rpm. i feel really sorry for your tranny lol at least its not AWD so the tires have some give.

my clutch is 17 years old and when i got my bearings replaced the mechanic asked if the clutch was new! i've never had any problems with it not gripping during launches and shifts, and i shift REALLY quickly. during normal driving, i save the clutch as much as possible with rev match downshifting.

Your stage one should be more than enough. I know a guy with an S/C max and his OE clutch didn't give untill he got passed the 270whp mark (6psi). then he replaced it with something a lil stronger (300zx clutch? i don't remember) for 320+whp (10+ psi).

 

wait wait wait, let me rephrase this entire thread. When I said that I dump the clutch at 7200 RPMS perhaps I should have clearified that I don't attempt to launch at 7200 RPMs but rather shift at 7200 RPMs. My apologies for not explaining myself thoroughly. I launch at around 5200 RPMs and get an impressive launch I might spin for a split second or two but after that I'm nearly at 40 mph.

 

well maybe I spin for like 2 seconds not a split second, that's a little exaggerated but with some quick feathering it works out pretty well.

 

lol thats better. never tried 5k rpm launch before, you ride the clutch a bit so it doesn't spin wheels?

do you do these launches regularly like at the strip?

perhaps the hydraulic system in the clutch mechanism has air in it and and it messed up the pedal adjustment or maybe the clutch pedal was touched during installation and wasn't adjusted with the new clutch being put in?

 

I only ride the clutch for 1 to 1.5 seconds and feather it. I don't launch at the strip, only street racing; can't comment much, discussions about street racing is forbidden on this site. I installed the clutch myself, unfortunately I didn't resurface the flywheel or adjust the pedal, it didn't feel necessary as the tranny engaged excellent. It still engages and disengages great while normal operation but when I shift at 7200 it slips suuuuuuuuuuper bad.

 

i think a bad clutch gets worse progressively, so did this happen all of a sudden or was is getting weaker to engage as time went by? what happens if you shift WOT at stock rev limit? if you step on it in 1st or 2nd at like 4-5krpm does it slip then or only during hard shifts into next gear? still leaning towards clutch fluid issue/adjustment.

Sorry i can't be much help i've never worked on a tranny before and never had this issue but just gettin all the info prepped for a maxima guru that will chime in soon lol

 

It was working completely fine. I let my friend take it up the street and it came back smelling like straight clutch and slipping. When he took off it sounds like he was revving way too high and it wasn't taking off as it should have. I asked him if he let go of the clutch and he said he did.

 

Since you shift at 7200 rpms, the rpms fall back like what? To 5500 rpm? In other words you're engaging the next gear up while the engine is still making great amounts of power. And because you are trying to extract the most amount of power out of the engine you probably keep the accelerator floored, right? So you're at 5500 rpms or so, or porbably even higher becuase the accelerator is floored, and your'e bringing the clutch back into gear.

That clutch is taking a beating my friend, even a performance one. Every time you change gears.

I bet you even experience driveline shock where you engage the gears somewhat strongly. Since the clutch is so strong, you feel a bit of a tremor/vibration just as you engage, correct? That's the clutch transfering all that torque through your tranny, and because the tires are grippy enough to not chirp, the massive torque dump dissipates itself through vibration.

Yeah, that torquey VQ motor is beating the ish out of your clutch, and probably hurting your tranny, too.

DW

 

I have no direct experience with the exedy offerings for the maxima, but they are good clutches.

I believe the Exedy stage 1 will be all you need, unless you plan on adding a significant amount of torque through nitrous, FI, or some other major mods in the future.

 

no wonder you stick up for no name brands like XYZ. It is obviously your preference to take risks on brands like that lol

 

I'll bite...
After reading this thread, a lesson on how to shift might be in order.
Dumping the clutch at wot isn't good for any clutch or transmission or driveshaft or motor mounts. Your driving a fwd Maxima, not a dragster...

 

imo still tough to beat that clutch like that. if all was installed/adjusted correctly a stg 1 is PLENTY for what he's got. my clutch is 17 years old and it still bites as well as it did when i bought the car 20k km ago and i got basically the same mods.

stock tranny can take it np, same goes for the vq30 psi-wise on stock internals. you make it seem like this cars tranny will fold like tissue paper under any stress lol

i think you're slipping that clutch quite a bit a the 5k rpm lol. Mevi opens right there and i guess you use the clutch a bit more than normal to avoid wheelspin?