Started the install Saturday morning and spent around 8 hours total on it without any rush or complications. Overall this was a lot easier than most people make it out to be, but getting the transmission in/out is rough.

I didn't take many pics...

Car lifted and ready to begin early Sat. morning.


Pic of my exhaust while it's up. Notice cattman gave me 1 mild steel flange on my Y-pipe, lol!


Work area with everything dismantled and the transmission out.


Bare metal on the stock clutch disk

 

Stock flywheel installed


Clutchmasters flywheel, disk, and PP installed


Another angle


Before it went in

 

Looks good. You must have a killer jack to get that car that high in the air

 

Just a full size, 100 dollar hydraulic jack + a little custom welded shim to increase height. Raising the car that high was a 3 step process... Had to use the small jackstands first in the front, raise the rear, then raise the front again.

It was great having the car that high for getting the transmission in/out, although standing on a stool to work under the hood was a little tough at times.

 

Nice work. Looking forward to seeing new times from you this year. If you don't sell the IM first.

 

How does this combo feel? I heard that a puck clutch shutters alot.

 

yeah, seriously interested in the 6-puck's feel. Not for myself, but just for the sake of knowledge

 

Weather was that warm to be doing that outside?

 

If I launch under 1k rpms, it will shutter a tiny bit. Otherwise, it's just a fast engagement (can still slip it fine) right off the floor.

 

It was about 50 degrees, but the sun made it feel warmer.

We would have done it if it was 30 degrees, though.... There's a lot more room to work in the driveway than in the garage.

 

stage 4? no ****?, curious of what your times are before this install, also I hope you don't do much city driving because I heard going over a stage 2 kills your leg!. awesome install and great looking car man. good luck in whatever you have instore in the future.

 

Sounds like the NX kit s calling your name Thanks for the info on the clutch! Let us know how it is when you are in traffic though, probably gonna suck.

 

Its a sprung hub, engagment cant be too harsh.

 

Cattman talked me into it after a long conversation and I'm glad he did. I was initially considering a stage 2 or 3.

The pedal effort is actually FAR less than stock from the top down to about 1" from the floor which is where the clutch engages/disengages. From that point to the floor, it's about 50% more effort than the stock pedal but still easy and comfortable.

This is a very welcome change from the mushy stock pedal that had no obvious engagement point which also happened to be about mid-throw on the pedal, which was very bad for fast shifting and annoying for launching. Everybody who has sat in my car and operated the clutch pedal says "wow you can tell exactly where it engages!"

Also, the ceramic material requires nearly no break in and can take massive abuse. Slipping a ceramic clutch does not alter it's performance. Were I to slip one of the Kevlar options too much, it could overheat and NEVER recover... slipping for the rest of its life.

In terms of city driving, I've done about 100 miles so far of almost pure city driving and have gotten completely used to the clutch. I stalled it 2-3 times on my first drive due to it engaging RIGHT off the floor, which is awesome but took some getting used to.

My leg actually gets less workout in traffic than with the stock clutch, because with this clutch I can keep my foot towards the bottom of the clutch pedal's throw, and just engage/disengage the clutch with minimal foot movement.

I did one hard WOT shift 2-3 earlier day... wow, it resulted in tire chirp which is very uncommon for my grippy street tires. With the stock clutch, I rarely even chirped into 2nd gear. It INSTANTLY grabs. You can see in the videos that I made with my old clutch that it slips away for a bit before engaging all the way on each gear shift, which I'm sure killed MPH and a little ET at the track.

My last best run on the day that I believe was the "last straw" for my stock clutch was the 13.01@106 N/A. On that run, the clutch was slipping on hard shifts and I banged the rev limiter in first. Therefore I am fairly certain that on a similar weather day, I have potential for some 12s.

I probably also now have 1.7 '60 foots with this clutch, but I am very worried for my axles so I will be babying the launches a bit to try and find the least jarring way to still pull a fast '60 foot.

 

wow, thats awesome man, glad you are liking it and thanks for the info. keep us posted with those track times.

 

Yeah any new track times will be posted in the 1/4 mile section. I may just go to a local 1/8th mile to get some practice with this clutch.

Launching on street tires is going to be an all new beast the way this thing grabs. With the stock one going out, I could just let it out hard and it would slip me to a smooth launch, like shown in this video

 

I'm probably missing something, but why is the stock clutch disc unsprung?

 

The oem flywheel is sprung instead I believe.

 

Yeah it has some kind of damping on it. Dual mass.

 

Got a new toy coming in the mail and after that's installed and setup I'll be hitting the track.

 

I am getting a clicking sound in the first 3 gears, then after I shift to gear 4 I don't hear it anymore. It is a original OEM transmission and clutch with about 160000 miles on it. I also I have a Timing chain on it, can you help me with that.

 

When I have an important question, I ask the wizard.

 

wtf 160k on original clutch? while its not likely that the clicking is related to the clutch...thats a whole lotta miles on the stock clutch

 

whats the new toy

thanks for the pics btw

 

Here's a sound clip video showing how fast it revs now. Still haven't installed the UDP either.

 

i have 170k on mine

nice setup, cant wait until i decide wat setup i want

 

Just wanted to bump this for a nearly 1-year review.

Pedal effort is still similar to stock until you're getting close to the engagement point, then ramps up. I have no issues in traffic or long trips with my leg tiring out.

Chatter/shudder can be a pain if you're trying to slip it from low rpms. Slipping too much or from below around 2000 rpms can result in the whole car shaking. Generally this isn't a problem, you just relearn how to drive it. Others in traffic around me probably think I'm a ricer launching from 1500-2k rpms to ensure a smooth start.

It grips like no other. Could have been part of why my transmission finally gave out a few months later after some hard track time.

I haven't gotten new 1/4 mile track times yet, but 1/8th mile times have shown improvements of .15-.2 and 1.5-2 mph from the 13.0 ET and 107.5 trap without any other major mod changes (still vias delete manifold, sold the kinetix before it was track tested).

 

How much did the clutch and flywheel cost and where did you buy it from?

Car sounds awesome in the exhaust video!

 

was somewhere south of 1k shipped from Cattman.

Thanks, that was with the "custom maxima" better known as Tsudo catback.

This is how it sounds now

 

Car definitely sounds good!

 

Thanks! Have been told by friends it sounds like a liter bike from a distance. Definitely not your average import.

 

Doesn't sound like an average VQ, and that is definitely a good thing. lol

I have heard some horrible sounding VQ motors.