Clutch recommendation please
 

I currently have a Clutchmasters FX400 6 puck sprung clutch and Fidanza flywheel on my 1996 SE. After about 4 months on the car, 1st gear is shot and 2nd gear is on its way out as well. I did have some input shaft bearing noise prior to the install, but I do believe this clutch is a bit too much for the fragile 4th gen transmissions.

I got a new transmission and I'm wondering if I should keep my setup or look for maybe a stage 2 clutch. Can anyone recommend something less harsh on the transmission? I will be swapping in a Dek and boosting. Realistically, I am looking to put down ~ 350 to 400 whp, so the clutch Needs to be able to handle that.

Btw, I'm not looking for he-say, she-say...I want recommendations from people actually using the clutch they recommend and track their cars.

what do you mean by 1st gear is shot and 2nd is on its way out? teeth are broken? or something else?

i am partial to ACT clutches. HDSS might be enough for you depending upon how much torque you make once you boost it, XTSS would certainly have you taken care of, as would an HDG6 (but that sounds basically like what you have now).

two of my friends who's cars i'm intimately familiar with use south bend clutches, and they work well. i don't know the south bend lineup well enough to just recommend what specific PP and disk you need off the top of my head though. their applications wouldn't apply to you really, one is a much heavier car used for road racing and doesn't launch much, and the other is much more powerful (like 600lb-ft of tq).

i dont know if its the gear per se... In first gear, I get clunking sounds, then an extremely high pitched whining type of sound that increases with rpm. Then it just pops out of gear into neutral some time before redline. This started about mid August. For the first week or so, I would just use 1st gear to get going then quickly shift to 2nd. Last week, 2nd gear started making the same clunking noise and I started to get a bad vibration that would go away with the clutch engaged. When that happened, I just parked up the car.

On topic, the XTSS sounds interesting. Do you have any experience with it? such as pedal feel, engagement, or any chatter or other issues

I have an XT pressure plate sitting in a box at home, never used it though so i don't know what the pedal feel is. Bought it from mardigrasmax so you might pm him on here or on my350z. I think i remember someone else on here getting the XT as well.

I have the HD, bought the XT as a precautionary measure for after I swapped in the 3.5 and re-turbo'd the car, but I never re-turbo'd it, so never had need to install the XT I bought.

Just keep the same setup you have now if your going to be boosting soon it should be good enough

I currently have a SPEC Stage II clutch that is slipping at high boost. I'm making 393Ft-lbs to the wheels (15% or so higher at crank) at 8psi on my turbo. I currently have a FX300 sitting in my basement but was thinking about selling it and getting an FX400 6 puck sprung clutch. I was wondering how the clutch feel is since you have the clutch already. I dont want a SUPER aggressive clutch that SNAPS your neck when you trying to ingage the thing, but I want it to hold up. People have driven my car says that my SPEC stage II is hard to engage, but I guess Im used to it and it feels good to me. Dont want to install the FX300 and then have that slip too and then pay to install clutch again. I also have a Fidanza flywheel.

I ran a Clutchmaster Stage 3 kevlar clutch and worked very nice. Held up just fine. The wife did not complain when she drove the car. Easy in easy out. Its still in the car to this day. Its been in for about 4-5 years now. Man how time flies. lol

I run an ACT 6 Puck Sprung clutch and a heavy duty pressure plate(rated at 462tq). No complaints.

I actually sold my FX300 and bought a Stage II endurance clutch from South bend...rated at 475TQ. The 350z guys love these clutches and they got good reviews. On the FI forums of the 350z forum I seen at least 3 cases where the FX400 clutch slipped under stock boosted Zs and those guys over there hate clutchmasters. I figure I would go with something a bit more stronger. Southbend clutches are cryo treated making them stronger. I'll let you guys know how it is when I put it in this spring. Im going to leave the SPEC in because winter coming up and wont be driving car anyway...I dont drive the Max in the snow. In the spring when I upgrade to 3" DP, new up piping, vented hood, 6262 turbo with .58a/r and new clutch with re-tune it will be a different beast...

On my SER I'm running a Competition Clutch stage 5 (sprung) and I liked it so much I picked up a stage 2 for my Max. I have yet to install it however so I guess its a moot point right now.

I understand the need for strong clutches, hence the reason I bought a stage 4 from the get-go....but how are the transmissions holding up?

3rd and 4th are prone to breaking. over 350 lb-ft of torque it is almost inevitable and many have broken them at lower torque levels.

i have a competition clutch stage 4 6puck, it's a decent clutch, i have about 10k miles on it boosted but no dyno's yet, i'd assume im a bit lower then ramnas but not much. i wish the clutch offered a smoother engage/disengage but oh well. when the car is cold there isn't much pressure, i've been pretty lazy to switch out the clutch line.

i'm also running a sentra specv trans and fidanza flywheel though. all gears are fine and hlsd is doing its job =]

Love my XTSS, never chattered or slipped, pedal feel is good and firm but the stock components couldn't hold up to the stiff pressure plate. Cracked my clutch fork, bent/cracked a throwout bearing, cracked the clutch pedal assembly and possibly had premature wear on the master/slave cylinders lol. I welded and reinforced those things afterwards so they do hold up.

see this is the kind of stuff I want to know about. Thanks

Yea its kinda frustrating but after you take care of that stuff its a nice clutch lol. Engagement is nice, its good for a DD and never had a problem holding the power.

What are the part numbers for stock 4th gen clutch parts?

you should be able to find it through the diagrams on courtesy nissan's site

spoke too soon, looks like my throw out bearing went out or slave cylinder. When i push the clutch in it starts whining/humming/screeching. Since i wanted a softer day to day clutch what do you guys think would be good for about 400whp?

hp doesn't matter, clutches hold torque. what kind of torque are you making? you turbocharged or supercharged?

turbo 5.5 at 6.5 psi but i have seen it hit 7 or a hair over 7. Haven't dynod it yet :wall: it's on oem gtr 570cc injectors with an aps twin turbo z tune fro 550cc injectors and never had a prob, just ran a lot on the rich side. I'd assume similar to ramnas's numbers, probably a little less. maybe 370-400ft-lbs

Are there any stronger throw out bearings available? what could've caused this to go bad? Bad slave cylinder possibly? That's obviously bad now (the pin part can freely move and now i can also move the pivot arm back and forth which is leading me to believe the tob is also bad now) I put a new tob in along with the competition clutch (stage 4) the clutch always grabbed but i do honestly remember a little chatter/rumble around 1600rpm under acceleration.

If i can't find a stronger tob and softer engaging/disengaging clutch i will have to part this out. I can't keep having stock parts breaking like this.

nealoc, i just saw you're in chicago, maybe you can stop by and give me an opinion for this? I'm from the southside about 15mins south of chicago

I did some research as well and looked into them. I'm going to give them a call and ask a few more questions then go ahead with the Stage 2 endurance clutch.

Does anyone recommend a specific throw out bearing? I'm assuming an oem one from the dealer is best? I looked on the z forums and no one really said anything about better aftermarket ones.