I have an 03 wrx with roughly 300hp. I'm looking for a combo that will be able to maintain the drivability because I use my car as a daily driver in rush hour traffic, but I also go to the track every now and then. I don't care if the clutch is harder to push in, I'll get used to it, but I really don't know too much about the different products that are out there. Some people say ACT, others say stock, and then others say exedy... I know I don't want stock.

As far as the flywheel, lighter= faster revs, correct? So would I want to have the lightest flywheel possible? But then I've read that people get misfires or cels from a light flywheel. Can this be solved from tuning or is it purely something that's a mechanical problem?

Thanks for any help/info and please excuse my newbishness :-)

 

I just went though the same dilema (researched for 2weeks+) and wound up replacing everything with stock equp.

From my reading--the light flywheel pros will be: faster revs (more fun on street)

and the cons could be: revs fall faster (easier to stall on accident) possible decelleration noise, possible CELs for wrx, and launching/dragging is more difficult

As for clutches, anything aftermarket will have more clamping force. I stayed with stock because IMO the cons outweighed the pros for my daily driver. Hope this helps

 

How many horses do you have? The reason I ask is because I've slipped through a gear from simply aggressively shifting from 1st to 2nd and through 1st from giving it some revs on launch. It just seems to me that my car has too much hp for the stock clutch to handle. Does anyone know what the stock clutch is rated at? I've read on a few forums that it's around 300hp, if so I'm passed that point.

 

Its at 201hp/196tq on the vishnu dyno. Ive heard the stock clutch is good til 250-300.

New stock clutch clamps 1000 times better than my old slipping one! haha, like driving a brand new car, I love it.

 

haha I bet :-) I'm getting one in two weeks and I'm all giddy like a school girl... :-P

So would you then agree that I would need an aftermarket clutch because a stock clutch wouldn't be able to handle what I've got?

 

Okay, I think I've decided to go with an ACT stage 1 or 2, but I'm trying to look up what each is rated at. Does anyone know? I think I've decided to stick with my stock flywheel as well, maybe get a resurface. I may also get an upgraded clutch hose...

 

According to gruppe-s the ACT street disk kit has 32% more clamping force than stock and the Exedy Organic is 44% more

 

What exactly is "clamping force?" Is that what is used to determine how much torque a clutch can handle or does that mean that it's harder to push in?

I'm VERY newbish in this subject.

 

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/clutch3.htm
Basiclly its how much power it can handle. If you have tons of power and the clutch is slipping, more clamping force will hold it. The possible downside to more clamping force is more shock to the driveline. That will put more stress on the gears because the clutch will 'grab' much harder...does that make sense? Im sure someone else can explain it better. What mods do you have thats making over 300hp?

 

It makes sense. I'm just estimating near 300hp, I have:
vf22, pump, plugs, pinks, cai, tbe, up pipe, esx tmic, eboost (doing 16/17/18.5), and ecutek.

Also, if the act street disk has 32% more clamping force and the stock clutch is rated at 200, does that mean it can handle up to 264 ft/lb?

 

...being my 3rd clutch....
OEM was slipping by 48K (flogged daily)...replaced it with a Clutchmasters Stage II, which lasted 9 months ( babied).... I went with a Exedy Stage I Organic. It's rated to hold 410 ft./lbs, and nice enough for daily driving. I've had the clutch in for 15K and it's holding tough. I paired it with a ACT 14.5 lbs. flywheel.

I got my Exedy Stage 1 for $399 ... but typical pricing is around the $499 mark.

 

Okay, I've decided that I'm going to get ACT stage 1, replace my synchros, and resurface the flywheel. I'll let everyone know how things turned out after I get that done.

 

Thanks, I'm sure a lot of folks would like to know how the combination works out as far as pedal pressure, daily driving, smoothness of engagement, etc.

On other cars, I've installed clutches with heavy clamping/pedal pressure that were okay in everyday driving but a real pain if you ever happen to get caught in freeway traffic backed up due to an accident. Moving forward one or two car lengths about every 30 seconds for over an hour will make you wish you had a stock clutch.

On that old car, I finally ended up with a special order factory clutch rated at over 400 ft. lbs. of torque capacity. It was a dual clutch disc (two separate discs) and special pressure plate to contain them. Lighter than stock pedal pressure but with twice the surface area of engagement to absorb aggressive standing starts without burning up the disc material. The downside is a much heavier rotating mass that makes for harder engagement of the transmission gearing during high RPM shifting (over 7000 RPM). Most aftermarket dual disc clutches like the Exedy are smaller in diameter to try to compensate for the extra rotational mass.

Nowadays I would look for the lightest clamping clutch that will do the job. Clutch disc friction material also has a lot to do with how smoothly the clutch engages, as well as durability. A race clutch grabs with very little movement of the pedal, hence it's difficult to drive in traffic or while parking.

--
0==WW==0
"…axles of evil…" - george w. bush

 

Im changing my clutch tonight. I do lots of driving in traffic and I dont ever plan on pass the 300hp mark so im putting in an Exedy OEM clutch, but I am adding the ACT streetlight 14lb flywheel. If suby gears werent known for breaking I would have done the ACT HD Stage I. I love this clutch and is fine for daily driving, even in traffic, I actually find it easier then most stock clutches because it has a more pronouced feel which makes it easier to modulate. I'll let u know how the flywheel turns out.

_justin

 

Ok clutch/flywheel job done... Flywheel feels good. Not as big of a difference as I was expecting, but the car overall feels a little lighter on its feet, it does rev a little bit quicker in neutral. At the very first disengagement of the clutch there is a slight vibration that at first reminded me of the clutch judder, but I assume this is just because of the new lighter flywheel and the smaller amount of inertia working to spin the driveline.. I do have a few funny noises coming from the tranny. One is low RPM rattle that shows up in all gears at a sustained 3k rpm, the other is a low whine under deceleration in 4th and 5th gears. Im hoping these are just from the new pressure plate getting broken in. I'll drive it tomorrow and see whats up. I also did the tranny fluid cocktail of 1 part syncromesh to 3 parts dino gl5. So far it feels pretty nice. It feels as if it has much more grip and weight to it then the redline 75w90 that I had in it before.


_justin