As the title states I'm currently looking to replace my clutch in my daily driver which has begun to slip under full power. I'm presently using a spec stage 3+ full disc and included pp, I've had it in the car about 3 years and its done a superb job of handling the 350ish horsepower that the galant makes. I will most likely squeeze another 50-100hp from this setup but really don't have any aspirations of going any higher in the horsepower range. So my question to you guys is, which clutch is next? Should I go with another spec with which I know exactly what I'm buying, or should I go with a twin disc, ACT, Exedy or any other of the many different choices I have. Your thoughts?

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If you decided to buy a twin disk, I have one.

We post at nearly the same time evozero, didn't mean anything by my post. Yours hadn't shown up yet.

Unless Race Car, or track beast with oodles of power, no need for twin disc. Do you like changing trans internals and splined components and the whine associated with those things?

My vote is something full face with proper torque capacity. Maybe sprung button clutch but that's pushing it for longevity. Yes, they grab and hold, but ...

HP doesn't mean anything here, just the torque capacity.

What kind of performance do you want from the car??

Drag strip only?
Daily with light track usage?
Autocross?

What tuning do you use?
What flywheel combination will you be using and or changing to?

The Southbend clutch setups that TMZ sells seem like great solutions across the board for nearly any power level.

I have an ACT sprung 6 puck and 2600 pressure plate and it holds 450ftlbs and 550hp to the wheels and is very streetable, you can get away with a well mannered clutch and not have a problem holding power.

I wouldn't consider a twin if the car sees regular street use. Although I never did have internal tranny issues, the clutch needed to be rebuilt after just 10k miles on the road with a very easy life. Street use is hard on twins, believe it or not.

So it sounds like I should be looking for a sprung full face disc, with a high clamp force pp. Not sure about a 6 puck, I've never had any experience with them. How much harsher are they compared to a full face in terms of engagement, chatter and streetablity?

When I had my Evo in Japan, I had GREAT success with the Fidanza 3.2 kevlar clutch. I think that one is good to about 350 ft/lb of torque. The step above (4.something) could be what you're looking for.

A quick read through here had my attention last week. My lightened flywheel was the area of most interest for me.

Torsional whip effect on the crank is where the point of springs in your clutch plate, comes into play.

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I don't think I'm in your power bracket with my daily yet, so I'm a little loathe to make a recommendation on a clutch that I haven't tried out at 350 horsepower.

That said, I agree with a lot of the comments being made above. For a 350 hp car I most certainly would not consider a twin plate. I drove one for years far longer than I needed to convince me it was a bad choice and certainly long enough for me to gain sufficient experience to say that twin plates have no place on a daily driver.

I changed to a centreforce dual friction clutch on my VR4 recently and I can honestly say it's the nicest clutch I've ever had. I have heard that this style of clutch isn't good for drag racing, so if that's your thing you might want to check that out a little more. I can't comment personally as I don't drag race. For street duty however I can't praise this thing highly enough. It is as easy to engage as stock. Stop and go driving hassles and hill start nightmares (an everyday occurrence for the twin plate) are officially a thing of the past. Pedal pressure is as light if not lighter than stock making for an extremely pleasant and comfortable driving experience and it has held everything I've thrown at it so far but I'm probably not making more than about 300 horsepower myself. However I have heard of guys using the CFDF pressure plate together with the TMZ full face kevlar disk and holding about 450 ft lbs. After that apparently the full TMZ clutch assembly (pressure plate and disk) is preferred which apparently still has a fairly light pedal pressure albeit slightly heavier than the CFDF.

If you really do add another 50-100 horsepower to the car you are in a different ball park. I don't think the CFDF is going to hack it at those power levels to be honest. Even so whilst high torque is what twin plates were designed for I still wouldn't go that route for something that is daily driven if I could avoid it.

I guess what I'm saying is, if you aren't drag racing consider the CFDF for daily duties. I think you'd like it. If you are worried it won't hold the power or you drag race, consider using it with the TMZ full face kevlar disk and if you add significantly more power at a later stage consider going with a matching TMZ pressure plate.

And yes I'm fully aware everyone will say that the disk and pressure plate should be changed together and bed together so if that's the case and you don't think the CFDF clutch or CFDF pressure plate/TMZ kevlar disk hybrid will cut it for you down the road then like Spencer says above just go with a full TMZ spec clutch. You can shoot Mark (turbowop) a PM. He changed from a twin plate to a TMZ single plate set up and his car definitely makes close to your potential power levels so you can be sure his setup can hold the power.

Okay, so the twin disk is out. The TMZ looks like a good choice, but I also like the centerforce dual friction idea, hmmm...

Well I'm always a bit skeptical but I just had a look around and there are quite a few people who seem to think that the CFDF clutch is more than capable of handling the power/torque that you are making at the moment without issue. There are even guys running CFDF clutches on cars with FP3052s and 20Gs which I would think are making more power than that if set up properly. There are still one or two comments about clutches giving out after being thrashed and abused at the drag strip but let's be honest an idiot can destroy any clutch by abusing it. Tons of people maintain that if you let the clutch cool down properly it will still pull 1.7 second 60 foots all day. I'd say try one, but it is a hard choice as I was kind of torn between getting a CFDF and a TMZ clutch as well.

There is some more reading here:-

Clutch Thread 1

Clutch Thread 2

Be warned, I do praise the CFDF in those threads as well but I'm really not saying anything more than I've said above and at least you'll get a more rounded opinion from users of the TMZ and other clutches to help you make a choice. There are also specific part numbers which is useful if you do decide to go in any specific direction. This is the actual clutch I have: -

CFDF Clutch

Well I finally decided on the TMZ kevlar/ceramic dual friction clutch. However, I've been looking for a replacement friction surface for my SPEC flywheel with no luck at all. Anyone know where I might find one?

Tell you the truth, I would run a good oem flywheel. That's what I run with that exact clutch.

You should be able to order it straight from spec or any spec dealer. I think you made a good choice. I'm going with the TMZ southbend ssx/b clutch setup. It has the carbon on both sides. TMZ said it should be very streetable and was recommended because I run auto-x slicks.

Quoting Jesh:
So it sounds like I should be looking for a sprung full face disc, with a high clamp force pp. Not sure about a 6 puck, I've never had any experience with them. How much harsher are they compared to a full face in terms of engagement, chatter and streetablity?




It takes a minute to get used to a puck disc since the engagement is immediate. You have to learn NOT to slip the clutch. If you try to do this, that's when you get chatter. I have been running puck discs for almost 8 years now and would never run anything else. My disc of choice is the Clutch Net 4-puck (solid hub) and I use that with either the 2900 or 2600 ACT PPs. My old Talon had the same disc with the ACT 2600PP and it was trapping almost 140mph and never slipped even once. They are also great for high rpm shifting if you have everything adjusted and set up right.