Recommend Me A New Clutch/kit?

BlackBuggy

Active Member
Aug 6, 2011
223
12
29
Indiana
Pretty sure I blew the clutch up today; it was due after 91k of red-line racing. It basically locked me out of shifting into any gear while the car is running. I can shut it off, put it in gear, and fire it up and stay in that gear and thats it. Drove it to the tranny shop on its last leg...bits of clutch were falling out and it was smoking when I would go from stop to go....

What clutch kits do you guys recommend for replacement? Any other recommendations/upgrades to have done while they transmission guys are working on that part of the car?

I am probably getting 450+ hp out of the car at the engine with red-line moved up with the tune; need to make sure the next clutch can handle without making the car un-driveable on the street like the higher-stage kits will do. I don't need a major upgrade, but I don't want to replace the stock clutch again too soon.
 
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Clutch is definitely blown according to the shop.

Having the Exedy Mach 500 Stage 3 clutch (and throwout bearing) put in with the Exedy lightweight flywheel and a stainless steel hydraulic line.

I am hoping to have no/very minimal shift lockout at high RPMs. I will report my findings when I get the car back and the break-in period is over.
 
Clutch plate blew and one of the four springs became detached.

New clutch engages pretty quick, so you feel obligated to shift quick/not slip the clutch so much.

Still under break-in period, so I have no observations on power shifting, etc.. Motor sounds a little different with the lightweight flywheel. I don't hear any chatter...and I didn't get any codes for the crankshaft sensor.

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Just an update for those interested in how this process ended:

Took the car to Ford and had to insist that they recalibrate the crankshaft position sensor. They wanted to do the "we don't know what could be causing that" nonsense and I put them back in line.

They had some issues trying to do this, though, because I had the 93-octane BAMA race tune on my car. Those of you who have this know that in this tune, when you let off the throttle, the RPMs don't drop as quickly and stay elevated.

Anyway, after about 15 minutes, the Service Dept. face girl asked me if I would go back and see the tech working on my car.
When I went back there, he had the laptop hooked up to my car and was working on getting the sensor calibrated. It's a simple process- they hook the computer up to the OBD port, answer a few simple questions regarding what they are doing (in this instance, we wanted to recalibrate the throttling and I can't remember the exact wording), and then the computer instructed him to throttle the engine up over 5k rpms for some many seconds and then to let off. The problem was that when he let off, the throttle was sticking/wasn't dropping and the calibration was failing.

I told him I knew what the problem was. I had him disconnect the laptop and we hooked my BAMA tuner up to the OBD and we re-tuned the car to my street tune (the RPMs drop faster/normally). He tried the calibration over again (after several previous, failed attempts) and success! I haven't had any issues with the P0300 code on any of the tunes since (I am back on the race tune since the weather is warming up...race tune idles a little funky when it is cooler out).

So be wary of the BAMA race tune when you are having work done to the computer or sensor calibrations.

Had he had no issues due to the custom tune, the whole process would have taken about 5 minutes. $80....

In other news, shifting normally at normal RPMs takes very little depression to the clutch pedal which is quite nice. Power shifting works pretty well with the new clutch, but you obviously have to push the clutch in more for this. Can't wait to see how it works at the track with no :leghump:s given.
 
Also- I just updated my X4 BAMA tuner last weekend to make way for a new upgrade.

I went to remove the code I get from cooler weather- like we have today- that says the thermostat is taking longer than usual to open. This is because I have the hi-flow Boss 302S grille. When it is warmer out- not a big issue. If it is wet and 45 degrees F or less, I get this code after 15 minutes of highway driving because the resisting air at high, prolonged speeds is keeping the car cooler than what the computer is expecting.

Anyway, I went to remove the code and realized the menu was different today. When I found my way to the correct option, I saw a new option "Special Settings". In that menu, it has Cam Reset and Crank Reset. So it sounds like had I updated my tuner before last Fall, I could have set the crankshaft sensor position myself and saved $80.