Is this a clutch Hack?

[EagleTSIawd]

When I first got my car it had a unfinished 6 bolt swap. Previous owner got a complete 6 bolt with trans, turbo and all from a vr4 from Japan. I don't know why he wanted to go with a 1g vr4 trans on a 2g, he even had custom made front and rear mounts. Anyway, I ditched the trans, cyclone, turbo and well... I just made the car run good along with some upgrades. One thing I kept was the clutch, it looked a bit strange at the time but I went with it not ever figuring out why it looked like that. I haven't had any clutch problems yet even after 30,000 miles from when I got the car.

A few weeks ago I had to bring down the trans due to a bad output seal (dam junkyard trans) and strange clutch and me met again. I took some pics this time to see if anyone can shed some light on my clutch.

Its only one one side, it looks like someone did a hack job and cut out pieces off of it. What gains could this have?

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Here is the other side

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Mark I found on clutch

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Pressure plate

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I don't know what brand it is, my guess is a ACT 2100 street because the clutch pedal isn't hard when I press it, it feels almost stock. What throws me is the pressure plate color, ACT's are usually yellow and this one is orange. Anybody know what I have here?... I am contemplating on using it again, as it ran good for 30k miles, or getting a new clutch kit that will probably hurt my wallet. If I do use it again, which side should face what? Last time, I took a guess and placed the cut out side facing the trans.

 

[my dreamt dsm]

Im clueless. I want to know as much as you! I know my parts brand very well but I haven't seen this one yet. The first logo almost wants to lead me to say Monroe but I don't think they make clutches. Another guess is D spec but agian, it's just a guess!

edit:
I think it's a centerforce clutch kit, dual friction clutch... with 2500 load compare to act 2100. and yes it's suppose to feel lighter then stock but hold more power then stock. And yes, it's suppose to look like that!

 

[ilco187]

Stock disc, i have a stock disc that has that dk stamp on it, my guess is some figured hey let me make my own race clutch. but in other terms that could be good for keeping whatever side cooler from less contact but also can be dangerous from altering the original design.

as for pp im not sure.

 

[my dreamt dsm]

Answer will be found here. Good luck on your quest!
Google Images

 

[ilco187]

I guess i take that back but i do have a stock disc that has the dk stamp - http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/drivetrain-tech/367205-centerforce-clutch-disk-failure.html

 

[EagleTSIawd]

HA! it does look like just like a Centerforce clutch. I took a closer look at the pressure plate again and there is a faint smudge from a sticker that's missing on the exact location from the Google pics you provided "my dreamt dsm". Dam, and i was getting a bit hyped up thinking i might have something unique here haha. Well, that shows my knowledge of clutches... good thing i asked. Now on to figuring out which side goes where.

I guess i take that back but i do have a stock disc that has the dk stamp - http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/drivetrain-tech/367205-centerforce-clutch-disk-failure.html

hoowow there, was this a new clutch? making me nervous now... I think there might be a right or wrong way on which side the clutch faces then.

 

[my dreamt dsm]

Yes there is a right way or wrong way. Usually a new clutch will have a sticker on there that says face out. Which means face out from the flywheel!

 

[thilaksharma]

DK = Daikin = the manufacturer of Exedy clutches

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[ilco187]

DK = Daikin = the manufacturer of Exedy clutches

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damn are you sure, so what i thought was a stock clutch was actually a good one and i tossed it out now im pissed

 

[AK Maniak]

damn are you sure, so what i thought was a stock clutch was actually a good one and i tossed it out now im pissed

haha that sucks

 

[EagleTSIawd]

DK = Daikin = the manufacturer of Exedy clutches

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Ah, so that's what it stands for. I thought it was the orientation symbol but the letters did not make sense... well, I searched and Centerforce site states that the carbon composite puck style (segmented) facing is used on the flywheel side. Looks like i had it installed wrong since the beginning

 

[92EagleAWD]

Nah, Daikin makes alot of clutch discs, including exedy ones. If you buy a new stock one from NAPA its usually got a big exedy logo on the box, Doesnt mean its better than stock or anything, just happens to be a sister company. Its a liability thing, kinda the same reason Nissan went with the name Datsun the first few years they sold cars here, that way if something bad happened to one company it would not tarnish the name of the other.

 

[ryan90tsiawd]

This is normal. I have seen after market clutches with this same stamp. Looks just like the centerforce dual friction to me that I pulled from my car.

 

[kthackst]

Yep that is a Centerforce Dual friction clutch and that was my failure thread. I would stay miles away from them. The missing clutch material is a pressure thing. The less area on the surface and the same force results in a higher pressure on the remaining pads.

There is only one way a clutch will go into our car. One way the clutch interferes with the flywheel. So put it in. If the clutch hits the flywheel bolts and doesnt let the flywheel surface and clutch surface touch you have it in backward.

 

[99gst_racer]

Looks like Centerforce clutch, but not a dual friction.
The dual friction has inertia weights on the pressure plate fingers.

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[JusMX141]

Paul, I always figured the term "dual friction" was referring to the disc having full organic material on one side of the disc and puck-style organic material slices on the other side, not having anything to do with the weights on the fingers....although that does look like a neat idea to smooth the engagement.

 

[99gst_racer]

You're absolutely right, Justin. It looks like they can add the weights to any series clucth, and the term "dual friction" refers to the disc itself.

I've had that wrong in my head for years.

 

[EagleTSIawd]

I was wondering why mine doesnt have the weights since they look like they can help on engagement. Reading up some more on centerforce site, they state that the reason this type of clutch kit doesn't have the weights is because there is not enough room for the weights to do their thing safely in our trans, darns.

Well, considering this clutch lasted this long with out problems and my low budget I'm gonna stick with it. My car is a daily driver anyways.

 

[JusMX141]

30K is where many aftermarket clutches will start to fail depending on how the car is driven. I'd at least change the disc and throwout bearing if you're going to re-use the pressure plate. For around $100 it's cheap insurance against a very labor-intensive job.

 

[bwhite]

+1 on that disk change. You dont have to put another center force disk into it, you could use an act disk or others I believe.

 

[wishihadatalon]

that looks 100% like the center force dual friction that is in my wifes car. Great clutch for a car that doesn't see the track too much.

 

[EagleTSIawd]

Yeah, you guys have a good point. It was a pain to take out the trans, in fact, what I did is remove the engine with trans instead, I'd hate to do it again in a few thousand miles. So il just get the same disk, to not distort the bedding on the flywheel surface or pressure plate with a different material, and a new oem bearing... I think I can afford that.

 

[JusMX141]

I'll back you up that 2G tranny removal is horrible, which is why I recommended the disc change. You have to remember that most aftermarket clutches are geared toward holding strength as their selling point and not necessarily longevity....and we all know a set of sticky tires will hold the road like hell but wear out in 5000 miles.

Not sure what the disc-only from Centerforce would cost, but when we put a new disc and throwout bearing in my buddy's ACT2600 a few years back the parts were around $115 from SBR.

 

[Stainbox12]

To me it looks like an early centerforce clutch (different than the new ones). Ask me if i know, ### i had one, same pressure plate in orange and same kind of disk, and it doesn´t look like a hack job, centerforce has this kind of design on their discs. As a matter of fact, if im not wrong my centerforce disk says DK on it too, but its been a while since its been inside the trans. Back then my pressure plate warped and the side that has spuck looking things fell off so i had to rebuild it and they made it full face on both sides so it could be usable again, obviously i lost all the clamping force and now it feels stock, even with the decked pressure plate.

Beware with the pic of that CF clutch kit, it might be just an example pic from the website.

PD: You can´t go wrong in the way to install the disk, because if you install it wrong the springs would kinda hit the flywheel and you wont even be able to fit the pressure plate.

This pieces you are talking about are the ones that act as a spuck disk but not being that harsh.

 

[EagleTSIawd]

I was just looking how the clutch bolts up and guess I forgot, you all are right, it's stupidly impossible to put the disk wrong. I figured it might be an old school centerforce since it's been about 6 years when I got the car and who knows how long it's been in it before then, previos owner had the car stored and unfinished.

Thank you all who helped out here, this thread is solved... Now on to waiting on parts