ACT unsprung Street Disc

[donniekak]

what did your input shaft look like before you installed it. what would cause that to happen?

The input shaft was ok, even afterwards. The junk quality of act parts is what caused it to happen.

 

[ReYnd]

That's a shame, Donnie. This looked like a really promising option for the clutch I'd like to put in whenever the stocker kicks the bucket. I think we all still want more feedback, but buying a new disk just to have it torn up like that doesn't sound like a good investment.

I wouldn't mind a tiny bit more noise from the gears as long as there was no increased wear. Springs are the weak point of any disk with them... but look to be a necessary evil when it comes to our setup as a DD.

So it seems the 2100 PP and sprung street disk are still my best options. Might read up on SPECs as well, their Stage 2-2+ might serve me well.

 

[asrdave]

i actually will be running a unsprung street disc with an act 2900 i chose it because i planned on daily driving this car =)

 

[red1993gsallmt]

i see clutchnet has a bunch of unsprung disc made diffrent materials, anyone have any luck with them?

 

[Ninharu]

Does anyone have any more feedback on this setup? I have an ACT 2600 pp, unsprung ACT disk, and a sprung southbend kevlar disk infront of me right now. Im stil very unsure as to which way to go on this one and I will be doing my clutch in the next few weeks. I had originally bought the ACT disk to try by my mechanic suggested it would be too harsh so I ordered a SB kevlar sprung unit. Im curious to see which out of the 2 was better for engagement and ill be throwing everything my 68HTA can put out at it. Im not really concerned with gear noise and i actually prefer a more 'tight' engagement of a clutch.

 

[twicks69]

I would go with the ACT 2600 Pressure Plate, and the SBC TZ-Series Kevlar full-face sprung-hub disk. It is an excellent combination with great torque capacity, and will easily outlast the unsprung street disk from ACT. The difference is in the quality of the friction material.

As well, I have been seeing way too many people lately shearing the hubs off their solid hub clutch disks.

 

[Ninharu]

Thanks for the suggestion Tim. Never really thought about it with respects to the longevity. But I have done the install and now I have to tear it apart again. I can barely get it into first and the pedal is engaging right off the floor and my master cylinder adjustments are done correctly. I didn't replace the pivot ball and fork because they didn't appear to have any wear but they obviously did even with only 20K on them. I paired it with a Fidanza flywheel. Did you have to shim the pivot ball a fair bit since the kevlar disk is a bit thinner than the organic one? I'm just wondering how many washers I should use? I will also replace the fork and fulcrum ball as well this time... Lesson learned.

 

[gbell]

Yes, thanks for the info!

My afraid my sprung street disk ACT 2600 is going to pop a spring, because sometimes it makes this pop noise a lil bit after engagement. I'm already researching for a better replacement.

 

[twicks69]

Dion, I never shim the pivot ball; I just replace the clutch fork with a 2G AWD revision (MD770506), and a new pivot ball (MD719602) every time I swap a clutch. As well, I normally disassemble the slave cylinder and fully inspect it for wear. If there is wear, I normally rebuild them, or replace it if the bore has been worn at all.

I then completely flush the clutch hydraulics (vacuum pump on slave cylinder bleeder valve, and run a pint or so of quality brake fluid through it -- normally Valvoline synthetic brake fluid (DOT 3/4) -- NEVER use silicone-based brake fluids on our clutch hydraulics, or mix it with non-silicone-based brake fluids.

I also run a stainless -4AN line from the master cylinder to the slave cylinder.

 

[Ninharu]

Thanks for the suggestions Tim, I really appreciate it, this clutch swap is turning out to be a disaster. I should probably move this to another forum but this is sort of related I guess. I just checked my master and it doesn't look like it is leaking but I pulled the boot on my slave and it looks like there is something lining the boot, there doesn't appear to be much of it should it be completely dry? I also noticed there is a fair bit of play in the rod itself, i can move it pretty easily. Does this mean its shot? Also the fork seems to be slightly angled towards the passenger side if you are looking down from above the transmission. Basically I'm wondering if its just the slave on its way out or i will still need to pull the trans to swap out the pivot and fork. When you do the correct install is the fork perpendicular to the bellhousing? Or even should it be slightly angled towards the drivers side?

 

[pneumo]

I prefer to see the fork perpendicular to the bellhousing. If it angles to the passenger side, it's a sign that the clutch fork/pivot ball have some wear.

 

[ToughTalon]

I prefer to see the fork perpendicular to the bellhousing. If it angles to the passenger side, it's a sign that the clutch fork/pivot ball have some wear.

I agree. Im looking at my fork right now and its relativly perpendicular to the bellhousing. If my camera wasnt sitting in the bottom of my drain pan full of coolant I would take a picture and show you (don't ask, im freakn pissed right now).

 

[Ninharu]

Well I ordered a new slave and I will try that first. I have a funny feeling that it might help but will not solve my issues. Its funny because the guy that did the clutch said both the pivot and fork looked good. Guess that is not the case. From Tim's suggestion I am going to stick with the kevlar disk and just sell the unsprung street disk; I am still curious to see how it would work. If the slave doesn't solve the issue i will be tearing down the trans & replace the parts. I will post some photos of what each looked like just to give people an idea of what to look for and hopefully save someone else the pain of making my mistake.

 

[TSIfreek]

You want the fork angled twards the drives side a little for best clutch release. If its angled twards the left side of the window the clutch will not release as the fork will hit the bell housing when the clutch petal is pressed in.

 

[Ninharu]

Well I finally tore down the trans. I looked at the pivot ball and the wear was pretty much nil, but the fork was definitely not the same angle as the new one. It almost looked bent. I then added one thin 1mm washer to the ball and reassembled everything. I also replaced the slave and bled the whole system. Problem solved. My engagement point is probably a 1/3 of the whole pedal travel so I'm pretty happy with the result. And yes Kris, when I look at the fork now it is slightly angled towards the drivers side now. For any one considering this set up if they want a slightly higher engagement point they might want to consider the washer.

On a side note I've put around 150 miles on it so far and I'm very happy with the engagement characteristics. Its super smooth next to no chatter. I would say its actually better than the sprung act organic disk. I was wondering though what is the recommended break in with city driving for these kevlar disks? 250 miles or more?

I also replaced my driveshaft bushings with the torque solution kit as well as a set of avid motor mounts. The cabin vibration is pretty entertaining but should get better as they get worn in. But the engagement is WAY better. I cant wait to open it up and see how it performs now.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

 

[bmoha2]

Hmmm maybe I missed it but what clutch did you decide on? Any ideas what amount of hp and tq your dsm is producing? I popped a spring on a streetdisc with an act2100. I'm producing approx 330 awhp. I upgraded to an act 2600 with act 4 puck unsprung friction disc. I find the act2600 to be more than enough to hold anything I throw at it with no slipping. So I think 2900 is overkill but oh well. That being said... The unsprung 4 puck is awesome. It is slippable. It holds all the power and since it is ridiculously light I can shift at 8k without a problem. After getting used to it I can drive it almost exactly like I did my act2100/streetdisc combo. All the people that say it's goin to be hard on your left leg are just girlymen. I didn't like the act2100 because I thought it felt too light. The act 2600 feels like a clutch is supposed to feel in my opinion. I would never run a act 6 puck on the street. You're going to break a tranny.
Ok so I wrote all that and stand behind it... But I have to confess I killed my center diff. Saving up money to have my tranny rebuilt thru TMZ. Tim knows his shit and a very standup guy. He impressed me because he is more interested in getting a customer the right setup for his car than talking someone into buying the most expensive product he sells simply because it'll put the most amount of money in his own pocket. I wanted a stage 4 tranny. After discussing my needs, the amount of hp and tq my Dsm is producing he talked me out of a stage 4 for a stage 3 as the stage 4 is just unneccessary overkill. His advice to run a act2600 with southbend sprung friction disc is top notch. Im going to stay with the unsprung 4 puck because I'm getting a stage 3 tranny built thru TMZ with either his 4 spider center or a welded center diff. The stock center diffs don't appreciate unsprung clutches. There is a definite learning curve with unsprung puck clutches. I admit I easily stalled my talon a dozen times. I have also heard of other people breaking their trannys before the get thru the learning curve.

 

[TSIfreek]

Well I finally tore down the trans. I looked at the pivot ball and the wear was pretty much nil, but the fork was definitely not the same angle as the new one. It almost looked bent. I then added one thin 1mm washer to the ball and reassembled everything. I also replaced the slave and bled the whole system. Problem solved. My engagement point is probably a 1/3 of the whole pedal travel so I'm pretty happy with the result. And yes Kris, when I look at the fork now it is slightly angled towards the drivers side now. For any one considering this set up if they want a slightly higher engagement point they might want to consider the washer.

On a side note I've put around 150 miles on it so far and I'm very happy with the engagement characteristics. Its super smooth next to no chatter. I would say its actually better than the sprung act organic disk. I was wondering though what is the recommended break in with city driving for these kevlar disks? 250 miles or more?

I also replaced my driveshaft bushings with the torque solution kit as well as a set of avid motor mounts. The cabin vibration is pretty entertaining but should get better as they get worn in. But the engagement is WAY better. I cant wait to open it up and see how it performs now.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

Glad you got it all worked out. As for the kevlar disk its best to give it a slow break in of 1000 miles to get maximum life out of the material. Just dive it like a normal person with no launching for awhile.