Clutch isn't strong enough.. swap tranny too?

[jkimes]

Well, I hit a wall... not literally, but in terms of power.. and money (sweet baby jeebus this car is bleeding me dry) so I need advice on how to proceed.

I've been working on this car myself for years and finally lost the will to finish the project so I caved and took it to "professionals" to finish the job. So far, the shop has had my car for 7 months and I've dropped 7k on parts and labor trying to reach my goal of 650+whp and everything that could go wrong has gone wrong (of course.. it's a DSM ).

First, I managed to damage my second (inline) fuel pump getting the car on the trailer to go to the shop so I had to pay for a new one plus labor for installation. Then, the shop tells me they can't get the low impedance FIC 1650 injectors (that I bought brand new a year ago) to play nice on my car without a driver box (which apparently FIC doesn't even sell anymore) so I wound up dropping another 1,000 bucks on new set of ID2000's. Next they found that the valve stem seals were leaking (because my machinist used the wrong size seals when he rebuilt the head) so I wound up dropping another huge chunk of change for valve seal replacement as well as a new head gasket and L19's. Then my HX40pro (that made 450whp on pump gas at 23lbs 2 years ago) decided to stop making power. After buying and swapping on a smaller 17cm housing and paying Justin to have it rebuilt again, they slapped it back on the car only to find it still won't make boost. At this point I was already so disgusted I wanted to puke but my pride wouldn't let me walk away and cut my losses so I dropped another 900 bones on a shiny new PTE 6266. The car makes boost pressure now, but the shop couldn't get my newly upgraded DSMLink V3 ECU and new Ingersol boost solenoid etc to work for boost control. After shipping the ECU back to ECMLink and swapping a new ECU back in they still cant get ECMlink boost control to work so I just had them switch to an MBC. Finally, last week they found they couldn't get my 2 year old (never used) LC1 wideband controller to work for closed loop tuning so they had to swap it out also. Finally they pulled it back on the dyno and said it was making over 530whp and 500ish torque at around 25lbs of boost when my old SBR4000 clutch started slipping. FML

In order to reach my goal I'm going to have to swap it out with a new twin disc clutch ($650 in labor and $1050 for a new Quartermaster) but at this point I don't know if I can bring myself to spend the money. Even If I do opt for a new clutch, I'm afraid if I don't also replace my old stage 1 shep trans (currently good) and stock center diff, that they will also die a very quick death in the near future as well.

As far as I can tell I have three options.

Option 1: simply drive the car home the way it is without reaching my goal but at least I'll have her back and running well at wastegate pressure on pump gas and I can stop bleeding money.

Option 2: Try to reach my big power goal for another $1,900 by swapping the clutch for a new QM and pray the rest of my relatively stock drivetrain doesn't break or...

Option 3:Continue splurging my life savings and go ahead and swap in a "Stage4" tranny while they're doing the clutch swap.

I would appreciate some input from Twicks or any of you other "big power" guys who have experience with our DSM drivetrains at this power level.

Thanks in advance,
Josh

 

[2g4me]

Its simple really, dont spend the money and leave it, or spend the money and do it all and have nothin to worry about. Why do it the wrong way even once, wait for somethin to break and potentially cause other catastrophic failure? It would be pointless to replace the clutch and leave the rest the way it is just to break somethin and have to replace it anyway and have to pay even more for labor AGAIN, plus the parts to do it the right way and potentially bleed more money to replace other things that didnt need to be when it all could have been avoided.

Its up to u really, if u got the money....do it once, do it right, OR....dont do it!

 

[jkimes]

Good point 2g4me, I'm already pot commited, I guess I'll spend the extra money to do it right. Does anyone know the limits of the Quartermaster twin disc clutch? This new turbo (6266) should be capable of 800whp. Can the QM handle that much power? Apparently there is a "street" version and a "race" version and the discs and flywheel options are interchangeable. Does anyone know what options are best? Also, should I really drop 2k+ on a stage 4 tranny with a welded diff or are there better options for less money? Will I be able to drive the car on the street at all with a welded diff?


BTW.. here's the dyno sheet of the old Slowboy SBR4000 clutch letting go around 490 ft lbs. I supposed I could have made more peak hp with it if I were still on my old 2.0 motor. The 2.4 makes too much torque for the single disc to handle even at a lowly 25psi.

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[Calan]

I'm already pot commited...

Not sure what that means...

It sounds like you'll eventually have a very nice setup, if you can keep your patience and sanity. That is a lot of crap that you have gone through with it so far!

 

[jkimes]

Not sure what that means...

It sounds like you'll eventually have a very nice setup, if you can keep your patience and sanity. That is a lot of crap that you have gone through with it so far!

Haha.. thanks. "Pot committed" is poker terminology. It means you've already committed too much money to a hand to fold your cards. Anyone have some input on clutch and transmission options to support 800whp?

 

[donniekak]

Its simple really, dont spend the money and leave it, or spend the money and do it all and have nothin to worry about. Why do it the wrong way even once, wait for somethin to break and potentially cause other catastrophic failure? It would be pointless to replace the clutch and leave the rest the way it is just to break somethin and have to replace it anyway and have to pay even more for labor AGAIN, plus the parts to do it the right way and potentially bleed more money to replace other things that didnt need to be when it all could have been avoided.

Its up to u really, if u got the money....do it once, do it right, OR....dont do it!

I don't care how much you spend, you'll never have nothing to worry about in a 650hp Dsm.

 

[jkimes]

I don't care how much you spend, you'll never have nothing to worry about in a 650hp Dsm.

Bingo

So, after a little digging I found a post from twicks69 where he recommends the following clutch setup:

Quarter Master 7.25" V-Drive Twin disk with Gear-Drive clutch disk hubs on a street friction cerametallic clutch disk, custom spring rate clutch cover diaphragm spring, media blasted friction plates and flywheel friction surface on a street flywheel with the conical TOB, Competition Clutch forged steel clutch fork, clutch fork pivot ball, flywheel bolts and TOB clip.

Does anyone know the advantages of the $1,600 custom kit above vs the $1050 off the shelf QM kit that MAP and Shep sell? Is the custom setup necessary to reach the 800ish whp my car is capable of with this new turbo kit?

 

[2g4me]

Bingo

So, after a little digging I found a post from twicks69 where he recommends the following clutch setup:



Does anyone know the advantages of the $1,600 custom kit above vs the $1050 off the shelf QM kit that MAP and Shep sell? Is the custom setup necessary to reach the 800ish whp my car is capable of with this new turbo kit?

You all know what i meant, next time i wont say anything, too easy...smdh!