Feramic Clutch

[rabidfox]

Hi all,

I just purchased a feramic clutch, it should be here by monday. My CFDF clutch disc just came apart after 7K I've heard so many good things about the feramic clutch I decided to try one, and not go back to Centerforce. Seeing that I've head all of the good things, does anyone have any complaints or know anyone who has complained about the clutch? i.e. driveability, chatter, wearing out/slipping early

any respones are welcome!

 

[initialRES]

Yeah my stock clutch just went out (started slipping on the highway), so ordered a feramic. Should have it in and on the road monday. I hope they are as good as I hear.

 

[initialRES]

I've read a little bit about these clutches. I believe there was a thread on dsmtalk where people were talking about how great these were and even the president of ACT was posting. It was interesting but the general idea was that the feramic clutch is a good alternative to the 2g cars that fear crankwalk. I have never read anything bad about them so I decided to give it a shot. If it grabs like a 2600 and doesn't cause crankwalk, I think its worth the risk. I know with my driving I would cut through a 2100 in about 10,000 miles, and I do not want to do this clutch swap job again any time soon.

 

[rabidfox]

OK, so the dealership I had put in my feramic clutch (yes, I've done clutch swaps before, and I'm real tired of it) said that it wouldn't disengage.

Great.

So they pull it apart and find that the clutch disc is too thick, so thick that the fingers on the pressure plate are gouging the springs on the disc when the T/O bearing presses on them. The flywheel is stepped to .613, so that should be ok. They said that when they torqued the pressure plate down the fingers weren't even level, they were almost touching the springs on the disc itself....Anyone have any ideas as to what could be wrong or any feedback from feramic clutch users? Could it be the shop, or could it be the pressure plate? I doubt it's the disc, seeing as that would be very noticeable if that was way too thick

 

[PogiTSI]

Im sure your a Expert in this field, but do the fingers look very worn??? I would have replaced the Pressure plate also, thats just me though. The fingers might be so used\worn that It is just Bent so far that its touching that new clutch? Im new in this area, It seems thats the only thing that can happen.

 

[rabidfox]

I didn't see the clutch itself, I just had it shipped to the garage. Plus, they use reman pressure plates that shouldn't have any wear on them at all....hrmmm...The mechanic didn't mention any wear, but it bears asking when they open tomorrow. It might have been a defect in the reman process, I'll go down there and have them torque my old pressure plat to the flywheel and see if that'll work

 

[fasteclipse1992]

is the clutch disk in backwards?

 

[rabidfox]

I talked with Gabor, the guy who actually designed these things, and I think thats what the shop did. I think they put the goddamn disk in backwards....I'm going over at 8am on wednesday to find out, if they do that'll be strike 3 and I won't ever deal with them again....what a bunch of jackasses

 

[rabidfox]

So I went down there. They put the disk in the right way and torqed it all down right, they're not that retarded, apparently. So I took a look at what was happening, what was actually happening. The pressure plate fingers are hitting the center springs of the clutch disk, grabbing the clutch disk. Compared to my old centerforce clutch, the springs on this disk are huge. So, #### this clutch, I'm getting my money back and going with stock. This tranny has come out of the car 5-6 times, and I have to foot this bill, I'm done.

 

[PogiTSI]

That makes No f-ing Sense. who Desighns a Clutch that wont work with a pressure plate??? are you using ur OEM pressure plate??? that might be the problem. Use a feramic clutch and Pressure platE? or feramic clutch and OEM Pressure platE??? can that even be possible???

 

[rabidfox]

Yeah, apparently I'm the first one to have this problem. I do have a shimmed pivot ball and a Taboo clutch fork, I would never go back to OEM. The springs on the center section of this clutch are monster...so a word to the wise...no shimming and get the updated Mitsu clutch fork, it's a bit beefier and it won't press on the pressure plate fingers as much. Thats what martin at taboo was going for with the shim and the clutch fork and the slave cylinder rod to combat the engagement problems with ACT and Centerforce clutches, apparently Fermic's are the opposite...oh well.

 

[leet]

Call up AMS and see what they can do for you. From what I've seen, they are a stand up business.

 

[rabidfox]

Yeah, Gabor ok'd the return. So they'll take it back, but I'm still stuck with the labor charges of pulling/installing the tranny twice. suck.

 

[leet]

You don't think you could do it yourself? It's pretty easy... just time consuming!

 

[fasteclipse1992]

the most time consuming part about it is jacking it up and taking the tires off. some odd reason i hate jacking the car up and taking all the lug nuts off seems to take forever with a 4 way.

 

[PogiTSI]

Air tools RAWK!!!!!!!!!!! Just got muh first set a couple days ago,

 

[rabidfox]

I have access to air tools and have swapped the clutch before. The experience is not the issue, the issue s that I work close to 50 hours a week, am a full time student, and since my full time job is the military, I need transportation immediately. If I had a beater car, wich I wish I had, I'd have done it myself, no problem. As it stands, I'm probably going to return the car to stock and sell it. It's got a fresh shortblock and a 99 tranny with 29k on it and a new stock clutch, so I should be able to do all right. I just got told that my unit is going in on the next rotation to Iraq, so I need to cut off the monthly expenses now and save some money.

BTW, is it just me, or does the stock clutch seem so light, thats it almost doesn't feel there? I had a Centerforce, and it took alot more pressure to press than this stock one.