SBR 3500 Clutch Review

[housegsx]

So does anyone have any actual hard proven data on this clutch? Anyone with actual track testing and hp/tq numbers who have raced on this clutch? Anyone with a high hp/high tq awd car actually use one of these and have data? Just seems like a bunch of people with much to do about nothing with these.

Wow! Thanks for making me check my thread subscription to view your useless post.
There are plenty of reviews if you read through the pages including how they withstand launches, daily driving, high miles, etc... stuff you cannot do on a dyno with "data". SBR uses it on a 400whp car. So if you're under 400whp, logic tells me that it will work. Most people here seem to like it with a few exceptions including me.

 

[Girvin]

All I can say is that my dsm has not been to the track since the install of the 3500 due to work commitments. I have done a couple hard launches to test it though. As for the type of power the car is putting down. Im flowing 49lbs/min, dsmlink, with a GT-14 setup on a built 6 bolt and supporting mods.

 

[dub2gsx]

I just bought the 3500. I have a fidenza 9lbs and saw on a post that some flywheels need to be resurficed. So I called Slowboy and the guy told me it has to be decked to .612.
After I get it on and run it at the track in a few weeks I'll see how it launches.

Brian

 

[Girvin]

I pulled my 3500 out today. The springs in the disc are fubar'd. One is half hanging out and the others are out of thier retainers. Just another fine product of SBR. Pics to come soon.

 

[asian312]

Just thought I'd add to the mix. I've been running a 3500 for roughly 8-9K miles and its still holding strong. I have it mated to a RRE lightened flywheel. The rest of my setup is sadly very stock with only a 16g pushing 10psi.

The clutch has seen 1 day at the 1/4 and a weekend on the race track. In both environments it proved extremly well and took anything I could throw at it. Launch RPMs are 5500-6000K and despite purposly letting it slip a bit on launch it grabbed hard through numerous runs. Daily driving though is far from the creature comforts of the stock units. Lightened flywheel means making sure rev stay up and rush hour traffic means a bigger left leg. I know I'm near stock power levels, but I thought I'd share my $0.02.

 

[black12]

on my last dsm i had the sbr 3500 mated with a fidanza flywheel. i put over 80 launches on it, about half of them were 12 second track passes averaging 1.6 60 foots and a whole lot more pulls on the street. i was satistfied with its performance so i bought another one.

 

[vintagemuscle]

I have the sbr 3500. It has about 2k miles on it now. At first i liked this clutch but could never get it to stop engaging right off of the floor. The clutch holds launches strong but recently the pedal pressure seems to be getting harder and harder everytime i drive it. Now the clutch doesn't fully disengage at all and it makes it hard to get into 1st gear. I'm not sure if the clutch is the problem as my machine shop could have stepped the flywheel wrong.
I purchased a fidanza flywheel and am also wondering if the step height has to be corrected before using it with a sbr3500 or any other clutch. I'm not sure if i want to risk running this pressure plate again with a new disc or switch over to an ACT. I just really like to not have to break the clutch in before abusing my car.

EDIT- This is the old sbr3500 clutch that was purchased about 1 year ago. Does anyone know if the new design is any better? Is the disc itself the only thing that has changed?

 

[JiveMasterT]

I have the sbr 3500. It has about 2k miles on it now. At first i liked this clutch but could never get it to stop engaging right off of the floor. The clutch holds launches strong but recently the pedal pressure seems to be getting harder and harder everytime i drive it. Now the clutch doesn't fully disengage at all and it makes it hard to get into 1st gear. I'm not sure if the clutch is the problem as my machine shop could have stepped the flywheel wrong.
I purchased a fidanza flywheel and am also wondering if the step height has to be corrected before using it with a sbr3500 or any other clutch. I'm not sure if i want to risk running this pressure plate again with a new disc or switch over to an ACT. I just really like to not have to break the clutch in before abusing my car.

EDIT- This is the old sbr3500 clutch that was purchased about 1 year ago. Does anyone know if the new design is any better? Is the disc itself the only thing that has changed?

Sounds more like a problem with your slave cylinder or something. What makes you think it's the clutch?

 

[AL92]

If the clutch is engaging close to the floor it won't disengage properly. You have to move the engagement point away from the floor more. It has to go into the master so far to disengage..it needs so much stroke..
I have about 1400 miles on my hd 4000.It was put in with new throwout,fork, pivot ball no washer though,stainless line.act flywheel. It was very light during initial few hundred miles and was very happy with the lightness. I broke it in nicely. Then after 500 miles or so pedal pressure got very firm and now its still very firm and I have to put the car in neutral at the lights or in heavy traffic. I have adjusted the pedal pretty far out.Too close and you get problems going into 1st or reverse.Reverse can grind also if the clutch pedal isn't out enough.It seems to grip fine and chattter has gone away pretty much now.My only remaining complaint is pedal pressure.I did install a new slave but not a new master and don't think have pump up.There is freeplay so unless master is clogged up on relief then not much more I can do.Maybe do a bunch of hard launches and maybe that will make the pressure less? maybe another couple thousand miles will make the pressure less? Or maybe this is just normal pressure.I have never driven a 2600 car.Do you usually put the 2600 car in neutral at lights and in heavy traffic?
I am pretty sure am bled properly if wasn't wouldn't the pedal be soft? Maybe I should leave some air in the lines to make the pedal softer?
I was going to try a 1g slave but hear they don't make any difference in pressure.If anything they might increase the pedal pressure.
I will likely try another clutch when install a tre tranny hopefully next spring. I might try an excedy twin disc or mabye go to 2900 act hear its lighter than the old 2600.
I want a lighter pedal pressure,one reason got the sbr 4000 as it was advertised to have a lighter pressure. It was light as heck during those first few hundred miles.
Anyone else find this to be the case with it? would broken springs make the pressure go higher? it still gets into gears ok but odd time reverse is stubborn but think that might be cables.Is there a way to adjust the 2g cables?

 

[housegsx]

2g cables aren't adjustable like the 1g's. My springs all broke with only about 6k miles and no launches. I got a replacement disc. But I don't know if it was after the "update". So does anyone know what the update to the the 3500 was? It still feels like it needs stiffer springs in the disc.

 

[asian312]

Well a surprising update...

Over this past weekend I went out to the local Mazda Zoom Zoom event and flogged the RX8s for an afternoon. I bring this up because every time I drive another car, especially for extended periods of time, I have to relearn my clutch and throttle pedals. That evening I took a drive and noticed that my clutch pedal felt extremly light and the car shifted into gears a bit smoother. I brushed it off as just residual muscle memory from the event and didn't think any thing of it. Next morning same thing, and the next. Monday morning rush hour never felt so good. But now this has me worried.

Prior to this the car would shift happily at revs, but daily driving it would sometimes reject 3rd and 4th gear if I let the revs drop in neutral while driving. The pedal pressure was quite a bit and felt somewhat of my friends 2600. In August I adjusted the engagment point and that resolved the shifting, but pedal pressure was still high. Through out this time the clutch held up great at the track and launched without any hesitations. Then all of a sudden the pedal pressure is light and the engagment feels as it's slightly closer to the floor again (just by feel). Anyone have a clue?

SBR 3500
RRE lightened flywheel
SS clutch line

 

[AL92]

As said with mine it was very light when first put it in. Then it got much firmer after a few hundred miles. To the point that you pretty much want to put it into neutral at lights and in heavy traffic. Something they recommend doing anyway. Its holding good,shifting pretty good and am getting engagement and disengagement. Adjusted pedal out fairly far from the floor and made sure had freeplay on top as 2g get pump up if you don't give them enough freeplay.
At current mileage though pedal pressure is still pretty darn firm. Its not undriveable but doubt wife would drive it much at all not that I let her drive my car anyway.
It would be great if it got a bit lighter to back how it was when first installed.
I think I can make it a bit lighter by moving engagement closer to the floor but then have problem of getting into gears if move it too far down. Moving it farther away makes it disengage nicer but think increases pedal pressure and too far out would make it not engage very good.
I hope my springs stay in the clutch,my disc was shipped like in july I think so hoping it was a newer design but am sure its not the newest total different clutch sbr is now selling and think not made by competition anymore. I have a 4000 disc not 3500 disc not sure if that will keep me from breaking springs.What symptoms do broken springs exhibit?

 

[asian312]

My clutch I belive is an early design since it was purchased back in late '05. I'll try readjusting the engagment point again, but I'm worried as I've altered this once before. Suppose I'll take the time to check the master and slave cylinders while I'm down there.

 

[HighPsi91]

Is this the 4000 disk?

http://www.competitionclutch.com/pr...shi+Eclipse+(1993-1999)+2.0L+4WD+(From+1/94)!

Also what does the 4000 plate look like?

Have any of you guys taken notice to the fact that the SBR/CC clutches look identical to these cheap ebay clutches? I guess not. These things sure do have a nice profit margin though!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/89-M...8QQihZ014QQcategoryZ33730QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[pneumo]

That looks very similar to my old Spec stage 3 clutch, and it's rated at about the same power level. Not a bad price either.

 

[Shane2GSX]

I installed my SBR 3500 clutch and XACT flywheel combo back in July. I've put about 4K miles on since then and I have no complaints. The clutch feels lighter than a 2100 to me, and seems to grab consistantly, no matter how I launch it or drive it. I've probably done 30+ launches on this clutch with no problems what-so-ever. I've been to the track and knocked off a good 15 passes with this clutch, hitting a few 1.7 60 ft times along the way. That being said, this is all on a T25 at 16 psi. The true test will be after I install my 50 trim and DSMLink. I'll report back after that.

 

[fulanititoo8198]

Hey guys keep the reviews coming for this clutch, anymore?

 

[viprez586]

I have the revised SBR 4000 clutch+ fidanza flywheel.
This clutch is very nice in my opinion, i have yet to launch on it but seems like it would be able to handle most things you throw at it within its limits.
We'll see what happens when i get my car running good and launch it...maybe even a video of the drag strip aswell.

 

[MarsaGSX]

hey,
got the old style 3500 with Fidanza flw..and already wrote into this thread before.. got some points..
when push hard..reviing more then 7k rpms..Iam not able get next gear(it happend on drag way..I was on 1st...turned to like 7250rpms..and wasn´t able shift second gear... after this strip went to park place and couldn´t shift 1st gear..had to use power to shift in 1st..and then was pretty hard to take it out. Now its okay.. shifting 1st,2nd gears okay..but can´t rev more than 7k...
Is that my clutch or tranny??
as for launching..got keydiver stage 3 chip and stutterbox..Iam launching at 5200rpms and Iam not able spin rear wheels (after instalation my 3500 before few years rear wheels spins..).....Of course my clutch smell
-and my clutch restrictor is out

any opinion

Thanks
Venca

 

[pneumo]

Hi Venca,
Have you seen this page? TRE TECH TIPS
www.teamrip.com/clutch adjustment.html
It's very well written and covers almost everything to help your trans shift. The only thing I can add to that page is to check your motor mounts. If they're bad the motor will move too much when you shift, and tug on the shift cables.

 

[anmGST]

Great write up guys, Just odered my SBR 400.

 

[RipperXX]

Been using a SBR 3500 with my old style ACT2600 for a yr now with no real complaints. When I first installed the combo there was a bit of a rubbing sound when I pushed the clutch pedal ALL the way to the floor. I talked to Jack from Jacks transmitions and he was telling me I actually had TO MUCH travel. A rare thing with 1g's. I adjusted the clutch pedal a bit, made it pretty much go away unless I just really tried to force the pedal threw the floor. Now it wont do it at all. Supposedly the fingers were just barely barely touching something.


Otherwise though no complaints. Launched it a few times and put about 8k on the combo with no problems. Engagement is smooth as I think you could possibly expect with a old school ACT2600 PP. The hub to the clutch disk looked very well built. Better than the new style ACT disk (thats why I went with the SBR, it's compatible with the old style PP. New style act disk with old style PP wont work.