The Fidanza clutch thread.

[99gst_racer]

OK, I did a little search and didn't come up with much of anything.

I'll be replacing my clutch this winter and I was originally just going to replace it with another ACT. But then I stumbled across the Fidanza clutches.

I'm not sure who is manufacturing them, but they look well built. They have four different kits available for us DSMers:

2.1 - Carbon Kevlar disc
3.2 - Kevlar disc
4.3 - Ceramic disc
5.4 - Sintered iron disc

From what I gathered, each kit uses the same 2300 pressure plate and each one uses a more aggressive friction material to gain more holding capacity. This is a much more efficient method than simply increasing the clamping force of the pressure plate.

These are very affordable, and I have them in stock here, so I'm really considering running the 4.3. If anyone has any input on the Fidanza clutches, or if you've been running one and have an opinion on it, please post in here.

Thanks in advance.

 

[nfernotalon]

Well heres an update again, they called me back yesterday and told me that they were gonna send me a brand new clutch kit in a week or two.

Well see how long this one lasts.

 

[95 gsx]

I guess I should chime in here. Ive got right around 10,000 miles on my fidanza 4.3/fidanza flywheel combo. Ive since installed it in a 90 awd and am still racking up the miles. The original car it was installed in was a 97 fwd and putting it in an awd platform was a brilliant idea. This clutch is awesome.

I should also mention that when I removed the clutch and flywheel from the old car I inspected it too. There were no signs of abnormal wear, cracks, or unusual burn spots. All in all Id say this is one of the best investments for my car. Sorry to hear about the other guys.

 

[tsunari]

Well through much time and pain in waiting, I finally have my replacement installed and am putting miles on her. Will report back if anything goes awry. One side-note though . . . definitely put at least a 1mm shim under the pivot ball with this thing.

On my setup, even with new pivot, fork, pressure plate, friction surface, clutch . . . there just was not enough adjustment in the pedal to get things to disengage properly. So 1-1.5mm shim should be perfect

 

[nfernotalon]

Heres another update if anyone is interested, I received my new Fidanza 3.2 four puck kevlar clutch today, everything brand new well see how this holds up.

 

[thecman02]

I've had 10,000 miles on my 4.3/flywheel combo on the gvr4 and its still working just wonderful.

 

[99gst_racer]

I just pulled my engine and tranny last week. I only out 1500 miles on my 4.3, but it looks great so far. No abnormal wearing or anything. Same goes for the Fidanza Flywheel. They both look better than I expected them to.

 

[tsi1991awd]

I bought the 3.2 and flywheel, had it installed at a DSM shop. Wouldnt disengage. They shimmed the pivot ball, made every adjustment possible, and even bled the clutch 4 times. Still wouldnt disengage. Took it all apart and measued the flywheel and it was .605!! They called Fidanza and were told to send the flywheel and clutch components in and theyd take a look at it and send new ones. So theyll receive it Wednesday and hopefully send new shit back quick because i have a $15/day storage fee at the shop thanks to their shotty work...not a good first impression of Fidanza at all

 

[kmoore]

I still love my 4.3. And I have done a crap load of 3rd gear pulls on this thing and no slipping what so ever. Although I dont have the kind of power that some of you guys have. None the less I love it.

 

[->PrOjEcTGS<-]

I bought the 3.2 and flywheel, had it installed at a DSM shop. Wouldnt disengage. They shimmed the pivot ball, made every adjustment possible, and even bled the clutch 4 times. Still wouldnt disengage. Took it all apart and measued the flywheel and it was .605!! They called Fidanza and were told to send the flywheel and clutch components in and theyd take a look at it and send new ones. So theyll receive it Wednesday and hopefully send new shit back quick because i have a $15/day storage fee at the shop thanks to their shotty work...not a good first impression of Fidanza at all

Shouldn't they've measured it before they put it together? How often do you put an engine together before you measure the bearings and hope the clearances are correct? I'm not saying fidanza didn't do anything wrong here. Their product was obviously the problem here. But, maybe you can get your shop to forgive the $15/day storage charges since they "neglected" to measure the surface before they started working on the car. Leaving your car unoperable. Not a choice made by you. Because, obviously if you knew the part was bad in the first place, they could have told you and you would contact Fidanza and still be able to drive your car.

 

[tsi1991awd]

I think they assumed being a new part that it was correct...obviously not the case. The car was already inop because the disc was down to metal on the PP side and barely had anything on the FW side. so.....yea i towed it there

 

[vanilla gorilla]

Around 4k on mine. Still performs like new. Even took it to the track last night and done about 8 runs.

 

[me612]

I've had the Fidanza 4.3 installed for close to a year now, although the car doesn't see year round driving. Probably a good 4k miles on it. No complaints from me yet.

Just put down 540 AWHP on a low reading Dyno Dynamics (putting it on a dyno jet tomorrow for comparison sake, should be over 600awhp). Haven't had any slipping issues at this power level.

 

[spammy123]

glad to hear that ^^ i've been debating on which clutch to get

 

[PIMking]

Well I got the 3.2 with a new friction plate. Got it installed and have a couple of other things to do to the car (water pipe oring and Slim fan, Intake gasket) but I am not worried about the failures in this thread. Does everyone tourque the flywheel, and pressure plate down to the right spec? I did got the car started (thats when I noticed the oring and intake gasket) sounded great. I cant wait to drive this car again.

 

[OneLove]

I just bought a fidanza 4.3. I will let you guys know how it goes.

 

[tsunari]

Well I got the 3.2 with a new friction plate. Got it installed and have a couple of other things to do to the car (water pipe oring and Slim fan, Intake gasket) but I am not worried about the failures in this thread. Does everyone tourque the flywheel, and pressure plate down to the right spec? I did got the car started (thats when I noticed the oring and intake gasket) sounded great. I cant wait to drive this car again.

If you're not afraid of the failures, I would not worry about using this clutch. Parts fail . . . it's that simple. The good thing about this one in particular, is the vendor stands behind the product 100%. So it's a bit inconvenient if hit happens, but you wont be stuck with a defective part unlike going with some other brand *cough* ACT *cough*.

And yes, I personally torqued everything to spec- good luck!

 

[me612]

Update, I put my car on a DynoJet and made 628hp. This clutch is still hanging in there. 4.3 hasn't slipped yet. I haven't done many launches on it though, just some from roll spirited driving.

 

[PIMking]

Update, I put my car on a DynoJet and made 628hp. This clutch is still hanging in there. 4.3 hasn't slipped yet. I haven't done many launches on it though, just some from roll spirited driving.

Holy crap nice numbers!

 

[tsi1991awd]

I can't vouch for the 3.2 clutch disc really, because the replacement Fidanza sent also did not fit my input shaft. I tried it on a 92 tranny at the shop and it barely fit...it was tight and barely moved along the shaft. I also tried it on 4 other input shafts they had there and they wouldn't fit either. Same thing with another guy's clutch disc. Don't know why they wouldn't fit, but 3 clutch discs all not fitting?

The ACT street disc fit perfect, no problems whatsoever. So now I'm using the Fidanza pressure plate (this is rated at 2200lb according to Aaron at Fidanza) and also the aluminum Fidanza flywheel. So far so good...the street disc works just fine with the Fidanza components. Still breaking it in, got about 400 miles on it now and no problems except my bleeder screw was stripped so I replaced that, bled the clutch and everything works better than before.

Overall, I'd say be cautious about the kits, you might have fitment issues. But Fidanza backs their products up as everyone has said. They sent me a disc for free to try and correct the problem. Unfortunately it didn't work, but that's beside the point.

 

[jrohner]

So theyll receive it Wednesday and hopefully send new shit back quick because i have a $15/day storage fee at the shop thanks to their shotty work...not a good first impression of Fidanza at all

I think it's pretty ridiculous to charge storage on a vehicle that they're not even finished working on yet.

 

[tsi1991awd]

I think it's pretty ridiculous to charge storage on a vehicle that they're not even finished working on yet.

umm.....car has been done for about a week and a half now.....

 

[PIMking]

Well my first thoughts on this clutch so far is HELL YEAH. The pedal is a little heavy compared to stock but thats to be expected getting a 3.2. I only put about 5 miles on it just crusing around the block a couple 20 times or so. I did not beat it no boost and just put put but I like it.

 

[jrohner]

umm.....car has been done for about a week and a half now.....

Well here's what you posted, which to me says that you were getting charged $15/day storage so you were hoping the replacement parts get there quickly. What I was saying is that it seems crazy that they charge storage on a vehicle when the reason it's still there is because they're waiting on parts.

I bought the 3.2 and flywheel, had it installed at a DSM shop. Wouldnt disengage. They shimmed the pivot ball, made every adjustment possible, and even bled the clutch 4 times. Still wouldnt disengage. Took it all apart and measued the flywheel and it was .605!! They called Fidanza and were told to send the flywheel and clutch components in and theyd take a look at it and send new ones. So theyll receive it Wednesday and hopefully send new shit back quick because i have a $15/day storage fee at the shop thanks to their shotty work...not a good first impression of Fidanza at all

 

[tsi1991awd]

They wanted to leave the car outside the shop while they were waiting on the parts. I said NO, and they said they'd have to charge me storage because they won't be able to take in work that takes more than a day to complete. I agreed...so that's on me. I didn't want to get my shit jacked though, it's in a town known for a lot of car thefts and break ins. Everything's good now though. Put 500 miles on the clutch components and couldn't be happier. I did a couple pulls in 2-4 gear and it didn't slip, and revv'd much faster than before. Couldn't be happier with the setup I'm running now.

 

[me612]

Well just an update. My 4.3 is still holding good power. I never really launched it before though. It hated launching today. 3 out of my 6 pulls I had to shut down because every gear after the launch, the clutch would just slip. sad because I was liking this clutch so much, but what good is it if I can't launch with it.