SPEC Stage III Clutch users here

SPEC Stage III Clutch users here
I have a stage III kevlar clutch from SPEC on my Stroked LT1
I'm making about 390RWHP but plan to go above 400.

The current 4 disc Kevlar only lasted about 12k miles.
the thing will lose holding pressure after getting hot now.
I have hardly ever driven the car hard and have never droped the clutch at high RPM. I do mostly street driving in moderate traffic at times which means some stop and go casuing me to slip the clutch a bit to get started. this is needed with the bigger cam I have and the chatter I get with the Kevlar material.

Is this normal wear people are seeing with around 400RWHP?
Spec says it is supose to hold much more than this BTW

And,
I hear that SPEC now has a 5 disc carbon version that is not as chattery as the kevlar and holds just as much as the Kevlar.
Anyone have some feedback using the newer 5 disc with more than 400RWHP? Chatter in daily driving? Hold at the track?

What would people recommend for a replacement?

I've never had any problems with my spec clutch. The best clutch would easily be the street twin from McLeod. :)

All kinds of people have complained on here about their SPEC clutches. There has been just about as many saying they haven't had problems. I'd just get a street twin, they are rated to about 1200hp. The cheapest place to get them is http://www.redlineperformanceengineering.com/ atleast that I know of. They are not cheap but they do come with a flywheel and I think an adjustable cylinder too.

What if you used that clutch for a car with about 330lbs of torque and like 300rwhp? Referring to the Street Twin Mcleod

That is an awesome price for a street twin. I'm going to them when my spec wears out/burns out. :D

As far as using a street twin on a mostly stock car... you'd have one seriously bad ass clutch and would never have to worry about breaking it. You will probably kill your rearend though since the stock 10 bolt doesn't like to be shocked very much. :)

Also, the street twin is rebuildable so you only have to fork out a large wad of cash on the initial investment.

So I would break my rearend your saying with that clutch? I was told to go with the Star Spec 4 with those numbers... because of the quality being much greater then the Spec 3 and the little price difference.

So the Street Twin is the wrong path?

That's a tough call. Both clutches will hold extremely well, the street twin will have the edge definately. What kills the rearends on 6 speed cars is the initial shock of a clutch dump and all the power hitting the rearend at once. The reason an automatic car will generally last alot longer is because you can preload the rearend before you launch and it lessens the initial shock. If you drive the street twin equipped car without dumping the clutch, the stock rearend should be ok.

Honestly, I'd go with a stage 3 kevlar. Mine holds up to a 440 RWHP supercharged car and hasn't given me any troubles. :)

i got my spec stage 3 like 2 weeks ago and i have put 540 miles on it and it still Chatters pretty hard sometimes (feels like my car is ganna break)

When you say dump... you mean launch right? Because I don't really do burnouts... I mean I might, but not clutch dumping... just punching it from a roll. L0L

But you think i'm better off with a Star Spec 3? Then I guess thats what i'll lean towards since i'm the novice here. Thanks man

Yeah, I mean launching. Just roll out a little big before you nail it and you should be ok.

Also, go ahead and replace the slave cylinder inside the transmission and check the rear main for leaks. That stage 3 is still ~ $450 so it isn't exactly cheap, but it works like a stocker in my car. :)

You seem like a pretty knowledable fellow Mr. WS6. I asked this question in a different post, but I got a bunch of mixed answers.

Even with good tires, not DR's, but good tires. If you nail a basically Stock 94 Trans AM GT at 2k in first gear.. shouldn't the tires light up? Alls thats done to it is a CAI and Flowmasters Catback. B&M Ripper too, but that doesn't matter for WOT at 2k in first!!

Originally posted by ChrisUlrich


But you think i'm better off with a Star Spec 3? Then I guess thats what i'll lean towards since i'm the novice here. Thanks man

You are better off with a mcleod single disk.

Thankyou for the complement, I've had years of wasting money on parts that don't work to teach me a few things, and I'm still doing it (double roller timing chain and a supercharger don't work together, trust me). :)

Yes, you will most likely start spinning the tires if you get pedal happy in first gear. That shouldn't hurt the rearend because there won't be as much pressure on it if the tires are spinning. What kills the stock rearend is when the tires grab and the motor continues to torque down on the gears which will make them do all sorts of funny things (like exit through the rear cover).

The McLeod single should be comprable to the Spec. Either would be an upgrade from a stocker.

Ps. You should try smoking the tires in 3rd gear @ 50 mph, that's a rush as well as a good way to break things. ;)

why no double roller with blower? makes no sense :)

The pulley won't line up. I can get the stock accessory pulley to line up and work although it is on the verge of walking off. The supercharger crank pulley is pushed out too far and won't line up with the pulley on the snout of the blower. I could cut down the hub and the blower pulley to make it fit, but then it would be worthless when I sell the blower so I'm just going to stick the stock gears and a new timing chain back in there and call it a day. Car never sees 6000+ RPM anyway.

If it weren't for the supercharger, I would leave the double roller in there. I'm going to stick it on my 383 since it will use a turbocharger instead of a supercharger. Only one belt then. :)

Got any pics of where you have your LTCC box and coils mounted? I just bought a set of coils for mine and I'm looking for ideas.

Yeah sure, just posted some pics with my old setup, my new setup is the same except the intake isn't orange & new heads & FLP headers instead of SLPs, but it looks identical never the less.

http://www3.telus.net/bunker/pics/

Looks good. I'm waiting for MBA to get back with me on their new fuel rail covers that have the coil mounts built in.

http://www.mbaproducts.com/images/lt1_frc_cop_lrg.jpg

Where did you end up hiding the LTCC box itself? I didn't see it in the pictures. :)

I just put it right under the cold air intake so that I can take it out easily, also its nicely hidden & isn't in the way of anything.

I was thinking of getting corvette fuel rail covers to hide the wiring, I'll post some pics when thats done. Reason I like them where they are is because you can use really short 5" wires.

Matt.

The Spec clutches (stages 2-4 for sure, not positive about 1 and 5) use the same pressure plate. The only differences are in the disk material and configuration. Stage 2 is sprung, Kevlar pads, Stage 3 is sprung, carbon pads, stage 4 is unsprung, carbon pads. Spec also has a stage 3 hybrid that is supposed to be slightly less aggressive than the pure stage 3, but still hold 600 (sprung, kevlar/carbon combination). I'm going to try it. I've never seen it on vendor website's, and it's not even on Spec's site, but the part number is SC423H. It's a little more expensive than the pure stage 3.

Any grabby clutch will shock the rear end more than the stock one. I'm using the stock rear with 4.11 gears. This is the primary reason I use street tires only. They are my fuse. I hope to save the rear end for a while yet.

I've been using a stock replacement clutch until now. Frankly, it's not too bad for stock level power and a little higher, maybe up to 330 or so rwhp. They're much cheaper than the performance replacements as well.

It'll even spin them with a stock clutch? I'm getting mixed reactions and its making me nervous!!

The Single Disk from Mcleod would comparable to the Spec 3?

What kind of numbers if your TA putting out? How much boost?

Originally posted by 97WS6SCharged
That is an awesome price for a street twin. I'm going to them when my spec wears out/burns out. :D

As far as using a street twin on a mostly stock car... you'd have one seriously bad ass clutch and would never have to worry about breaking it. You will probably kill your rearend though since the stock 10 bolt doesn't like to be shocked very much. :)

Also, the street twin is rebuildable so you only have to fork out a large wad of cash on the initial investment.

I'm in need of a clutch on my mostly stock M6 car... Probably about 325 rwhp. This summer I'm doing repairs, clutch, and headers (Optispark, Water Pump, plugs and wires, learning LT1 Edit and reprogramming a little, fixing broken interior pieces, power window windows, etc.)

Next year is the big year for horsepower. I'm rebulding a completely new LT1 core that will have at least 500rwhp, possibly naturally aspirated, or if funding is well it may be supercharged. So I may as well go with the right clutch now...

I like the McLeod Dual Friction setup, and worry about the daily driveability of it in a nearly stock car. I know it's overkill. How will it drive in daily driving? Chatter or anything?

The next think that's important is that I drive it like I MEAN it! I love to do burnouts and have developed somewhat of a skill for what has nearly become an art form... Black mark sculpting. I have several tradmarks, such as the & and $, which tell my buddies that I've been by recently. So point being, it's somewhat amazing that I haven't scattered the rear end yet, although my clutch currently slips when I do the real dastardly clutch dumps required to get the proper slide in the proper direction at the proper speed, etc.

So I'm not afraid to blow my rear end, that'll just mean it's time to upgrade!

But I'm looking for any other negative side affects of the Dual Friction setup for normal daily driving that I might not expect...

Paul 'X' :cool:

No, the stock clutch would not allow me to spin the tires in 3rd gear. I can do it with the Spec though. The Spec clutch is still a single disc setup so it and the McLoud single should be pretty close in what they are able to handle.

As far as my setup, I see 7 PSI of boost around 5200-5500 and a full 5 PSI by 3000 RPM. When it was initially dynoed with the stock injectors, FMU, and a halfway decent tune, I put down 441 RWHP and 462 RWTQ. That was a few miles ago. On my last dyno, I only did about 380 RWHP with no FMU, way bigger injectors, a tune that was out of whack, and a leaking AFPR that was spilling gas into the intake (partial cause of the bad tune/low numbers). When my head gasket blew last month, I found that the springs were weak and the valves were bouncing slightly and not sealing completely (actually losing boost in the cylinders, but didn't show on the manifold reading). I cannot wait to see what the car does with the ported heads/valve job, 224/236 blower cam, and 7 psi of boost, if I ever get it running again. Hopefully by the end of my weekend (wednesday). There are some pics in my profile if you're interested, I'm also building a turbo 383 for the car, I just received a few pics of a PTE-74 GTS turbo that I really want to use and I purchased some LS1 coils to use when I convert over to the LTCC setup. :)

It's only money, and you can't take it with you. :D

Dude!! You want more then 480lbs of torque? LMFAO!! Thats insane!! hahahaha

You drive that thing daily? No problems with the s/c either?

I didn't mean in 3rd... I meant a stock car with a stock clutch spinning them in first at 2k with good tires. Sorry.

Nothing fellas?

well i talked to spec a few months ago before i bought my spec stage III and they said that they only make one stage III now, it is a ceramic/carbon mix, not kevlar. I've got a little over 1000 miles on mine now and it takes off allmost as smooth as stock but it grabs like a mother, i was geting some nasty wheelhop going into 3rd, not too good for the rearend tho :eek: people have also been haveing issues with the mcleoud single disc due to the disc expanding so its hard to change gears, i also don't think it will hold as much as the stage III.

I've put about 800 miles on my Stage 3. The first 600 miles of break in were hell, but now that its broke in I love it. When I was breaking it in I was told not to get on it too much as it could mess up the flywheel, so I drove it with extra care. Now its running great and hopefully will last a while.

just got a t56 conversion. grease used the single disc mcleod and it is burned up. i was thinking of getting the street twin because i will be doing a head and cam package with other goodies, looking to get 400-420 to the wheels. Would the street twin be overkill or not, and how is the pedal feel of the street twin. Thanks