I definitely voted nay, I've been through 2 spec clutches within about 10k miles and as we all know, IT ISN'T FUN CHANGING THE DAMN CLUTCH ON THESE CARS!

I had the Spec Stage 2/3 Hybrid clutch, which had kevlar on one side and ceramic pucks on the other. The first one I received had the ceramic on the wrong side, which I didn't realize of course. I enjoyed about 5k miles of chattery clutch in 1st gear and reverse, while Spec kept telling me that it was normal and I needed to learn to take off differently.. Once I took the clutch back out (pulled engine to do 383), it had caused heat marks on my flywheel, so Spec charged me $250 to rebuild the clutch.. Got it back and thats when I noticed that the ceramic was on the opposite side as before..

So ya, another 5k miles of chattery clutch (better than before, but not by much) and then my whole drivetrain started shaking to death at high speeds, so I pulled the tranny and found exactly the same thing as the pics in the original post in this thread. BROKEN SPRINGS and heat marks all over the new billet steel flywheel that I purchased when it went back in with the 383!

Since I refused to give Spec any more of my money and they wouldn't do anything for me without more $, I decided to go with the McLeod Street Twin and couldn't possibly be happier It is SOOOO nice to be able to feather the clutch without shaking to death, and if you don't feather it, it just instantly GRABS.. OH! Don't forget that I can finally rest my foot on the clutch pedal while driving and not have it shaking my foot to death either! Spec claimed that it was normal to feel some shaking in the clutch pedal while driving due to the throwout bearing.. BULLSH%^!!!!!! They need to install a McLeod in their cars and see what "NORMAL" really is!

Seriously though, do yourself a favor and avoid Spec.. If you can't afford a McLeod, then just get a stock clutch, you'll be much happier in the long run and so will your wallet.. My stock clutch lasted for about 94k miles with plenty of abuse along the way. If you got too much hp for a stock clutch (like 350+hp maybe), then you should either have enough money for the McLeod or you should have spent some of that hp money on the McLeod to begin with!

Shawn

 

i couldn't agree more!! i put a spec stage 3 and a spec flywheel in my car last year and i cant stand it!!! this thing chatters constantly and it makes me embarassed to drive my car. ive been driving stick for almost 10 yrs and if you were behind me from a red light, you would think i was a rookie. this clutch is horrible. it chatters like crazy from a stop, and on all upshifts and downshifts. ive got almost 2k on it now and it hasnt changed a bit. i wish i would have saved the money and just bought a street twin and been done with it. i definetly vote against the spec clutches!!!

 

I had a lot of trouble wilth chatter at first. Like others, mine was almost undrivable, and I have 20+ years experience with heavy trucks and tractor trailers. My drivetrain crashed and banged so hard that it literally broke itself, breaking teeth off the pinion. I changed my motor mounts to poly u, and I changed my tranny mount to an LS1. That has made all the difference in the world. It is still rough going in stop and go traffic, but outside that I can get a nice smooth launch, and it clearly has much more holding power than a stock clutch!

 

Installing poly tranny and engine mounts definitely helped when I had the Specs, but it still shook like crazy if I didn't take off with heavy load and very little feather. Other than 1st and Reverse, I never had shaking in other gears, unless you count the clutch pedal shake while cruising..

 

Confused that all are bad comments. I have 60,000 on this Spec Stage 2 With this spec stage 2 kevlar. Sure it chatters in 1st and reverse because is a high RPM clutch. But I have 162,000 on the car and this clutch has lasted me the longest without issue.

Michael

 

FYI, all you people that complain about chatter, thats not normal! Mine NEVER chattered. Not even when new. Spec is feeding you a line of BS! Mine was great, until it self destructed...

 

well i take back all the bad things i said about my spec stage 3! i took my car to the track for the first time in 3 years last night and the clutch was great. i just installed this clutch this past november and its has 1500 miles on it now. after last night, all the chattering is gone, even in reverse!! i guess this thing just needed to be beat on to officially break it in. i figured it would be broken in fine after 1500 miles of easy driving but it took 1 night at the track to do it!

 

My Spec 4 is truely a BAD ****!

Chatters like crazy and granted can be a beotch in traffic, but when your "on it" it makes you feel a whole lot better.

When the clutch is cold its pretty managable, when really hot its kinda tuff.

Overall I think I've had a good experiance, though my next will be a Street Twin.

 

I'm probably going to need a clutch soon and trying to catch up on what is 'good', i normally run A3's or A4s so the M6 is new to me....

I got buddies that run the NMRA event and talk to the techs and they say I need a Spec stage 2, buddy of mine with Blown Cobra running 11.0s on the brakes runs this on his car with great success, there are others out there like him that run no more than a stage 2 with alot more power than I will put down. But then I get on here and hear of all the problems.

What is the difference, why is it that the 'stang guys can get them to last and the F-body guys cant?

 

Just a guess, but it may have something to do with our cars weighing 800 or so pounds more than a Rustang does

 

Maybe so....the one buddy that runs the low 11s is a Vert with a cage, so I am not sure his weights less than ours....

 

I don't know wtf you are talking about, our cars do not weigh 800 lbs more than mustangs. They are about the same, and 03+ cobras and 05+ mustangs are a couple hundred pounds heavier than our cars...

 

I hope everyone that says they're junk took the time to do a proper install- as in new pilot bearing, resurfaced flywheel, and not getting stuff allover the clutch disk. That's one of the big problems with aftermarket parts is that people tend to throw it together without reading the directions. I'm guilty of a couple myself.

 

I have over 9,000 miles on my SPEC stage 3 which I have beat the hell out of and it still holds perfect. I also have over 7,000 miles on my SPEC stage 2 for my daily driver and it is a great clutch also. I agree that a proper install is a MUST! I also have a few buddies with the SPEC clutches that are holding up fine with no problems.

Jeff

 

I had a SPEC stage 3 in my turbo V6. I can't be pushing more than 250hp and it had the same spring problems:

Here are the pics of mine:
http://home.att.net/~basic-4/brokenSpec/IMG_0087.JPG
http://home.att.net/~basic-4/brokenSpec/IMG_0088.JPG
http://home.att.net/~basic-4/brokenSpec/IMG_0089.JPG
http://home.att.net/~basic-4/brokenSpec/IMG_0090.JPG

I had it in for a little over 2 years, maybe 15k miles. I resurfaced the flywheel and installed a new pilot bushing when it went in.

It definitley chattered like hell the whole time it was in...brand new and up to the time it failed.