Well, I recently installed a SPEC Stage II clutch in my car. I went with the II instead of a III, because the car is basically stock and I don't plan on doing TOO many mods to it.

Anyways, install went well and break-in period sucked as I expected (way to tempting to give it hell), but yes I did break it in properly.

When I was first able to give the car WOT and shift fast, I was really disappointed. The shifts are WAY soft, even when powershifting. The car literally will not even catch 2nd. The stock clutch engaged harder until it got hot (which it did very easily, which is why I replaced it). It is noticeably slipping when I shift hard. Not a lot, but enought o notice and enough to not be happy with it for it being brand new. I would expect an AutoZone replacement to grab harder than this one does, honsetly. Am I wrong in thinking this? I plan on calling SPEC either today or tomorrow and seeing what they have to say. I may try to upgrade to a Stage III or something.

Any opinions on this or clues as to what the problem may be or did I just get a bad disc?

 

The LT1 Spec Stage 3 clutches are garbage. Do a search under my username about any Spec problems and you will see what I found. They use very cheap components and are known for breaking springs, even on a stock car.

 

Yeah look up ZDriver96 and my Spec clutch post.


Get a stock lt1, lt4 or SLP clutch...

 

Well, I am already out the money for the Stage II as its already in the car. You guys think I should just buy a disc from SLP or something? I am sure even a stock replacement would grab harder than this thing.

 

Well, I just got off the phone with SPEC and they said the clutch is behaving exactly as its supposed to. It's designed to be an easy engagement and soft feeling and be easy on the driveline. He said its normal for it to not even want to break the tires loose shifting into 2nd, which I think kinda sucks, but maybe thats just me. He did say that it may get a little better with more miles too. I might just see how it goes on this clutch I guess, atlesat for a little while longer.

 

You cant break the tires loose in 2nd with a hard 1-2 shift with that clutch? I can do a nice break of the tires with my stock clutch at about 40 or so, shifting from 1-2, just did it yesterday actually . I guess try it out for a while, see if it slips any at high rpms, like I said, I just don't trust Spec anymore, dealt with them for about a year, didn't like what I found.

 

I just replaced my stock with an Autozone and have just got through a 300 mi break-in.

This thing grabs! Absolutely no slippage. However, I am interested if I would have problems if I started abusing it as you discussed and got it hot.

Something of interest, when I took my first clutch back because of a leaking tranny and my friction disc is now a Raybestos disc as compared to a Valeo. Looking at it (I know very little about friction plates) it seemed to have more copper (copperish color component) woven within the pad itself.

Oh well, it works!

Personally, I don't think a clutch should slip enough to notice on a 1-2 shift. You are revving so fast at WOT in those gears that it should be unnoticeable - if it is slipping at all. I call BS on Spec.

 

Well, my stock clutch had 110k miles on it, so I think that had something to do with it slipping so easy. If you gave it any abuse at all, it would get hot and start slipping. Slip it ANY on take off and consider the run pointless. That is why I upgraded to the SPEC. Even the worn out stock clutch would catch 2nd though, if you hadn't gotten it hot in 1st.

 

Who did the clutch install? I may not be the clutch itself but might be grease/ oil on the flywheel. I'm not saying thats it but its just a thought.

 

Did the clutch install myself and made sure that the flywheel and PP were clean when we installed them. I'm more confident in the install now that the guy at SPEC seemed to think everything was working as it should. Just dissapointed in the clutch. I expected the Stage II to grab harder than stock, but not as hard as the Stage III. Evidently, it grabs smoother than stock, but somehow has higher TQ rating? I dunno.

 

hmm, that kinda sux because i was going to get the stage II myself. I may just go with the stage 3 then, but i have heard a lot of people complain about it on the board so i don't know. I have also heard that the new version of the stage 3 is better and all the people with problems had the old one. Can anyone clear this up on the spec stage 3?

 

I searched the board a good bit before deciding on the Stage II and from what I found it seemed that the Stage III problems had been fixed, but this was just my impression. I could be wrong.

 

Yeah, I had the new version of the Stage 3, I actually went through 2 of them and have the third sitting broken in my garage. The center spring sections are VERY LOW quality and are actually designed for 4 cylinder applications.

 

Here's a writeup I saved of the problem with Spec I had and what I found after a little investigating:

Spec uses very tiny springs in their clutches, at least in their 6-puck Stage 3. Went through 1 from Sept to Jan (causing bad pilot bearing and tranny) rebuilt everything with pilot bushing instead of bearing so less play, also went ahead and put poly mounts in and Pro 5.0. Then in July went through another one, both times blowing the springs. Had the transmission checked for excessive play or runout, like Spec said, because it could NOT be their clutch, of course, it was still within factory specs.

So I decided to do some research, made some calls to some clutch builders/dealers, turns out, Spec uses the SAME spring center hubs from their 4-cyl clutches as on their LT1 clutches. Didn't believe local clutch shop till he showed me them side by side. Made in China part also. No more Spec for me, going to get something that holds up next time. This was on a basically stock daily driven car with only intake and catback mods and NO track time or racing.

Also, apparently these things last up to about 10K or so fine, then you have problems with the springs, which SPEC always will tell you is a input shaft problem because their clutches aren't faulty . They will warranty or pro-rate the clutch when it DOES blow, cust serv is good, but the product is crap. If you are able to check out their 4-cyl clutches or even just compare how cheap and tiny the Spec springs are to even a stock or ANY other aftermarket clutch for LT1, you will see what I mean.

 

get a twin street you will be able to break 2nd loose ...and third and forth and fifth...and then your rear blows up