What the heck is wrong with my new clutch?

[Night Shifter]

I just replaced my clutch in my car and now i have a weird problem.

I went from the king cobra to a Stage 2(unnamed cause i want an honest answer and not one bashing the brand) with an aluminum flywheel. During the break in period it was completely fine. After the break in i drove to W.V. From FL and back. I stayed there for a week before i drove back. When i stopped for gas along the way i noticed my clutch got really heavy to the poine where i almost had to stand on it to push it in.

Now that im back from my trip it will go from normal stage 2 clutch pedal feel to extremely heavy and adjust out. I have the whole steeda clutch adj. kit so i don't see how this thing is adjusing itself.

If i drive down my road in 1st gear it will get really heavy and the release point of the clutch will be all the way out. sometimes it will do this if im driving down the road behind a slow car and im in third, and it always does it after a short or long ride on the highway. If it does get really heavy all i have to do is go through the gears really quick and it will go back to being a light feeling clutch pedal and it will adjust back to were i have the adjuster set it to.

Sorry for the long post but i have no idea what is causing this? Anybody ever have this problem or even heard of this happening?

 

[smokin00GT]

I have only had bad experence with spec clutches. Now I only use ACT (Advanced Clutch Technology) The clutch I have now supports to 720ftlbs of tq and feels like butter when shifting. I love it.
Now to answer your question:
#1 is your steeda adjuster installed correctly?
#2 was your clutch and flywheel torqued down to spec?
both could affect the feel, and performance of your clutch.

 

[46gtsblown]

I would also check the bell housing bolt torque, have had bad alignment cause binding issues on another veh in the past.

Dwayne

 

[Night Shifter]

I have only had bad experence with spec clutches. Now I only use ACT (Advanced Clutch Technology) The clutch I have now supports to 720ftlbs of tq and feels like butter when shifting. I love it.
Now to answer your question:
#1 is your steeda adjuster installed correctly?
#2 was your clutch and flywheel torqued down to spec?
both could affect the feel, and performance of your clutch.

as far as i know my adjuster and everything are installed correctly. the only thing i wasn't sure about was if the cable should be on the hook closest to the firewall or on the one furthest to it

 

[97speedster]

This makes number 8 that I know of. Check this thread for my story about Spec Stage 2.
http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=710049

 

[hotmustang331]

Yea alot of people have issues with spec, but then again alot dont. Im one of those that doesnt. Ask DerekstangGT, he has ridden in my car and I have a spec stg 3 which everyone says is ON/OFF and he will verify that its nowhere eveen close to that point.

Good luck, but it may be installation error .

 

[Pennywise2]

Their are alot people on this forum that have had
nothing but bad experiences with SPEC clutches
ask Mity2 though he might be able to answer your
question.

 

[Night Shifter]

thanks pennywise, i'll do that. you think if i swap back to my king cobra and use the spec disc it might help? or should i just put my old king cobra set up back in?

 

[BennyBlown2v]

Do you have an adjustable cable? Adjustable cables are CRAP and and break/loose adjustment. All you want/need is firewall adjuster and quadrant.

ACT makes a good clutch as smokin was saying, or move up to a SPEC stg 3 (lots of less problems with the 3's than the 2's for some reason )

 

[SaleenGT2001]

mine did the same thing with my T56 when it went in. my clutch fork slipped off the ball and it couldnt pivot like it was suppose to

 

[mity2]

Their are alot people on this forum that have had
nothing but bad experiences with SPEC clutches
ask Mity2 though he might be able to answer your
question.

And here is my answer to any and ALL Spec clutch issue.


GET RID OF IT!

Spec - while their ability to hold is no question, they are just not the good clutch for daily driven non race car that is making near stock HP(Less then 300RWHP).
I went through so much issue with my Spec stg2 - wierd vibration, squeeling noise, nasty nasty chatter, and to top it off, french made POS throwout bearing that comes with clutch failed at 36 miles of use.

unless your car is dedicated race car, your way better off with KingCobra, Centerforce Dual friction, or Mcleard(sp?).

 

[twogts4us]

Do you have an adjustable cable? Adjustable cables are CRAP and and break/loose adjustment. All you want/need is firewall adjuster and quadrant.

AGREED! In my wife's car, we went from a Spec2 to a King Cobra to the stock OEM clutch and it was still heavy...turned out that the Steeda adjustable cable had begun to rust and got sticky, therefore created a heavy pedal. With a new OEM cable, it's as light as a feather now.
Note - it doesn't take much resistance in a cable (off the car) to make a big difference installed on the car. The old adjustable cable was 'sticky' as stated, but nowhere near what you'd call 'sieged' - honestly, it didn't seem to be sticky enough to cause the very heavy pedal, but that is exactly what the problem was.

 

[Night Shifter]

well i guess i'm going to put my old cable back on the car. If that doesn't work, my king cobra is going back in the car. what a waste of time and money

Mity, +1 on the whole french made TOB. Mine is alredy making a lot of noise and it sounds like the last one i just took out which was completely thrashed. And yes my clutch is already chattering too

 

[smokin00GT]

well i guess i'm going to put my old cable back on the car. If that doesn't work, my king cobra is going back in the car. what a waste of time and money

Mity, +1 on the whole french made TOB. Mine is alredy making a lot of noise and it sounds like the last one i just took out which was completely thrashed. And yes my clutch is already chattering too

TIP:
When you put that TOB back in make sure you smear tons of high temp grease on it. That will keep it from squeaking.

 

[Rusty67]

TIP:
When you put that TOB back in make sure you smear tons of high temp grease on it. That will keep it from squeaking.

BAD IDEA. You do NOT, I reapeate DO NOT want to do that. Excess grease on the TO bearing will come off and possibly contaminate the clutch which will cause all kinds of fun issues. The TO bearing should have a channel in the center of it. Fill that a little more then level with grease, slide it back and forth on the front bearing retainer and wipe off any major excess.

It IS important to grease them but over greasing is a serious mistake.

 

[smokin00GT]

BAD IDEA. You do NOT, I reapeate DO NOT want to do that. Excess grease on the TO bearing will come off and possibly contaminate the clutch which will cause all kinds of fun issues. The TO bearing should have a channel in the center of it. Fill that a little more then level with grease, slide it back and forth on the front bearing retainer and wipe off any major excess.

It IS important to grease them but over greasing is a serious mistake.

You don't want the grease dripping off of it.....maybe I should have been more specific.

 

[Night Shifter]

thanks for the advice guys. i think i'm gonna buy a new centerforce TOB just to be on the safe side.

 

[mrvax]

Is there anything wrong with simply getting an OEM clutch and aluminum flywheel? y stock clutch works great and it has 98,000 miles.

What would the advantage to be to someone with < 300rwhp to get a non-stock clutch?

 

[Rusty67]

Is there anything wrong with simply getting an OEM clutch and aluminum flywheel? y stock clutch works great and it has 98,000 miles.

What would the advantage to be to someone with < 300rwhp to get a non-stock clutch?

Nothing really. Some clutches grab different and they have different pedal pressure. If you are happy with the stock clutch and aren't going to be making any serious HP then just replace it with another stock clutch.

 

[Pennywise2]

And here is my answer to any and ALL Spec clutch issue.


GET RID OF IT!

Spec - while their ability to hold is no question, they are just not the good clutch for daily driven non race car that is making near stock HP(Less then 300RWHP).
I went through so much issue with my Spec stg2 - wierd vibration, squeeling noise, nasty nasty chatter, and to top it off, french made POS throwout bearing that comes with clutch failed at 36 miles of use.

unless your car is dedicated race car, your way better off with KingCobra, Centerforce Dual friction, or Mcleard(sp?).

The truth speaks!
I loved my Centerforce DF clutch though.