The Project Pad

my MC/7a engine in my CQ with spec LW flywheel (does not feel very light to me)....

I want a friendly feeling clutch that can take the tq at 35 psi. I am okay with a puck style clutch as long as overall it is friendly-ish. does not have to feel like stock but should be pretty okay.

my spec stg 2 is rated for 450tq according to 034 site, and slips

I would say that i am making over 400tq at the wheels.

spec ?
clutch masters?
south bend?
other?
stage?

Southbend would be pretty ok

I run a Southbend clutch and semi-lightweight flywheel in my 1.8t w/HX35 at 25-30psi so I'm not making as much torque as you are but it has been great. It's a 6 puck and I daily it, it's a little bit heavy and can be a bit of a pain in traffic jam situations but I love it. Engagement can be a little jerky and it likes to do a bit of a stutter getting going in first if you aren't too smooth but once you're rolling it's perfectly fine. Would highly recommend, I can get you the specs on the kit I have if you want but I believe it's rated to 550ft/lbs or something stupid like that.

I don't understand why anyone gets non full faced South Bends. Their full face offerings are rated just as highly.

loxxrider wrote:I don't understand why anyone gets non full faced South Bends. Their full face offerings are rated just as highly.

We're a Southbend dealer and I spent a half hour on the phone with them going over my build goals and their offerings and this was their final recommendation so I went with it. They also don't offer an ECS RA4 style 1.8t->240mm flywheel and I didn't really want to use an ECS brand part.

Plus you don't want to know what I paid for it haha. It's really drivable, my above comments are pretty knit-picky, but I guess I don't have a lot of experience to compare it against. Maybe the disc size was a factor, not sure, I'm not a clutch expert and don't pretend to be so I went with the pro's opinion.

The full face ones do not take nearly the abuse the 6 puck ones do. I have never had a 6 puck 707 pressure plated clutch weld, but i have had several full faced disks weld. I don't mind the 6 pucks daily driving, 4000lb mule has one with a lightweight aluminum flywheel, and it has been daily driven by somebody for hte last year.

I hope to have a Southbend stage 4 equivalent using hte same 707 pressure plate available in the next couple of weeks for ~800$ retail. Identical to what we have put over 600wtq to on the Mule.

Cheers

Hank

But at 450 tq? That doesn't call for a puck clutch at all.

yeah what kind of doofus would run a 6 puck on a car below 450tq. Or like, below 300tq...

I guess I don't really think hte 6 pucks are bad to drive, so why not?

I have never had a problem with the 6 pucks. In fact I like them better than whatever full face plate is in my car now.

I am okay with a 6 puck as long as it is easy to live with.
I am kinda losing my faith in full face clutches because the ones I have are not wild about grabbing if you short shift so you are right at the tq peak. You know that big meaty spot where your car has a little boost spike AND is right in it's natural sweet spot, where the tq is bulgy ...that is where maybe the 6 puck would shine, yes???

so I AM open. I DO want enough clutch. I do not like the feeling of bringing a knife to a gun fight.
so what are the specific recommendations???????????

6 puck spring feramic. Available from everywhere. Southbend, clutchmasters and I think spec.

I like the idea of a full face clutch, but if you want to abuse it, shift hard and launch with reckless abandon, a 6 puck definitely wins. I think the full face clutches can hold a lot too if set up right, but they cant take the abuse.

I dont love how 6 pucks grab in traffic, but i like how they drive when being an asshole.

I don't believe 6 pucks are difficult in daily driving.......but i've dailied interior less track rat cars for most of the last ten years.

Dana's description is perfect. The spec stage 3 with 11lb flywheel I had in the 4k was an asshole daily driving. It was like it needed to be fucked hard, then it was happy as a clam. I put it through the ringer with launch control, SO FAST GODLIKE SHIFTING, and it never skipped a beat.

I have a Spec stage3 with a standard 7A flywheel. Pulling out is a pain, but after that it's pretty smooth. I'm only running a 20vt currently at 10psi, but I've driven a whole lot worse.

Having a light flywheel makes a big difference in how a clutch will react. The whole rotation inertia thing.

I am running the spec stage III+ in the URQ and love it. At first it was chattering so badly that I thought there was a serious problem(even posted here) but after a couple thousand miles it smoothed out and now it is wonderful.

I was driving the URQ everyday for 5-6 months before the winter and the full face great for my application.

I love my Spec 3+. I converted to it after my Spec Stg 3 wore out the friction surface on my aluminum flywheel after about 75k miles. It has more pedal effort, but from day one it has been silky smooth on application. The full face metallic disc is significantly heavier than the 6-puck, so it does slow down shifting a little in some cars, but I haven't noticed too much of an impact with my 01A.

Keep in mind that when Hank says a 6-puck holds up better to abuse, that is coming from a guy who drives cars harder than anyone else I know . If your idea of fun and a reliable solution is being able to withstand repeated 7000rpm launch control clutch drops, that is where Hank is coming from. If you're a little more gentle on cars, there are tradeoffs you can make that will improve the manners on the street while still holding the power you're making.

Sam

I think that's what I hate about my full face, it shifts like shit. The 01E sucks as it is, especially 1st to second. I think having the lightest clutch disk possible is key, at least with the 01E.

damn notchy 01e's, what irony, the best audi transmission drives the worst.

Big beefy gears and shafts are hard to change speed when shifting? That's unpossible!

Bridge ported 13B with a 9lb flywheel and highway gears in the rearend - 6 puck was extremely drivable. The only bad part was the awful noises it makes when it slips. It held extremely well with a STOCK pressure plate, vs. needing an aftermarket plate with a full face clutch which is hell on the throwout fork and ball.

But the puck clutch wasn't sprung and that was even more hell on the transmission. I can reinforce the balls and the forks, I can't weld gear teeth back onto the gear

Puck clutches 4 lyfe! (With sprung centers only)

Noisy Cricket wrote:Big beefy gears and shafts are hard to change speed when shifting?

I've driven dump trucks that shift smoother, the 01e is not that beefy.

what is the verdict? puck style with sprung hub? would a spec stage 3+ be good or just a little shy in safety factor for me?
I DO want kinda friendly but I also DO want to be able to treat it like a dirt bike a little bit and have it hold, not slip. I am guessing at least Dana has driven rapidly through the woods on a bike and creatively used the clutch? When driving in a-hole mode, even in a car, it is nice to have that option.

dana wrote:

Noisy Cricket wrote:Big beefy gears and shafts are hard to change speed when shifting?

I've driven dump trucks that shift smoother, the 01e is not that beefy.

How many dump trucks do you shift at 8000rpm? Or have stubby little 6" long shifters?

All factors.

thats a good point, real bad example.

However I still say the 01e shifts like crap, and there are other strong, high performance transmissions that shift nicely.

God forbid I criticize the infallible audi.