New Clutch Set Up Whats Best?????
06-23-2005, 11:02 PM
#1
New Clutch Set Up Whats Best????? [ I AM IN THE PROCESS OF A RBLD ON MY 6SPD,CARBON FIBER SYNCROS,STEEL 3/4FORK &GENERAL CHECK UP.I HAVE HEARD ONLY GOOD STUFF ABOUT THE RAM CLUTCHES.TSP SAYS A STAGE 3 PWR GRIP WOULD BE FINE.D&D PERF. IS BLDG. THE TRANS.THEY TELL ME THEY HAVE A CLUTCH KIT GOOD TO 500HP & THERE GUYS ARE GETTING 2 SEASONS OF RACING & REG. DRIVING.IT IS A MCLEOD UNIT,ANY INFO WOULD SURE HELP!!!!!!IT IS A LITTLE CHAEPER THAN THE RAM BUT I DO NOT WANT TO GO BACK IN ANY TIME SOON.I AM DOING NEW SLV, CLUTCH,PP,PILOT BEARING.I AM GETTING INFO BOTH WAYS ON THE FLYWHEEL,SOME SAY GO BILLET,OTHERS TELL ME IF YOU AIN'T PUSHIN 700 PLUS HP IT IS A WASTE OF MONEY.HELLO????????I DON'T MIND SPENDING MONEY WHERE I NEED BUT I SURE DON'T HAVE IT TO WASTE!!!!!!!! 1972 CAMARO SS '99LS1 6SPD,TSP MAGIC STICK,MAC HDRS '99,DR.GAS SYNC X OVER, TSP TUNED COMPUTER 
06-24-2005, 12:23 PM
#2
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Welcome to the board. There are several good clutches for the LS1. You can use the search and read the opinion of people until your eyes turn bloodshot.
I personally have used the Spec stage III with stock hydraulics, Ram 402 PP/ 6130 disc with a Mcleod adj master cylinder and the Mcleod dual disk with the Mcleod adjustable master cylinder. They have all been good performing clutches.
What I didn't like.
1. The Spec clutch chattered a lot
2. The Ram clutch chattered a lot and the pedal pressure was high.
3. The Mcleod Dual is expensive, but the pedal pressure is much less. It does sometimes seem a little sluggish during high speed shifting, but I haven't missed a gear because of it.
I personally have used the Spec stage III with stock hydraulics, Ram 402 PP/ 6130 disc with a Mcleod adj master cylinder and the Mcleod dual disk with the Mcleod adjustable master cylinder. They have all been good performing clutches.
What I didn't like.
1. The Spec clutch chattered a lot
2. The Ram clutch chattered a lot and the pedal pressure was high.
3. The Mcleod Dual is expensive, but the pedal pressure is much less. It does sometimes seem a little sluggish during high speed shifting, but I haven't missed a gear because of it.
06-24-2005, 03:56 PM
#3
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I think all of the clutches seem to work, there are semantic differences but I've had them all.
Ram's Cintered Iron unit, Spec III(2 of them), Mcleod's unit, with stock and adjustable masters.
All of them worked as advertised with no problems. The Ram chattered alot, but it also held over 650ft lbs so you can't expect the world for the money it costs.
My Spec III never gave up under the same load and was alot smoother to drive than the Ram but my experience doesn't match others and the Spec III currently in my C5 does chatter but not to the point where I find it bothersome.
A big part of the problem is there is no testing mechanism for the parts. How much fluid volume does the slave need to properly actuate each clutch.
There has no be hard numbers for these things yet everyone throws them together without knowing.
You should be able to test a master and see how much fluid its moving at what pressure for a given stroke and compare that to the requirements of the clutch you are using.
After dealing with clutches on my LS1 Rx7 I learned its all in the hydraulics. The Wildwood master used is overkill and a solid piece, no one has clutch problems.
IMO you just need to do the best to recreate what the Wildwood does, a given amount of fluid per stroke, how it moves the slave, and what the clutch requires.
You can adjust from there to get the volume and pressure you need.
It is alot more involved but after seeing what its going to take to replace the clutch in the C5 I would rather do it once and do it right.
FWIW I never had a single clutch failure on my other cars and the only other failure I had was braking a rod on the clutch master on my old Camaro and I just did the same on my C5, both were adjustable units.
I'm going to try to find some hard numbers on what is required to make the parts work. Obviously there is alot of slop in the specs of the Master/Slave/clutches or all these problems would not exist.
Ram's Cintered Iron unit, Spec III(2 of them), Mcleod's unit, with stock and adjustable masters.
All of them worked as advertised with no problems. The Ram chattered alot, but it also held over 650ft lbs so you can't expect the world for the money it costs.
My Spec III never gave up under the same load and was alot smoother to drive than the Ram but my experience doesn't match others and the Spec III currently in my C5 does chatter but not to the point where I find it bothersome.
A big part of the problem is there is no testing mechanism for the parts. How much fluid volume does the slave need to properly actuate each clutch.
There has no be hard numbers for these things yet everyone throws them together without knowing.
You should be able to test a master and see how much fluid its moving at what pressure for a given stroke and compare that to the requirements of the clutch you are using.
After dealing with clutches on my LS1 Rx7 I learned its all in the hydraulics. The Wildwood master used is overkill and a solid piece, no one has clutch problems.
IMO you just need to do the best to recreate what the Wildwood does, a given amount of fluid per stroke, how it moves the slave, and what the clutch requires.
You can adjust from there to get the volume and pressure you need.
It is alot more involved but after seeing what its going to take to replace the clutch in the C5 I would rather do it once and do it right.
FWIW I never had a single clutch failure on my other cars and the only other failure I had was braking a rod on the clutch master on my old Camaro and I just did the same on my C5, both were adjustable units.
I'm going to try to find some hard numbers on what is required to make the parts work. Obviously there is alot of slop in the specs of the Master/Slave/clutches or all these problems would not exist.
06-24-2005, 11:13 PM
#4
Thanks For All The Info On The Clutches.i Guess We Will Try The Mcleod Unit From D&d Perf.they Have Cars In The 10's On This Set Up.my Mstr Cyl Is New Gm & Has Been Fine So Far.nobody Has Any Info On The Billet Flywheel Thing?d&d Tells Me Its A Waste Of Money Below 700hp.car Has Been Done About 5wks.2100 Miles On Pwr Tour, Oh Yeah To John ? The Guy With The Red '69 Camaro Ls1,one Of The Founders Of Ls1 Tech.after My Parting Burnout,i Got Pinned With Your Burnouts In Birmingham,al.yeah That Big Black Cop Was Highly Pissed!!!he Laid Your 180 Line Lock Burnout On Me Too!!!!!!!they Pulled My Long Haul Parking Sticker,no Big Deal Since I Was Headed Home In The Morn.i Am Just Happy No Tickets Were Involved!!!!!!