Need A New Clutch?

[toddlls]

Over estimate what your looking for, that will take into account any mods you haven't planned for now. I guess any clutch manufacturer is ok, but when people buy something then the situation changes any will fail unless they are specific to new changes made.

Jim does good work, NPC, Ogura, Nismo coppermix, will all do the job, otherwise $2500 on a HKS twin plater is good sense if eventually you get to 300 rwkw & plan to drift

[DMAN#20]

ive got a exedy heavy duty button clutch on my gtr, it doesnt live up to the demands of a couple of launchs at all, had a exedy hyper twin before this but was too hard to live with. basically i need a twin plate again but something with some sort of ride! is there anything out there that does this?

[Russco]

ive got a exedy heavy duty button clutch on my gtr, it doesnt live up to the demands of a couple of launchs at all, had a exedy hyper twin before this but was too hard to live with. basically i need a twin plate again but something with some sort of ride! is there anything out there that does this?

I got an NPC twin plate, I ride it a fair bit at the drags + on the street - have a look at one of these + they're cheap to rebuild. Easy clutch to live with.

[S13_DriftR]

Xtreme Clutch can do a Single Plate Motorsport Package to suit RB20, RB25 & RB30DET.

They have close to 1600KG's Clamp Load & have very Good Driveability for Street Use but can also be used in Drift or Drag Applications...

I've put one in my S13 which I do a bit of both & it's lasted almost 2 years & is still going strong They can also be Re-Built for just under $300.00 from memory too

Edited February 5, 2009 by S13_DriftR

[a31lunacy]

extreme = not good clutch 2 tracks days behind a 230rwkw sr = dead

[streatracer]

I'm looking for new clutch in my 430rwhp R33 Gtst as the single plate in it now is starting to fail. I'm thinking one of Jim's clutches sounds good but I have a couple of questions. All the prices quoted in this thread are pretty old now, has anyone had a full monty built recently? what was approx cost? I'm just trying to get an idea of price for the full monty+ a new flywheel as I understand the nismo coppermix twin plate comes complete with a flywheel and I'm wondering what will give better bang-for-buck.

Cheers

[LUME]

i would personally go with npc my mates 200sx dog box making mid 200kw has a 4 puck sprung brassbutton and its not hard at all to drive can ride it for a bit to get the car sjut rolling then pretty much dump it thats all you can do with them. i myself will be getting one when my clutch lets go sidestepping at 5 to redline isnt good but then again i have no clue what clutch is in it and it has taken quite a pounding it tends to start slipping when it gets too hot??

[Drift Motorsport]

Jim Berry clutches are the best single's you will ever buy and will out last and out perform most twin / triple setups that are over hyped.

The key is clamping force and the type of friction material used. Jims 3800lbs+ pressure plate and the special carbotic friction material are second to none for a performance single clutch.

Most clutches fail due to contamination. There should be NO OIL OR WATER in the bell housing. This means all the crap must be cleaned out of the bell housing before you install the clutch and like wise on the engine side. Not doing this will make the clutch burn up the friction material and thus fail. Keep in mind that your turbo water lines and heater hoses run over the bell housing in some setups. IF these weep or leak under pressure - you will have glycol (coolant) in the bell housing which is worse than OIL.

Alloy Flywheels are a damn JOKE and should not be used. Exceedy, Fidanza, adelaide clutch etc, alloy flywheels may be great for a stock setup - but they are far too weak for anything over stock clamping pressures at 1700lbs. Cro-mo flywheels are a wank expense that I have found have shown no superior strength or great benefits on the track. Their transient response may be a tad better - but the interia of a stock flywheel will spool turbos up faster on/off the throttle. The best flywheel is a GC nissan flywheel with locating dowels and not lightened. Just get it crack tested and machined and you're in business upto 11,500 rpm on an RB.

The dowel pins must be in the flywheel to locate the bolts properly and provide shear load resistance as the clutch accelerates and deaccelerates. The pressure plate bolts are only there to take tension loads as the clutch is engaged/disenaged. They can take a small mount of shear loads as the clutch rotates - but the dowels take most of this load in conjunction with the surafce friction of all the pressure plate bolts. If your pressure plate has movement when its just located on the dowels - it will rattle itself loose and shear the pins and bolts and get the broken bell housing failure as pictured in the previous posts.

The picture of the broken bellhousing and clutch suggests that the owner was using an alloy flywheel WITHOUT locating dowels. This is evident in the surface appearance of the two dowel surfaces pictured being consistant with the flywheel surface. It looks like the dowels were machined flat and thus not doing their very important job. If your clutch installer does not use the dowels - you will get the same failure - simple. You must ensure that all the dowels are installed when installing the pressure plate. The pressure plate bolts are not designed to be whacked by the pressure plate due to inertia and will shear off quickly due to the stress concentrations in the threads.

This is the exact reason why all wheel hubs/rotors have a LIP that the center of the wheel rests on. This lip takes the bump loads as the wheel travels up and down, whilst the wheels studs take the radial loads as the wheel rotates. Once you use spacers without the lip or wheels that do not fit properly on this lip - you will break wheel studs as they are not designed to take bump forces - just like the pressure plate bolts.

Anyway, I just bought my 2nd and 3rd Jim berry clutches for the Soarer and R32 Drifter and I couldnt be happier.

From memory the FULL MONTY single R32 clutch w/Solid center was around $1250 retail w/flywheel machining and the soarer clutch was around $1000 with flywheel machining. I have 4000lbs on each clutch and I will be spinning both to 8,000 rpm and using stock flywheels.

Ill post up pics soon!

[Marko R1]

car speed has nothing to do with flywheel speed... its connected to the motor so whether ur doing 9000rpm in 1st gear doing 60km/h or 9000rpm @ 400km/h the flywheel is still going to be going the same speed

so yes a flywheel will be fine with more power.

as for clutches.. i have a jim berry full monty clutch with a 5000lb pressure plate on my gtr.. feels like stock

enough for 800kw

well ive read the entire thread & i have looked at using jim berry's clutch in my current car & past car but time got the better of me...

i have a gtr with rb30 aiming for over 400awkw...will his clutch hold this type of power as i will also take it to the drag strip to see what it can run (mid 10sec pass will be in it). it is a street car.

i think im best off just calling jim & make sure my mobile charger is plugged in at the same time

i know that paul 'dirtgarage' also raves about jims clutches & he is now running over 500awkw from memory!?

how about 'NPC' what is this clutch & what does it stand for?

[Swiper the Fox]

well ive read the entire thread & i have looked at using jim berry's clutch in my current car & past car but time got the better of me...

i have a gtr with rb30 aiming for over 400awkw...will his clutch hold this type of power as i will also take it to the drag strip to see what it can run (mid 10sec pass will be in it). it is a street car.

i think im best off just calling jim & make sure my mobile charger is plugged in at the same time

i know that paul 'dirtgarage' also raves about jims clutches & he is now running over 500awkw from memory!?

how about 'NPC' what is this clutch & what does it stand for?

For the record i used a Jim Berry single plate up to 460AWKW and 10.3's for a few years...great clutch...is now in Razor$sharp's R33 Abflug car and still going strong.

I now use an NPC twin plate...during my 500AWKW GT-RS 9.9's days....the same clutch is in my car now making over 600AWKW and is bullet proof...but not really needed in a streetcar as its a bit OTT.

Why you ask questions i know you know the answer to Marko is a bit odd. Of course the Jim Berry single will hold on to 400...i couldn't kill mine.

Edited March 24, 2009 by DiRTgarage

[Marko R1]

just wanted u to set the record straight

[Rolls]

Just rang up jim then and spoke to him about his lower end clutches for my 150rwkw skyline. He recommended an exedy pressure plate with a heavier duty organic plate which he will put together for extra clamping pressure, around 1900lbs he reckons, only $450 for a full kit delivered, sounds like a pretty good deal to me, was a top bloke to talk to as well.

[SS8_Gohan]

is there any sort of direct correlation between clamping pressure and drive-ability? i've found a GTR Jim Berry clutch that's fine for my R34 GT-T (both pull type clutches) but it's clamping force is 4400lb - which seems to be a decent amount higher than the majority of figures that are around 3500lb.

it's for a 300rwkw (plus maybe a little more), R34 GT-T, manual, that mainly has street duties. The clamping force alone sounds like it's more than up to the task but i wasn't sure if that translated to being a pig on the road?

[SS8_Gohan]

sorry to post again so soon, but anyone have any thoughts on the question above? need a new clutch asap, but unsure whether to get this 4400lb one...

[Marko R1]

my clutch has the same 4400lbs pressure plate but i havent tried it as yet - i did speak to jim direct about this & he said it will be heavier in feel than the stock clutch but it is very driveable & much better than my previous twin plate & triple plate

[SS8_Gohan]

i can deal with that, thanks mate!

[Bainator]

Do this man have an email ?

Im from norway, so if i call him and he start to speak "mechanical english" i wont be able to follow him

[Betz]

Been a while since I posted about my JB,

Car has been off the road for a while for a few reasons, have clicked over 3400k's since it was refitted and was out with it the other day at a mates property showing his warmed over Gen3 a thing or two.

My car is making 275awk last dyno session. Still have some work to do but its more related to reliability than anything else.

Of the 5 or 6 times I gave it the herbs the car showed signs of slipping 3 of them.

The first launch the car didnt hook up properly again. The other 2 times I had sip occur were hard launches after a staging a small launch to try and warm the tyres (I dont have a tourque splitter and didnt pull the fuse)

With some time between launches which included some mucking around spinning the wheels the car hooked up great. It seemed if the clutch was warm it was a pretty good thing, cold = no good and if hot it was even worse :|

Obviously in motorsport temps are important.

I get the feeling after the other days session that when I welded te clutch together it was because I didnt disengage when it slipped, I just backed off and it stuck together. The other day I made sure I snatched second or atleast disengaged.

Havnt felt any issues with it since (but I'm not driving it a lot either)

Big 6k rpm dumps are going to test gear and a single plate based on stock gear might just be around the limit for that kind of abuse.

I did note that temperature and method made a difference for me this time and when I got the good hook ups. no better feeling than that 4wd 5 degree drift at launch and then hooking up just to do it all agin into second.

Buddy has some footage on his phone flames and all, will throw it up soon

[Danski]

Just had a lengthy conversation with Jim about you know what.

I told him i was eventually looking at making around 300rwkw and he said that the Exedy rebuild with 4400lbs pressure plate would do a great job.

I cant remember the exact price but I think it was pretty close to $1400 mark not including delivery as i will be picking the clutch up.

Jims extremely helpful and i definitely recommend calling him if you have any questions at all.

[chooka29]

Hey all,

I think that some people are losing sight of what is right for their car. Clutches are like horses for courses - you gotta have the right set up for the intended use. Being able to handle the power output is one thing, but how it's being used (street, drag, drift, curcuit) as well as the actual weight of the car comes into play also. It's no good putting a 600hp capable clutch into a 1600kg car if it can't handle the intial torque transfer to get the car moving.

Part of this comes from the friction material used and the clamping force of the pressure plate, as well as the way the clutch engages. It's why factory clutches last quite a while (even some abused examples) as they are matched to the intended use.

Just something to bear in mind...