Question : Brass clutches???

[91DOHC284]

I am just wondering if anyone has a brass 6 button clutch in their car... Clutchnet sells them i know that, but i am curious as to if it's worth going to that extreme with it...

How do they act in the car? Are they really hard to feather out? would they be a bad choice for everyday driving? would a midgrade kevlar clutch be enough to hold the power of a turbo DOHC without slipping?

thanks for your imput

[TurboGTU]

Brass sounds like a race only application. Its like trying the cast iron on the street. Best street clutch is the ceramic. I don't trust kevlar. They start to slip.

[Z26-T]

Even driving ceramic clutches can be hard...

[91DOHC284]

well isnt the stock clutch a ceramic? mine had about 2 years on it and as soon as i did a port and polish it burnt out within 3 months.

[TurboGTU]

No, stock is organic. The ceramic doesn't last as long as a stock unit but will not slip and burn up like the stock unit or the kevlar.

[91DOHC284]

should i go for a stiffer pressure plate? is it worth 250? or will it make no difference

[TurboGTU]

On my turbo coupe I had bought the ceramic 6puck sprung hub clutch with pressure plate from spec. It was a kit and the pressure plate was a step up from stock so I coun't tell you, but the peddle was a tad more stiff to push down on. But it was worth it since I needed a pressure plate anyway.

Some guys swear by the 4puck clutch and some others swear by the 6 puck. The 4 is mainly for drag racing, the other is for road racing.

[91DOHC284]

Im going to see if i can have a 10 button brass clutch made for me... there is a guy in Vancouver called Gordon Ray and he made my dad a 10 Button brass clutch for his 62 dart wagon. My dad couldn't get a clutch to last more than 3 day's with a stock clutch and there was no aftermarket clutches back in the 70's.

But i Have one more question. The clutch that is in there now is totally burnt out running on the rivits, but, just before it burnt out it started to shudder really bad when i was disingaging it. it still does it even now that the clutch is so burnt out. any ideas? Could that be a pressure plate? btw bad input shaft bearing. T/O seems fine unless that is the problem

[pocket-rocket]

Shudders usually mean hot spots on the flywheel. Just take it down to the local machine shop and have it resurfaced. That should run around $30 and should be done on any new clutch install so you have a nice fresh surface for the clutch to bite into.

[TurboGTU]

Usualy , after using a clutch like that, the meterial has taken away too much from the pressure plate and flywheel to resurface. IF your lucky you can still resurface the flywheel.

[pocket-rocket]

I have yet to have a flywheel that's been rejected from the machine shop myself. Most of the time clutches are being changed are the original, so there should still be plenty of meat on the flywheel left to surface.

[91DOHC284]

ya it's just the stock clutch in there now nothing fancy. it's just gonna be gouged from riding on the rivit's. thanks for your help

[Joseph Upson]

I hope my Kevlar clutch doesn't slip since that's a concern here. I would be somewhat careful with metal composite clutch discs also. After removing my dual friction clutch I noticed it really put a wooping on my flywheel, the friction area of the flywheel actually wore at a taper with the outer perimeter of the friction surface wearing down considerably compared to the inner perimeter of the friction area. Pretty much exactly what you see semi metallic brake pads do to a brake rotor. I believe I had about 30k on it when I removed it and there wasn't many miles left from what I could see.

I wonder what the rule is for determining what side goes where because I would much rather have the organic side against the flywheel and the metal against the cheaper pressure plate particularly since the dual mass flywheel I have now can't be resurfaced to my knowledge.

Organic lasts a good while so maybe increasing the pressure plate clamping pressure would be a good option also.