I just had my clutch and flywheel upgraded to a Spec 2 stage 2 and a lightweight flywheel. Has anyone experienced a reduction in performance to about 3500 RPM's? I'm also concerned because the clutch chatters a lot under 2000 RPM on take off.
The clutch was installed prfessionally by the finest Mini Guy in our area. Are these issues the norm?

 

Any lightened flywheel is going to chatter. Unfortunately that's part of being lightened (And the reason that OEM clutches are dual mass heavy little suckers). You shouldn't be losing any performance, the clutch (unless it's slipping) doesn't have a thing to do with horsepower. Whether it's lightened, heavy, or any combination of the two, your car is going to make pretty much the same HP.

 

with the lightened flywheel you just get the rattling noise from the gearbox, but clutch chatter when pulling away is not normal, is it ? Contamination of the clutch disc could cause chatter, or maybe it just needs to be broken in. Have you talked to the installer or manufacturer about it ?

 

Lightened clutches don't, by definition, need to have clutch chatter. It's the result of not having a damped in some form (be it dual mass or sprung). If one had a sprung clutch disc or flywheel, this would not be as big a problem.

- Matt

 

If you just had this work done, you should not be going to 3,500 rpm yet. I bet it is slipping, and that is not good news.

 

It is definetly not slipping, this clutch grabs like a *****. I have installed more than several with this combination, Fidanza flywheel, Spec stage 2 solid hub. I was not very happy when I test drove it and it chattered (first one that has done this to me). I am hoping that it will get better as the disc gets broken in. The shift quality is awesome, very instantaneous engagement. I think we were hoping to find someone who has experienced the chatter, and can tell us if it lessened or worsened before I go pulling it out again to check runout and replace if necessary. I am installing another one right now and you can bet your tuchis that I will put a dial gauge to it.
--Dan

 

This post wasn't intended to question the install, I just wanted other people's experiences with the combination. I feel bad that there is a question of if it is right or not. Dan absolutely ROCKS, and has been more than willing to accommodate. I don't want to put him through any additional work if my expectations are not realistic. Even if there are defective parts from the manufacture (happens even on the best of products), I hate that he would have to deal with it. We have a local Mini event this week, and I may have some others take it for a ride.
Please keep your comments coming, It all helps!

Peter

 

I have a Clutchmasters Stage 3 w/ LW flywheel and expirenced chatter at take off and below 2000rpm. I was kinda expecting it so when it showed up I wasn't surprised. I have heard that the internal tolerences of your tranny affect how much chatter you have.

 

I had a spec 2 stage 2 clutch in my mustang and it would chatter all the time when taking off. The only way that I could get off the line without chattering would be to dump the clutch at 3-4 grand...it didnt chatter then but with 4.10's the tires would smoke a lot! I was under the impression thats just the nature of the beast...you want heavy duty clutch to hold a lot of HP then there is going to be some compromise. Thats just my .02 worth though...there might be clutches out there that have the same clamping force but without the chatter...it was just ironic that the spec 2 clutch I bought was only happy when being dumped.

 

I wasn't saying that it HAD to chatter, just that almost every lightweight flywheel/beefy clutch combo out there has some degree of chatter. Unfortunately as you said, the fact that it's not dual mass and not many heavy duty clutches have the same amount of dampening causes chatter in almost every aftermarket clutch application.

 

Gotcha, my bad.

Word.

- Matt

 

I just thought by going with a stage 2, that the effects wouldn't be as bad. If this is the norm, I don't know how anyone could drive the beefier ones!

 

I've got a Stage 4, no complaining!

 

this is not the norm, as I mentioned, i have installed quite a few of this combination without these affects. Could be a bad flywheel, I am hoping though, that the clutch will break-in and smotth out.
--Dan

 

What are the does and don'ts of breaking in a new Spec stage 2 or 3 clutch as I am just about to do one myself?

 

Take it easy for the first 300 or so miles. Those Kevlar clutches don't like abuse when they're new .

 

Only 300 miles? Really? I did about 700 miles of easy driving on my Spec stage 2, and it still got messed up in less than 8,000 miles (no burnouts, no dumping, and no powershifting). Would you say that the OEM clutch would be broken in at 400 miles? I'm at that now on the new clutch and I don't want to have to pay to replace it for a few years.

 

The Stage 3 is Kevlar and carbon I think, is this just as bad? I live in Australia and work in Kilometres and I only got about 12500 to 15000 Kms out of the stage 2 clutch. I wasn't told to 'Break it in" Though, but I never did any burn outs or stuff like that. I may have got up it a few times as anyone does.

 

Are you guys running the light flywheels having any stalling issues when you run the A/C and shift at low rpm's ?

 

I haven't had any stalling issues that aren't associated with the "chugging" I've been experiencing at take off.

 

I have stalled out several times,LOL, but not in any gear over 1st. Funny how much concentration it takes driving with one of these stage 3's on the street. Feel that burn in the muscle of your left leg, you'll get use to it. No, seriously, I can pretty much drive mine now as smooth as a regular disc. At first, i thought that I made a real mistake getting one of these for the street, very grabby, almost inconsistant. 10k miles later it feels very good, pulled it out at 7k when replacing my trans and it still looked brand new.

 

I've has several aluminum flywheels in my Hondas with no stalling or chatter. All my clutch discs had sprung hubs- I wonder why Mini's have so many problems?

 

Well, I got the clutch out and examined it... Some fingers of the pressure plate were at a different height than others, there was also a hot spot on the plates friction surface corresponding to the lower fingers. The disc showed signs of glazing on the outer circumference. I contacted SPEC, they of coarse wanted to see it before giving me a warranty replacement, it has been sent back to them. Luckily, I had another on the shelf and the car will be back together soon.
--Dan

 

Sounds like it was defective.

Nice to see vendors standing by their customers on here! Not much of that left...

 

Thanks Dan!!
I would once more like EVERYONE in here to know how much you ROCK!! Never once did you question my complaint. You were all over me getting the car back out there to get a resolution. I am a customer for life!! There were a few upgrades I was going to tackle myself, but given this experience, I will be making the trip to High Point!

Peter