Clutch Kit Options

Buy a kevlar clutch , the stock 328 / 308 / Mondial clutches are weak, Ive had mine for 70,000 miles / 112 Kms it still performs like new

Thank you

 

Are you upgrading any other drivetrain parts? If not, I suggest you leave the clutch alone - other than replacing it with a new stock-type clutch if you wanted to and let it act as the "safety valve." It's much cheaper than axles/transaxle parts. If you were adding maybe 50-60 HP, you would be fine with all the original parts. Adding 130+ is expecting a lot out of parts drivetrain parts designed for a lot less than that.

OTOH, obviously, if you have empirical data/experience that demonstrates that the stock components can handle the additional power, then the above does not apply.

 

Afternoon,
How much does a Kevlar clutch cost?

Thanks,

John.

 

Totally false

 

I agree - I have done plenty of dragstrip-type starts with my 328 and the OEM clutch - after 11 years of me owning the car/acting like a boy racer, boiling the tires on launch/barking the tires into second - has shown no sign of even being slightly disturbed by such treatment. I have no idea where the idea that the 328 clutch is "weak" came from. It isn't.

 

The stock clutch works great with a stock engine but fails quickly on boosted applications, or at least it did on mine and I was told by Norwood who got me the new clutch that's common but I only have my experience.

Clutch 2 was kevlar and worked well but the heavy pressure plate that came with it was less than optimal on my leg to operate... I think it was a Daytona pressure plate. I drove it about 15k miles with no issues (about 350hp) then upper the boost (about 600 hp) and fried the clutch the 1st time I really stood on the throttle. They can set up the pressure plate for any hp but it was already too stiff for me to like so. . ..

Clutch 3 is a tilton 7.25" triple disc carbon-carbon spring to handle about 800ftlb torque, which is the lightest spring they have. Very low pedal effort, Honda civic soft, but a bit grabby and the hotter it gets the grabber it gets. I think Nick sells a 2 disk option with organic lining ..maybe better, I don't know but certainly cheaper

Pick your poison I guess, I kept the tilton clutch with the v12 conversion as it was the best for my taste.

 

The stock clutch will not support adding a supercharger. The Kevlar option will also not work, and the v12 option lacks the clamp load for the tq the engine will produce at high rpm under boost.
This is something I've been dealing with for over a decade. The mondial and 308 drive trains have no trouble supporting 500hp, things need a bit more attention beyond that though.
We've worked with a bunch of clutch MFG over the yrs, high clamp load clutches for racing suck on the street. Finding a clutch that will support high loads and yet be soft for the street is not easy due to the short production run and lack of cross application. We have been working with OS Giken, phenomenal clutches that also replace the flywheel. Pricey though, we will be test bedding a new variant this next yr that should be butter smooth in traffic.... Fingers crossed.

 

Sounds about right, though the tilton Nick had did not last under boost. It was a triple disk, though after talking with tilton it was not designed for the tq we pushed thru it. The clutch lasted for 2 days on the Dyno then about an afternoon of testing on the track...
I tried the Daytona setup on my mondial and went thru 2 flywheels in 3 yrs. Pedal effort wasn't bad but the mondial is hydrolic.
Really it comes down to how much power one will be making. That and the mondial is heavier then the 308.

 

Was it a 7.25"? Tilton for sure not quartermaster?

I was pushing....something like 425ftlbs (measured on a dyno jet so crank would be 500-550, some think like that and ran it about 2 years, maybe 5 or 7k miles and it was still happy and shows very little wear. A couple days on the dyno, a day at the strip, a handful of autocrosses....I was pretty happy other than a bit grabby and prone to a little chatter if I let it up too slow. I think I have a gen1 unit though so thinks may have changed?

 

Good point, could be a quarter master... I'll have to dig it out of storage next month to look. Nick got it back in 97 or 98... It was used for his 3.5L, yrs later we added boost and killed it. I used the same setup on boosted 328, that only put down 350ish tq.. no issues, sucked in traffic though.

 

"The stock clutch will not support adding a supercharger."

If the power increase is more than around 30-35%, I would not expect it to. But it's not fair to call the OEM clutch 'weak' when it's in an OEM drivetrain for which it was designed.

 

The original clutch in my car wasn't R&Red until 115,000 miles - and a LOT of track time. I only replaced it because it was in for a bunch of stuff and I though what the hell, put a new clutch in too because it was so old and had so many hard miles - not because it needed it that day. One of the few times I actually decided to replace something before it broke. It is hanging in my garage wall. Still looks good.

If you know how to use a clutch, they don't fail prematurely. I have never had a clutch fail in my life and I have been driving 5 speeds since I turned 16 in 84. My Alfa that I brought home 23 years ago still has the clutch from 87.

 

Yep, contrary to popular belief, drag-strip type starts ('dumping' the clutch) is not all that hard on a clutch. 'Riding' the clutch will wear one out quite quickly.

 

Wear and slip also occurs at high rpm as centrafugal forces weaken the clamp force, mix that with the increase of power from forced induction and the clutch will wear faster and fail prematurely, slip introduces heat. Bad things happen with frictional heat beyond design scope.

 

Back when manual transmissions were around I remember people using the clutch as a brake when stopped at the top of a hill or incline. Drove me crazy. No wonder people went thru them so soon.

 

There is no way that a stock 328 clutch is going to outlast a kevlar clutch with the same abuse PERIOD . I dont know about any other high HP applications, and I highly doubt that no more then a few people on here would even try spinning there tires through 3rd Gear no offense, there is no way the stock SINGLE DISC clutch is is better than the Kevlar replacement . I dont care what anyone else says. If I were to ad HP I would go with the Gilken, I believe its a dual disc set up for cars with more HP . My car has 101 K miles with 70 k on the Kevlar , and I use it to my full advantage How can anyone tell you differently if they have not used both, I have, and after 10k miles with the stock clutch at 20k when I bought the car, I replaced mine at 30 k and I felt a difference right away, the power from the motor went to the tires so direct and without hesitation it was EASY to feel the difference, I also did not have to replace mine, but did it anyways, the stock clutch is WEAK compared to the kevlar PERIOD end of story, You will be very happy , of course for a stock application . i would tend to believe that the Kevlar replacement would handle 50 - 60 more HP without hesitation.

Thank you

 

You said the stock clutch was weak, period, without comparison.

And it most certainly is not weak on those cars in a stock form.

 

Ive had both, in my experience, with a stock 328 other than Tubi, K n N , test pipe the Kevlar clutch is better than the stock OEM. When it comes to getting all the power from the motor to the wheels for the most Kms / miles The Kevlar clutch is much better than stock. This is my opinion based on my experience I dont have any experience driving a 308 / 328 that has a built motor I would imagine one would want the Gilken set up its a dual disc which is better than a single disc. I still would have to say the stock OEM clutch is Weak , it would never hold up under hard driving the way the Kevlar unit does. LIke I said, I felt a difference from the start and my OEM did not have to be replaced, I wanted the Kevlar clutch installed at my first service at 30 k miles. At 102 k miles the Kevlar is performing the same as it did at 30 k miles .

 

I had a 308 2vi for a week once that had kevlar. I loved it.
Something about it just felt better.

 

AGAIN...be sure the rest of the drivetrain is capable of handling that additional 140 HP! If not, putting in a clutch that can will result in EXPENSIVE broken parts instead of just an annoying slipping clutch. If the OEM motor puts out 215 HP, I wouldn't be comfortable adding more than around 70HP unless you have actual evidence that the drivetrain components can accept the power level you are planning.

I am NOT SAYING that the drivetrain can't handle the additional power; maybe it can with no problem but I would want some proof/experience that it can, not internet claims that "it should be able to."