SVT owners, what clutch/flywheel combination did you go for and why?
Since it seems that every day that I come on here, there's a new thread about how someones dual mass flywheel and clutch has taken a pooop on them, especially the 2002's.............I thought i would make a kind of review thread (maybe someone can make this a sticky?) of the Brand of clutch and flywheel (if you got a one at the same time) that you got for your SVT.........So this is kinda gonna be like the "post reviews of your tune" thread, just different questions............
1. What Brand Clutch and flywheel did you go for?
2. How long you have had that combination?
3. How much you paid for it, and where you got it for that price?
4. What is your overall review of that combination/ would you reccomend that combination to anyone else?
5. Did you install it yourself, or did you have a shop do it for you? If you had someone else do it, how much was the labor?
6. Post any sound clips you may have of the new clutch/flywheel combo.
Also much like the other thread, i would like this to stay pretty much argument free, with just posting the facts
hopefully this will help some of my fellow SVTers out when they have to go shopping for thier own combination.............
Brand Of clutch - Clutchmasters stage 3
Brand of flywheel - Fidanza
Cost - together 863 w/ shipping from ultrarev.com
Recommendation - yeah i'd recommend this over the stock. if ur having problems with ur clutch dying every 2-3 months and ur sick of doing the tsb's or ur dealership is just giving u crap. I'd do this its prolly one of the better mods you can do. The car rev's very easily and screams off the line. The only downside is when ur going up hills u lost the momentum due to a lightened flywheel but u can always downshift and get urself going. if i had the chance to i would have went with the stage 4 there is less chatter with that clutch but i'll live with mine as long as it still works
Labor - ford did the labor for me they already had torn down the engine so i just let them go ahead and put it in cost me 600$ all together for the labor
Clips - sorry no sound or video clips but i have a video of my car in the works stay tuned
I have clutchmasters stage 4 clutch and lightweight flywheel. Don't remember what I pad, but it was pretty pricey at the time. I bought it from Tom at focus power, very good customer service BTW. Anyways, I am happy with performance of the clutch, its a bit grabby, but not bad, revs good with lightened flywheel and all around feels pretty good. It is pretty hard to launch decent though, were I could slip the hell out of stock clutch to get decent 60', and I can't seem to do that with this clutch. Other than that I absolutely hate it though, it is very noisy, very bad clutch chatter at idle and just always makes some kind of weird noises, ifI had it to do again I would probably just keep stock flywheel and get centerforce (wasn't out at time) or just go through stock clutches. I have put almost 20,000 on the new clutch setup, it just sounds so god awful its not worth it to me. Anytime someone hear's my car they think I have like a unsprung multi-disk clutch or something.
I have a CM Stage 1 and CM aluminum flywheel. They are complete shit. Started slipping after 9000 miles (which were babied, it's a daily driver!)
It cost about $850 for the clutch and the flywheel, and $600 installed, but they did the timing belt too while they had everything apart. Car had 90k on it.
The clutch chatters its balls off, and has only gotten worse with time. The flywheel whirls and hums with engine speed, and is ridiculously loud on the highway. You have to blast the stereo to not go insane.
The performance is comparable to stock. Sure, it grips better, sooner, because it has 30% more pedal pressure. The friction material is probably no better than the stock flywheel. The pressure plate springs are where the performance comes from, and the only thing this additional tension does is cause your master cylinder to fail and leak fluid all over your foot (and interior) and leave you stranded. It is also a huge bitch to fix, and costs $100 for the part.
I wouldn't recommend this clutch to Hitler let alone somebody I like.
I miss my stock clutch/flywheel. It was what I loved so much about the car. I am going to get a LuK flywheel/clutch when I get the money, which hopefully happens soon, because as I said, not even 10,000 miles in, this clutch is failing. My stock clutch laster NINE times longer than that.
I have the Clutchmasters stage 4 & Fidanza Flywheel Combo I also replaced the Slave Cylinder/Throwout bearing Assy due to the rattle can noise it was making. Prices will follow. Anyway, performance wise this is a good combo, the driveability isn't bad unless you are in stop and go traffic. The clutch engages very quickly and just sucks in stop and go. The pedal feel is nice and is easier to press in then stock. The SVTF kind of bogs off the line anyway in low RPM's so the lightened flyweel isn't a major issue if you can tolerate the noise allowed by the Aluminum piece. Gear rollover noise sucks and it is loud. The flywheel changes the engine tone slightly. Acceleration is improved and middle and low end is much better. Basically I am happy with the performace so far ( 7 K miles ) but the noise is a bit annoying.
Prices;
CM Stage 4 , 469.00>> Turbo Tom
Fidanza Flywheel, Atlantic Speed, 338.00
Slave Cylinder/ Throwout Bearing,100.00
1. Clutchmasters Stg IV / FocusSport Flywheel
2. 10K Miles
3. Clutch = 470.00 from Tom, Flwheel = 395.00 from FS?
4. This clutch is crap. Not all CM Stg IV's are crap, just this one, it doesn't hold for anything?
5. Shop installed it, labory was 375.00 for clutch. Flywheel was installed a year earlier.
6. Sounds of my clutch?
Just a note on the CM Stage IV. I have friends that have had no problems with their clutch. Mine has never worked right from Day 1. The problem is either the install or the Clutch itself. I'm leaning toward the clutch being bad, seeing as how others have had this problem as well but I can't say for sure. Either way, I'm moving to a Spec Stage III next and we'll see how that goes.
1. Spec stage two/Fidanza flywheel
2. $480.-clutch/$333. flywheel-from Torquefreaks(Portland)
3. 3,500. miles
4. dealer installed for $80. when they replaced trans #3
5. flywheel makes for very free-revving top end. Noticeably better throttle response. Changes the car's personality a lot. Had a lot of clutch chatter first 1k miles. Like the crisp uptake. Hate the noise! Clutch a waste of money, especially compared to factory updated unit, which was totally adequate.
Centerforce #253 stage three clutch- $813
Fidanza 9lb aluminium flywheel- $619
slave cyl.- $129
labor- $275
Awesome setup but not worth what i had to pay for it though. supposedly it lasts a really long time and when it comes to replaceing it the contact points are interchangable so i'll never have to replace the whole parts. I think the thing for the flywheel is only $80. very minimal noise too. I love how it pulls now though. i'm sure with my other mods i can run down an srt-4 or maybe a wrx ( i tried tonight). getting ready to throw it on the dyno.
Spec stage 1 (sprung disk) $450
Fidanza flywheel $300 from a user on FJ
install $350
clutch engages very quick. the pedal is much lighter than stock. a little loud but that is because of the flywheel... great mod overall... just have to get used to the sound of the flywheel... kinda sounds like a bad throw out bearing but it was replaced with the spec kit. flywheel makes a huge difference when accelerating... I highly recommend this setup...
1. Spec stg 2 and Fidanza 9lb
2. about a month now, approx 2000 miles or so
3. clutch from auto exotica in C-bus OH, i got it at cost and was like $390 or something, the
the flywheel i got off ebay from some place wayne (hypnotic) said he did buisness through
so i knew it was the right one and was $330 shipped.
4. I love it, clutch grabs real good and doesnt feel any different than stock, flywheel helps this
thing rev like crazy, esp in the top end, rattles alittle but thats not a big deal.
5. I had auto exotica do it for me, they charged me alittle more than they probably should
have, i payed half the labor and it was like $300 something
Engagement is better over stock, without being to aggressive.
Takes a little getting use too.
Have some chatter do to the flywheel.
Would do it again, recommended.
On the '03 ... CM-Stg 4/ Fidanza Don't remember what I paid, From Tom. I put the clutch on at about 5-8K miles. I was happy with control,but alittle noisy. Now at 27K miles the clutch is beginning to slip at cold startup.
1-Fidanza Alumi Flywheel 260$ (Ebay)
2-Clutch Masters FX100 (Stage 1) 340$
3-New Throw out bearing. Included
4-Labor 300$
Got it done today.
I'll be breaking it in for the next 2 to 3 weeks.
It has some chatter that sounds louder then the rest of engine run.
I see it as a sign of performance , so i don't think it's going to bother me.
It's just the trans telling me it's happy now.
[]
Performance improvement will be easy to notice since i bought the car with a burned out clutch.
BTW it rev's a lot faster both up and down.
OK this car definitely revs much better now, revs DO drop a lot quicker...i replaced the clutch master cylinder too. What a world of a difference, my car now pulls a lot harder and smoother when i shift, so much fun!!!
IMO-- CM stg4 is the same pressure, is just engages with less slip. I just replaced my stg4 with a stg 1 {above post/ slipping} in my 03. The engagement is closer to the floor, sooner,easier to slip.
Beleive it or not , my stage one is tottaly diferent.
In a way it's worse, it's a lot less forgiving, what I mean is, while before you had a inch and a half worth of engaging area, now i only have half a inch.
It will make you become cirgical to the point where you know exactly where it is and where to hold it to get going but once you got it you'll be OK.
It will never be as easy to engage as the stock though.
And @ least in my case , the smell is more noticeble then the stock,if your on a up hill playing with the clutch you will smell the "burn" after you get going, in my case particularlly it comes through the vents unless i have it blocked off.
Glad I did it , would do it again, but i don't think i'll ever need to again.
got a spec stage 3 and fidanza flywheel costed about $800 from c-f-m.com
installed my self, the clutch is sprung and came with stonger than stock slave cylinder
1. What Brand Clutch and flywheel did you go for? CM FX100 and Findanza
2. How long you have had that combination? 1 Day(Just got it back this morning)
3. How much you paid for it, and where you got it for that price? 800 for both through CFM.
4. What is your overall review of that combination/ would you reccomend that combination to anyone else? So far it feels like a brand new car. I love it.
5. Did you install it yourself, or did you have a shop do it for you? If you had someone else do it, how much was the labor? I paid 450 for a local Transmission shop I know do it.
6. Post any sound clips you may have of the new clutch/flywheel combo. N/A
1. competition clutch stage 4 clutch
2. competition clutch auluminum flywheel
3. 830 for the parts, 1200 for the install with cam gear installed and tuned also
Unfortunately I have not driven my car since I had the work done (been out of town), but I just wanted to throw this one out there as another option. I will have to edit this with an actual review in a couple weeks when I get back to the states.
I love it. Car revs alot more free with the flywheel. The clutch takes alot of getting used to (I've stalled 5 times today), but once it wears in and you get used to it your golden. It grabs HARD! I'll be using every bit of its abilities when I'm at the track spraying. Chatter is there, but its not anything you can't ignore with the radio playing.
i have a fidanza lightweight flywheel with a spec stage 3 clutch i paid about 550 for everything before shipping, i bought both off of e bay about 2 and a half years ago! I have had no problems what so ever with this set up... i race at a local drag strip and launch at about 3500 and it has never slipped racing or driving normally.... the only thing (as everyone else has stated) is the noise!!! sometimes i feel embaressed at a light if i dont have the clutch peddle in and someone hears the rattling! im almost tempted to put a new inputshaft bearing and throwout bearing in just to reassure myself that its the clutch-flywheel. its done it since i put it in. but other that that i love the setup and would deffinitly tell people to try it!
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