Clutch Recommendation

[Mr Nick]

I have always thought the clutch I received with my Keisler RS600 was a bit grabby, especially when hot. Very difficult to get a nice smooth shift at lower speeds.

I contacted Silver Sports Transmissions, which acquired Keisler's assets after they went bankrupt, and they were able to find my order in their files. I had requested the upgraded clutch, not realizing just what I was getting.

Ben DeHaven of SST (also former employee of Keisler) had this to say about the clutch I have:

"The clutch you received was what they called a “Stage 3” unit, capable of 650 HP. This clutch was built with ceramic copper pucks on BOTH sides of the clutch disc. VERY aggressive, good for hard, high RPM launches, etc, but not so good for creeping around town in traffic, or trying to find a parking space at the Waffle House…. "

My SBO makes 360hp & 365ft/lbs at the tires, so figure around 425 each at the flywheel. A clutch in the 450-500hp range should suit me just fine. I am look for recommendations on what to get. This is a fun street car, with occasional trip down the strip and autocross. Drag racing may have drag radials at the most, never a full slick.

Also, the clutch and trans as a whole only have under 5,000 miles on them. Is it acceptable to just put a new clutch disc in, or should I replace the pressure plate at the same time? Can I get away with not resurfacing the flywheel?

[badazz81z28]

I have always thought the clutch I received with my Keisler RS600 was a bit grabby, especially when hot. Very difficult to get a nice smooth shift at lower speeds.

I contacted Silver Sports Transmissions, which acquired Keisler's assets after they went bankrupt, and they were able to find my order in their files. I had requested the upgraded clutch, not realizing just what I was getting.

Ben DeHaven of SST (also former employee of Keisler) had this to say about the clutch I have:

My SBO makes 360hp & 365ft/lbs at the tires, so figure around 425 each at the flywheel. A clutch in the 450-500hp range should suit me just fine. I am look for recommendations on what to get. This is a fun street car, with occasional trip down the strip and autocross. Drag racing may have drag radials at the most, never a full slick.

Also, the clutch and trans as a whole only have under 5,000 miles on them. Is it acceptable to just put a new clutch disc in, or should I replace the pressure plate at the same time? Can I get away with not resurfacing the flywheel?

I have swapped just the disc in the past as long as the surfaces are not heat warped damaged etc. keep in mind, you can't have a clutch with the expectation to live through aggressive driving and drag strip trips and drive smooth like stock. You need an organic disc, but it won't last with abuse and heat.

I would suggest a hayes street/strip disc and not go crazy with it.

[Mr Nick]

Thanks for your suggestion. I asked the same question on an Oldsmobile forum, and was told I'd have to take it apart first. I guess the ceramic "puck" style clutches don't always cover the same swept area as full face disc. So even minor wear to the PP or flywheel could cause an issue, and require a new PP and resurface the flywheel.

[Centerforce]

I have always thought the clutch I received with my Keisler RS600 was a bit grabby, especially when hot. Very difficult to get a nice smooth shift at lower speeds.

I contacted Silver Sports Transmissions, which acquired Keisler's assets after they went bankrupt, and they were able to find my order in their files. I had requested the upgraded clutch, not realizing just what I was getting.

Ben DeHaven of SST (also former employee of Keisler) had this to say about the clutch I have:

My SBO makes 360hp & 365ft/lbs at the tires, so figure around 425 each at the flywheel. A clutch in the 450-500hp range should suit me just fine. I am look for recommendations on what to get. This is a fun street car, with occasional trip down the strip and autocross. Drag racing may have drag radials at the most, never a full slick.

Also, the clutch and trans as a whole only have under 5,000 miles on them. Is it acceptable to just put a new clutch disc in, or should I replace the pressure plate at the same time? Can I get away with not resurfacing the flywheel?

I love to refer people to this comparison chart on our website when they're looking for a balance between street and racing (strip, road racing, etc.). It gives a pretty good idea of the characteristics for each of our products. For street/strip and your power level, I'd probably recommend our Dual Friction, which has a full-facing pressure plate side rather than the puck-style (like our DFX clutch). That translates to more than enough holding capacity and capability for runs down the strip without making it a bear on the street.

We typically recommend replacing both the pressure plate and the clutch disc at the same time since they work together. A worn pressure plate may not use up the clutch assembly's entire holding capacity. For the flywheel, we'd also recommend resurfacing it at the very minimum and if it's already been resurfaced once, you'll want to replace it.

Let me know if you have any questions about any of that and like I said, take a look at the chart to kind of plot your needs and uses and what works best for your application.

[Centerforce]

You also might find these videos (particular parts 3-5) helpful.

http://www.centerforce.com/technolog...rce-university

[chpr1972]

The clutch plate and disc are a set. If you were to just replace the disc with the same type disc it would be something I would do. In your case a matched set is what I would get as it would probably lower the petal preasure also. The more preasure usually makes it harder to slip the clutch. I would not turn the preasure plate with only 5000 miles on it as a slight wear with a organic clutch disc will probably not cause a problem. Now if you are paying some one to do the work then If they recommend turning the fly wheel do it . When I changed from a muncie disc [10 splines] to a tko600 [26 spline] 900 miles on clutch, I found out that the different between the whole assembly and just a disc was not that much.

[Mr Nick]

Thanks guys. I was actually poking around the Centeforce website today and saw the comparison chart, but not the videos. Thanks for the links!

At this time, I'll likely go with the CF Dual Friction kit and have the flywheel resurfaced while I'm in there. May as well do it once and be done. I'm going to attempt this myself during the off-season winter months. I've never done a clutch job before...