So far the break in experience has been a trying one. The first gear starts are hard to do smoothly, because the clutch takeup is very sudden. Once the car gets going though, it drives great. I believe that I'll be able to regularly launch at 4500-5000.
Lots of people have said that a lightweight flywheel would suck to drive in traffic. Now that I have one, I sort of understand. Sure, it's hard to get going in the first place. That will mostly go away once the clutch is properly broken in.
The thing is though, once you get going, it's a lot easier to control the speed of the car using just the gas pedal. It requires less pedal travel to enact changes in the rate of acceleration or decceleration. With regards to driving in traffic, while the rest of the people are using their brakes, I can just let off the gas a little bit.
All in all, I think the clutch might be a bit too much for a street car. It feels like it could easily hold 450ft/lbs. Even when I get around to upgrading the turbo, the motor won't be putting out more than 350-375ft/lbs.
ClutchMasters Kevlar clutch + Fidanza flywheel
Equinox wrote:What'd did you do to break in your clutch? I keep getting different opinions. Someone told me to just drive it like normal, others say keep it under 4000rpms but vary it, and still someone else said to just do a couple of burn outs!?!
I took it easy and kept out of the boost. Basically what you want to avoid is making the clutch hold onto a lot of torque. Take your time when you shift. By that I mean when it comes time to shift, hold in the clutch for a second or two, grab the next gear, let the clutch back out. Don't be super paranoid about it, but do take an extra second or two with each shift.
Basically, forget that you have a turbo and deal with being the slowest person the road for about 1000 miles. Once you're at 700+ miles or so, go ahead and take it up to the higher RPMs (4000-5000) and then let the car slow down. That will get the clutch used to "holding" the torque without having to "grab" it.
Once you're over 1000 miles, try some high RPM shifts and see if it holds. It should.
Whatever you do, don't burn out. Save that until after you've broken it in.
edit: I just saw that you have an organic disk. How does that differ from kevlar? Mine is kevlar, so it has some wierd characteristics, and behaves differently whether it's cold or hot.
I'm not sure how the ACT organic street discs differ from kevlar discs. My disc doesn't seem to exhibit any differences based on temperature. But then again, I'm still breaking it in, so I guess we'll see.
As for driving as if I have no turbo, that is no problem because I have no turbo.
I'm still rocking the KA. I'm driving up to San Jose this weekend, so I figure it would be a good time to break in the clutch.
As for driving as if I have no turbo, that is no problem because I have no turbo.
I'm still rocking the KA. I'm driving up to San Jose this weekend, so I figure it would be a good time to break in the clutch.