NICOclub Project G35 gets a new clutch

[AZhitman]

After 69K miles on the OEM clutch, numerous track events, and 6 months of boosted driving, the original clutch finally started feeling funky.

A quick call to SPEC Clutches yielded a Stage 2+ replacement, and a lightweight flywheel.

Jason (rotorimp) was on hand to do the swap, since a clutch job is a little outside of my scope of expertise, and the consequences of screwing it up are pretty daunting.

At the last track event, aside from shagging a complete set of Hawk HPS pads, I started noticing what felt like a bad synchro during the 3-4 shift at high speeds (back stretch at Firebird Main, approx 120mph). Soon thereafter, during spirited in-town driving, the 2-3 shift got crunchy and alerted me that something's ready to go south.

Jason sent me pics of the culprit today - This piece that contacts the clutch fork had snapped off:



Clutch was down to the rivets (DOH) but worn evenly and still intact.

Here's pics of the new goods in place, awaiting the damned broken replacement part:

[Beancooker]

Should feel a little more powerful with the new clutch. Cool deal.

[johnparkyourcar]

whatttt i didnt know you were boosted!! what kind of power are you getting?

[JeromeS13]

Man, Greg. I wish I had know you were going to do this. I would have at least came by and watched.

How's the car feel now with the new tune?

-Jerome

[tollboothwilley]

With your Vortech I bet this will make a very noticeable difference.

Let us know how it is compared to the OEM Greg

[AZhitman]

whatttt i didnt know you were boosted!! what kind of power are you getting?

http://www.nicoclub.com/articl...shtml

[AZhitman]

Car runs great with the new tune on the Pro EFI... Picked up several more HP and TQ, and I'm sure the clutch was holding back some power as well...

I'll redo dyno numbers in a month or so when I throw the Kinetix SSV, bigger injectors and smaller pulley on there. Should be sitting nicely around 380 whp at that point.

[RED_DET]

When that thing chatters, don't start bitching like some folks I know...

[audtatious]

Looks like I need to make another trip to AZ....

[CYO44Baseball32]

lol yea my chatters so loud it sounds like a diesel truck

[Jacko3]

Excellent! Amazing to hear that the OEM clutch can take lot of abuse up to 69K. That is awesome.

[AZhitman]

UPDATE:

Well, the new clutch feels great, no chatter, and the lightened flywheel is awesome.

However, this didn't address the 2-3 grind issue, so it looks like I have a bad synchro.

Time for a new transmission.