California clutch questions. Clutchnet

Ok its upgrade time I have found the slipping point of my stock clutch. I have an m47 speed and not hard on the clutch or shifting, but will use the power of the car. The other day I went to pass someone on the highway and notice a little slipping when I put the pedal down while in 4th. To ease my mind I tried a pull in 5th and floored to see if I was correct on what I felt and yep its the clutch. As soon as the turbo spools up the rpms shot up and it felt as if the car was not pulling at all. Needless to say a few more hits and its way worse, but confirmed it is the clutch.

I pulled it apart and its just glazed nothing else wrong with it so I knew right away I have to much HP for a stock clutch to hold so I need a new one.

Through much research and reading trying to find a clutch that will be comfortable still for daily driving but able to hold a few more poneys then what I am currently putting out now I looked into the clutchnet (yellow) stage 2 pressure plate and clutch package. Their web site shows a kit option or just a pressure plate option. SO the weird thing is the specs they give. and here comes the 1st question.

On the pressure plate alone it the site says it will hold 347 ft lbs. of torque
https://californiaclutch.com/product/volvo-stage-2-clutch-kit-package

On the complete kit the site says it will only holds 291 ft. lbs. torque

So I figured it must be a misprint why would their kit hold less power then just the pressure plate alone? I tried a different stage and got the same results with different numbers of coarse.

So now that brings me to the assumption that maybe these pressure plates can hold more power if you have a different disk, but I am just guessing. My plan was just to get a slightly stronger clutch then what I need and be done with it but now these numbers are bothering me. Not only that but I don't even know how the yellow will feel over the red or green and now would prefer to get some input from anyone that has used their clutches.

To keep it simple I want the lightest feeling clutch available that will handle 275-300 hp. Thats a little more hps then I plan on running and feel I will be fine with it.

I was just getting ready to buy the Yellow kit but just wanted to see if anyone has used it and what they think, or recommend something different altogether.

I plan on pulling a small trailer on occasion too it maybe 1500-1800 lbs. at MAX and we have some hills to climb to get there.

https://yoshifab.com/store/volvo-red-block-stage-2-clutch.html

This setup is good for a lightly modified car.

I'll offer some from my experience with ClutchNet, but keep in mind this was back in 2004, so things may have changed.

I bought their Stage 2, 8.5 inch clutch using their recommendations back then for my turbo stroker motor that ended up putting out over 300 lbs torque and it slipped like it was greased. The disc was one that had organic on one side and a ceramic on the other IIRC. After I brought it back to them they admitted the PP simply had a stock Sachs spring that they had heat-treated to make it stiffer and it pretty much didn't work. I asked for information on clamping force and they said they were not able to test that.

That's when they offered to create a PP using TWO Sachs springs stacked (pic shown below). This created a very stiff clutch that held very well. Later Yoshifab had some clamping force tests done and what I remember is that the stock Sachs 8.5 measured 1500 lbs and then testing mine showed 3000 lbs.

I later switched to a simple all organic disc and that worked very well.

You mentioned comfort. A dual spring PP like that will be much harder on your left leg. So keep that in mind. Also it's HARD on clutch cables.

If ClutchNet is doing something differently now, then I don't know much about it.

You might also look at Yoshifab's options:
https://yoshifab.com/store/drivetrain/clutch/volvo.html

One of my friends got screwed over by clutchnet, never shipped the order and took them a couple months to refund $500. This was before they changed their name/website to california clutch (i assume due to the bad publicity) so I don't know if they're under new management or what but i'd be cautious

https://www.bbb.org/losangelessilic...-el-monte-ca-100052410/reviews-and-complaints

Hmmmm well thats 2 for Yosi fab but its 100.00 more and says it holds less power then the clutchnet ...see why I have this confusion trying to find the best bang for the buck as well but willing to bite the bullet for the best option if needed. Honest people reviews have always been better then company claims.

Anyway I did notice that the clutchnet I am looking at looks a lot different then the one you showed me.


So maybe they did change things.

BTW I am not a gambler so it looks like this clutchnet/California clutch thing maybe out if no one has anything good to say. I still have to save up a few bucks to get a clutch so have a little time before I decide glad I polled you guys before just researching and comparing specs.

What clutch and FW are you currently running (flat fw or dog-dished)? That's going to have a pretty big impact on clutch selection.

Southbend clutch has always been good to me.

VB242 said:

Southbend clutch has always been good to me.

Click to expand...

Same here. Awesome service and product so far. Clutchnet never even responded to my VM or emails, so I never went thru them, Spec was the same way. SB was on it, price was good ($390 for an organic/kevlar 8.5", beefed up plate, spec'd for 275ft.lbs, plus pilot, t/o, and alignment tool for a T5 swap, and shipping). Had it within 2 weeks of giving them a credit card, most of that was ground shipping.

Update: I went with the Yoshifab. Yoshifab clutches are made by clutch masters. Had I of known that I would have had no questions about it, I been using clutch masters back when I was into V8's. BTW the one they are selling though their site is the fX250.

I also inquired about the larkspeed or aka drivetorque clutches but once I found out that Yosi offers clutch masters my mind was set. I thought that white style pressure plate looked familiar

http://www.clutchmasters.com/fx250-1/

Fwiw, my 940 has a spec "stage 2" clutch and m47. My car doesn't make that much power, but has a 16t, and it hasn't ever slipped in any gear. Also very comfortable.

My car started slipping in 4th so I just slapped in a California Clutch smooth lock pro disk, same Sachs pressure plate. I believe the most I put through it was 16psi, which cracked my ringlands. Clutch is still fine.

YMMV.

Just to throw in my $.02. I'm currently dealing with californiaclutch because I've recently done the same thing, but while swapping to a T5 tranny. I bought a red pp with an organic disc, 215mm. I gave him very high hp figures because I wanted this to hold. After installing it, and giving it time to break in, it slips very easily with my leaking 15g. He is in the process of making me a new setup using a ceramic disc. Given this scenario might not be the case for everyone, it's possible that it could be occurring due to other variables than his work.

750 Miles on it and 250 more to go

Making sure I break this 500.00 clutch in right. They say drive 500 city miles on it though many heating and cooling periods and that I am am doing. I reset my trip odo. when I put the clutch in and I am now at 750 miles so another 250 more and I will get on it to see how it feels.

Will keep you updated.


https://www.facebook.com/nancy.l.arsenault/videos/2009177179099330/

Teaser video , still driving like a grandpa

Cwazywazy said:

My car started slipping in 4th so I just slapped in a California Clutch smooth lock pro disk, same Sachs pressure plate. I believe the most I put through it was 16psi, which cracked my ringlands. Clutch is still fine.

YMMV.

Click to expand...

I was only pumping 12 PSI when my stock clutch started slipping in 3rd 4th 5th , only mods at that time were exhaust and intake and a boost vavle to get to 12 psi.

I just finished installing the saab 9000 disc with a dual surface, couldn't be happier with the results so far.

Keep us updated on how the clutch goes, many of us have used clutchnet with bad experiences, so all of the accounts help us determine whether to use them or not.

ok so now I have had some break in time and have got on it a few times. Yoshifab/clutchmasters clutch holds fine. Feels great , no shimmy, sounds or anything odd and the pedal feels great.

What turbo are you running ?

It's good that we get recent reviews on these clutch companies, mainly clutchnet, because as you've heard, some places aren't what they used to be.

I believe clutchmasters/southbend clutch have held their reputation throughout the years.
Otherwise glad that everything worked out.

For the record, my car runs a disc from California clutch, called the dude, told him what I was doing, asked for something with some grip, and a few days later I had what I needed.

Setup is Flat flywheel drilled for LH24, Saab PP (shimmed a couple mm), 8" clutch disk with T5 input (I vaguely recall this being for a SVO thunderbird?).

I have a similar setup to ^^ also using a Saab Viggen PP and a Clutchnet SM9721 SVO disc. Working fine so far.