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I had a new clutch put in the 95 when the original finally gave up at 170,000 ++ miles. I had a reputable shop in town install the clutch. They purchased a complete setup from SPEC Clutch including the flywheel to replace the Dual Mass which was now toast, pressure plate, clutch and throw out bearing. This is not a race set up so it is a stage 1 clutch kit. Stock engine, so there is no huge HP leaning on the clutch. Now I am not new to driving a stick...started with tractors over 50 years ago. The chatter was terrible in 1st and reverse. This was so bad that I just parked the car. The shop finally got back into the car and pulled the clutch.
The flywheel is scorched as you can see...about 1/2 of it! Same with the pressure plate. Now how do you only scorch half and the other half is good? Jeremy at SPEC is waffling about standing behind their product. They have had the whole assembly back in the shop for the better part of a week now. SPEC should be getting back to my installers shop today. The research on the Forum for the most part suggests that SPEC is a quality product, but there are several posts to the negative.
Are we looking at a company that is no longer producing a quality product or standing behind what they produce.
I thought I would give you a heads up if your in the market for a clutch. If they don't stand behind their product, I will let you know that you should send your business to another manufacturer.
I had a new clutch put in the 95 when the original finally gave up at 170,000 ++ miles. I had a reputable shop in town install the clutch. They purchased a complete setup from SPEC Clutch including the flywheel to replace the Dual Mass which was now toast, pressure plate, clutch and throw out bearing. This is not a race set up so it is a stage 1 clutch kit. Stock engine, so there is no huge HP leaning on the clutch. Now I am not new to driving a stick...started with tractors over 50 years ago. The chatter was terrible in 1st and reverse. This was so bad that I just parked the car. The shop finally got back into the car and pulled the clutch.
The flywheel is scorched as you can see...about 1/2 of it! Same with the pressure plate. Now how do you only scorch half and the other half is good? Jeremy at SPEC is waffling about standing behind their product. They have had the whole assembly back in the shop for the better part of a week now. SPEC should be getting back to my installers shop today. The research on the Forum for the most part suggests that SPEC is a quality product, but there are several posts to the negative.
Are we looking at a company that is no longer producing a quality product or standing behind what they produce.
I thought I would give you a heads up if your in the market for a clutch. If they don't stand behind their product, I will let you know that you should send your business to another manufacturer.
John
Ive had good luck with spec. I run spec 3+ on my supercharged 520 rwhp Vette - in conjunction with a lightweight alum flywheel.
Note how the marks are isolated to one half of the friction surface...
One thing i always do is have the spec pressure plate neutral balanc d to the flywheel (flywheel weight removed and then reinstalled after its neutrL balanced). I do not trust anybody thAt the flywheel is balanced to the pressure plate - even if purchasing the two of them together and they claim its balanced. I still check it!
One thing clear is the pressure plates spec's using now require more balance weight than the valeo stamped (well spec tried to scratch off the valeo) ones they used to use.
I suspect the cores they use now are from china vs. usa made like the valeo cores that ceased production around 2006.
If your shop did not check the balance of the flywheel to the pressure plate then they did an installation error.
This is a performance car with aftermarket parts. double check everything and not trust anybody's word...
Good luck
Last edited by dizwiz24; Dec 18, 2015 at 03:34 PM.
If you get the chance to take a look at it again, run your finger across the flywheel and see if the installer cleaned it with brake clean to remove the protective shipping oil.... which can play heck with clutch break in causing the kind of hot spotting what see.
Will
The whole assembly was shipped back to SPEC over a week ago. The shop doing the work is a transmission shop that is very trusted in my area. I have had them do several transmissions for me. They are professionals and install clutches all the time. I( just can't see them putting in a clutch without cleaning off any coatings.
On mine I had a bad vibration over about 3k rpm. You did not mention a vibration so it sounds like you do not have a balance issue. On mine I had the SPEC flywheel rebalanced and found it was 20 grams off. That was my vibration problem.
To me it looks like you only had a chatter and inconsistent contact. There may be several possible causes.
Grease, lube, protective oil, etc on the surface can cause it like rklessdriver stated.
The pressure plate could be bad which grips one side better/worse than the other. Why it is bad could be a couple of things. I could be a defective part, or it could have been installed wrong. It is important that when installing the pressure plate the bolts are tightened in a crisscross pattern and only about a 1/2 turn at a time until they are all tight and can have the final torque applied. If they do it incorrectly it can damage pressure plate diaphragm so that it doesn't engage correctly.
When I was researching mine for balancing, it appears that the flywheel should be balanced to be used on an L98/LT1/Lt4. These engines are not internally balanced at the back, but rely on the flywheel for the correct balancing (Not a zero balanced flywheel). The pressure plates all seem to be zero balanced to themselves so that they can be used on the already balanced flywheels.
SPEC just called my Transmission shop and told them that the "plate was bent and that was something that could not happen during installation." They shipped out a new clutch assembly yesterday. So looks like they are standing behind their product.
Work is guaranteed thru the shop that installed the clutch. Thinking they go back to SPEC, but not sure.
That's something that some should consider before you buy and carry to a shop to install for you. The price paid to the shop for a parts & labor install is generally covered by the installer. Ask first is maybe a good policy!!
you have a golden mechanic there. I never heard of a shop that will warrantee work done using parts you yourself bring in to have installed and are found to be defective.
I did not purchase the parts, the shop doing the work did.
I believe that WVZR-1 was just pointing out the downside to providing parts yourself. If it was a installation problem the shop would probably cover their error. If it was a problem with parts that were supplied....I would probably be SOL on the labor to pull it out and replace.
Well, this is not good. Clutch assembly came back and according to the shop, it looks like they cleaned up the flywheel with Scotchbrite. You can still see the heat spots in the metal. Another part (they were not specific when I talked to them) was the same like it was cleaned with Scotchbrite, but you could feel high and low spots with your fingers.
My opinion of SPEC CLUTCH is going DOWN FAST!!!!!! You would think that after poor quality merchandise being shipped out and the manufacturer has confirmed that it was defective you would take that "extra step" to be sure that what you returned would be perfect. Looks like they are taking the shortcut and sending out inferior quality AGAIN! SPEC is closed until January 4th. My shop will be talking to them on Monday. If a resolution is not forth coming.....we will be going to a more reputable supplier!!!!!!!!!! I will keep you updated.
Last edited by John A. Marker; Dec 31, 2015 at 04:37 PM.
Well, this is not good. Clutch assembly came back and according to the shop, it looks like they cleaned up the flywheel with Scotchbrite. You can still see the heat spots in the metal. Another part (they were not specific when I talked to them) was the same like it was cleaned with Scotchbrite, but you could feel high and low spots with your fingers.
My opinion of SPEC CLUTCH is going DOWN FAST!!!!!! You would think that after poor quality merchandise being shipped out and the manufacturer has confirmed that it was defective you would take that "extra step" to be sure that what you returned would be perfect. Looks like they are taking the shortcut and sending out inferior quality AGAIN! SPEC is closed until January 4th. My shop will be talking to them on Monday. If a resolution is not forth coming.....we will be going to a more reputable supplier!!!!!!!!!! I will keep you updated.
Interesting story.....I will say I went through Carolina Clutch several years ago to purchase my Spec Stage II set up and I have been very satisfied although I did not purchase their FW; already had the Fidanza aluminum which I still run. The SPEC Stage II has been a pretty good setup for me for the last several years; the Valeo OEM pieces did not hold up long; this has........
Having said that my good experiences were with Carolina Clutch; as they were the vendor; interesting post.....keep us posted and I hope this ends well for you!
Youd think QC would check the runuout on something like that
Still supplying those hardware store bolts?
Cross that co off my list.
What sux is most clutch kits are made overseas..still have an American made CF from way back. Cannot skimp on quality on something that could fail like a clutch my god.
We will find out in a couple of days. I know that in my small business, making a quality product no matter what it is is important. There are times that I am not satisfied with the results and if I am not happy I sure will not send it to my customers. There are times that you make things right no matter what. So many of the things I make are a one of a kind and I stand behind them for a minimum of one year no matter what. I also repair many things for a major automobile company's parts warehouse. If the repair could easily be made using 1/8" thick steel, I use 1/4 or 5/16 because I know that the workers are hard on things and I want to do this once and make it last.
That being said, it is disappointing that a company like SPEC would ship out a replacement product that is sub-standard. We maintain our cars to a higher standard than most and expect performance and quality. As a Corvette owner I know and expect parts to cost more than most standard parts because it is a Corvette. But I also expect a quality part BECAUSE it is for a CORVETTE.
We will find out in a couple of days. I know that in my small business, making a quality product no matter what it is is important. There are times that I am not satisfied with the results and if I am not happy I sure will not send it to my customers. There are times that you make things right no matter what. So many of the things I make are a one of a kind and I stand behind them for a minimum of one year no matter what. I also repair many things for a major automobile company's parts warehouse. If the repair could easily be made using 1/8" thick steel, I use 1/4 or 5/16 because I know that the workers are hard on things and I want to do this once and make it last.
That being said, it is disappointing that a company like SPEC would ship out a replacement product that is sub-standard. We maintain our cars to a higher standard than most and expect performance and quality. As a Corvette owner I know and expect parts to cost more than most standard parts because it is a Corvette. But I also expect a quality part BECAUSE it is for a CORVETTE.
i have desired more from SPEC too. Specifically i dont believe that the pressure plate they supply for us is anything different than the now-made-in-china replacement lt4 pressure plate - except its painted blue by SPEC. they claim they have done something to it to increase clamp force, but i dont believe them.
now, i gave some advice earlier that i just realized is impossible to do in your situation. i advised to take flywheel counterweight off and neutral balance specs blue painted 'china' pressure plate to your flywheel.
however, if i remember right the dual mass flywheel doesnt have a removable counterweight (like the aftermarket single mass flywheels do). the counterweight is 'integrated' into the flywheel - making neutral balancing pressure plate to flywheel (with counterweight removed) impossible.
i really advise you to take a long hard look at getting rid of the heavy dual mass flywheel.
ive proven that this 'noise' issue that everyone is so afraid of (on a single mass flywheel) is solved by a thicker countershaft shim - at least on the blue tag zf trans that was on my 93 (looks like prev owner had trans replaced). i got rid of the noise and i have an alum flywheel - the lightest of the bunch.
getting rid of the dual mass will allow you to neutral balance your spec chinese pressure plate to the single mass flywheel (with counterweight removed).
you can sell the dual mass here for $500 bucks. people will pay stupid money for it. or keep it if you want to return to stock for ncrs types.
ive stated that ive checked balance of the old spec 'valeo' (painted blue) pressure plate vs. the new SPEC 'chinese' replacement (also painted blue) and the new SPEC chinese pressure plates require a significant amount of balance work (holes drilled to remove mass) to balance them. they are out of balance out of the box.....
SPEC Clutch
