Clutch recommendations

[Asterix]

My clutch has gone wonky, and my best guess is that one of the rubber blobs in the friction plate has died and fallen out. About 10 years ago, I had a shop rebuild the engine, and they put in a new clutch at the same time. If I had known that Aisin cheapened out at some point, I would not have told the shop to use a stock clutch plate. The burning rubber smell is surely a sign that I know the problem.

So, now I get to pull the engine to replace the clutch.

With only a little research, it looks like ACT makes decent clutches. I found one for about $400 that is advertised as very streetable. I just have a non-turbo, so it's not like it has to hold huge amounts of torque. I'm just looking for a quality clutch that will last at least as long as the original one did. (And, I don't drive like granny...) There's no way I'm putting an Aisin back in there.

Now, Rock Auto has some downright cheap sets from the likes of Sachs, Valeo, or M-Pact, but I just can't bring myself to risk putting in cheap parts that are so hard to replace.

Does anyone have a recommendation?

 

[gsxr141]

an act will be fine. I would get a good flywheel at the same time

 

[GC89]

Never had an issue with aisin, it took some solid abuse at just over 300 whp. Also one of the clutches Aaron @ driftmotion has recommended forever is a stock disk with a stiffer pp for moderate power. Granted the 154 clutches are slightly bigger so it may be a different animal. I have had great luck with Act as well.

 

[Asterix]

Thanks, guys. I'll go with the ACT kit. I will be reusing my stock flywheel, as I have no interest in going to a lighter one.

 

[gsxr141]

make sure you get the flywheel resurfaced.

 

[MarkIII4Me]

I've had great luck running and RPS Max PP on a Aisin disk. Pedal is little heavy, but engagement is smooth as butter and grips nice.

 

[Asterix]

Good idea, gsxr141.

 

[Asterix]

Pulled the engine and trans last Monday, which wasn't too bad, once I got the wiring harness unwoven out of the intake. Boy, was that a pain.

The failure of my clutch was one friction ring came completely off. I sheared off the 8 rivets holding it on. Everything else was fine, including the rubber isolators. In comparison, the ACT friction plate has larger rivets, but the same number of them. There was plenty of friction material - it's not like I wore it down to the rivets - the rivets sheared and broke.

Fortunately, my flywheel isn't too badly scarred. It can be resurfaced (for the second time).

The friction plate lasted all of 47,000 miles. That's crap, in my book. It's definitely an Aisin plate.

 

[Asterix]

Follow-up: After maybe 50 miles of driving with the ACT clutch, I can say I recommend this setup. It's only slightly heavier than stock, but feels like butter. I've not romped on it yet, but I'm sure it'll take it.

My only complaint is the release bearing it came with had the wrong clip. My old clip fit well enough, but I would have liked it to fit better than it did.