Blown clutch?

[timneedscoffee10]

To be fair, I haven't seen anyone here have an issue with k04 power with stg2 daily silent besides mustache rash.. I have 30k on this setup, no issue with slipping, including on 100oct tune. People even run k04 with stock pressure plates and those drop in disks and they still hold up.

Exactly ... plus, even under hard driving, I think you'll spend relatively little time at the peak of the torque curve on a daily driver. Even with occasional aggressive acceleration, I expect to be perfectly fine on the Stage 2, and overall much happier. Going from stock clutch to Stage 3 Daily was a strong adjustment, and weeks of leg cramps until I got used to her.

 

[timneedscoffee10]

Just picked her up ... she drives beautifully on the Stage 2 Daily. Much happier back at the stock pedal feel, and there's significantly less clutch chatter... plus, with the shift cables newly realigned, she shifts like butter and there's virtually zero play in the shifter!

Would be ecstatic if it weren't for the $$$ this all just cost me!

 

[nvturbo]

So what was the culprit...a bad clutch disk?

 

[timneedscoffee10]

So what was the culprit...a bad clutch disk?

I posted the pictures on page 2 (post 28). She blew herself to pieces.

 

[nvturbo]

I posted the pictures on page 2 (post 28). She blew herself to pieces.

WOW. Looks like they put that clutch disk together with super glue. I have never seen a disk that "CRUMBLED" like that.

ACT really needs to step up its game and make one for our cars.

 

[timneedscoffee10]

WOW. Looks like they put that clutch disk together with super glue. I have never seen a disk that "CRUMBLED" like that.

ACT really needs to step up its game and make one for our cars.

Yeah, that's the general consensus :-\...

I'm going to take some high-res pictures of the failed clutch when I get home today, and am sending it back into SouthBend. I wrote customer service last night, and they're setting me up with a warranty number to send it in for inspection. Hopefully they'll rebuild the kit for me. I'll post up the better pictures later tonight

 

[timneedscoffee10]

Just a couple more pictures of the failed clutch ... now that I'm home and can inspect it myself.





The disc is mangled pretty badly.

 

[jgarcia1925]

holy crap, i have never seen anything like that... crazy

 

[kthor7031]

Have to add myself to the list of slight slipping on APR 3.1 with Southbend Stage 2 daily. It's just past 4k when the real torque hits. Only slips for a second and then grabs. I have roughly 20k of stage 2 on the clutch. I drive in roughly 75/25 (city/highway). Just got my K04 and after a few pulls, experienced slipping.

 

[zrickety]

Factory freak or not, I would think twice about the same kit. Thanks for the pics. Glad it's on the road again.

 

[nick n]

Glad you got it resolved.

 

[nvturbo]

Have to add myself to the list of slight slipping on APR 3.1 with Southbend Stage 2 daily. It's just past 4k when the real torque hits. Only slips for a second and then grabs. I have roughly 20k of stage 2 on the clutch. I drive in roughly 75/25 (city/highway). Just got my K04 and after a few pulls, experienced slipping.

If an aftermarket clutch slips on an small "upgraded" turbo like a K04, that clutch is GARBAGE. When I was running a 400hp turbocharged Civic, the ACT clutch I had NEVER slipped once. I was using a PTE SC61...22psi daily driven.

 

[timneedscoffee10]

I was definitely hesitant about going with the same kit - but the two shops I work with both recommend SouthBend to their customers, and have never seen a failure anything like this before. We even talked to the distributor, and he's the one who sold me on the Stage 2 Daily kit, based on my driving style and frequency, for the APR K04 tune.

We'll see what happens next. Hopefully I'll have the Stage 3 Daily rebuilt, and can recover some of the cost I incurred here (or keep her on hand incase it does turn into an issue).

We get some severely cold weather up here -- this winter saw many days start at -20*F (-29*C)... and then you run her up to about 190*F driving to work everyday. Those kinds of extreme temperature swings are bad for metals - though a would expect a clutch kit to be built to withstand them. Maybe it's time to invest in a block heater - though I'm not sure how much that'd do for the transmission?

 

[XGC75]

Yeah the temperature swings probably had a lot to do with the failure. Cooling off from high to low temperatures, if not annealed, can make metal hard and brittle.

 

[timneedscoffee10]

Shipped the broken clutch back to South Bend this morning, and they'll have it in shop on Wednesday to inspect it. They told their worst-case scenario on an out-of-warranty rebuild is $275, so I think I'll go for it either way at this point. But the clutch doesn't show any signs of abuse (very few if any hotspots on the fly wheel, and no glazing), so I'm hoping they'll recognize this for the WTF it is, and help me out. They said 9/10 times they come down significantly on the rebuild, even out of warranty, after inspection.