To those who run a Spec Stage 1 Clutch
 

Hey was looking for some opinions from owners who currently have a Spec Stage 1 clutch in their cars, or anyone for that matter.

I've just put in my new Spec, got about 200 miles on it. OMG its soooo light! All I really need is a little more than the weight of my own leg and the pedal moves down. It's a hell of a difference than my stock unit.

I have adjusted pedal play, but not pedal stroke. From the moment I step on the pedal, I feel a nice and consistent pressure until the clutch starts to disengage and then I feel a tad bit more pressure. But even still, the whole stroke is so damned light.

I have a friend with a Nissan sentra specv. Before I had the Spec, I would always laugh at his "toy" car and "toy" clutch; it was really Fisherpricey of a feeling clutch. Today, I drove his car for the first time in a while, and the clutch pressure difference is like going from a stock 8 to a stock Sti. What gives, are all Spec like this?

I've also put in a Racing Beat clutch line and bled it well too. Please let me know if there is something wrong. I'd hate to drop the tranny again...

just make sure everything is installed correctly. bleed the lines, etc.

There is only one thing that I I would think. Along with the very light pedal feel, the engagement point is really snappy. I'm used to it already, but he isn't, and thinks that I may have torqued the pressure plate too much causing an added force to the disc, and as you let the clutch out it quickly "snaps" out as the pp fingers release. I really don't think so. But it's the only incorrect thing I could have done regarding pp feel.

I also hear a loud whirring at low rpms with clutch engaged but it goes away at higher rpms. I believe it may be because I didn't pack the throwout bearing, but I didn't think they had to be?

Sounds good. I've read a lot of "whirring" transmission threads, but until I did this swap my own whirring sounds was very faint and sounded muffled. Now it almost echoes in the cabin which made me think something was wrong.

So what could have caused an increase in noise?

Well lets see here.

Spec SZ481. Along with a Fidanza flywheel and Rx7 counterweight. Reused my old BG Synchroshift II fluid, topped off with Pennzoil Synchromesh because I lost some fluid during install.

I used Lith-ease made by Sta-lube for the pilot bearing, shifter fork contact points, input shaft and splines. No lube on the throwout bearing.

The funny thing is, if I ride say at 4th gear on the freeway, with the revs above 4.5 rpm or so, and give it a little gas, the noise doesn't happen. But, if at the same speed, I go to a higher to gear so that revs lower, add a little gas, the whirring happens again. This phenomena can be duplicated at any speed.

One thought I have is that at low rpms, the throwout bearing will "follow" the input's spinning, hence the noise. But at higher rpm's, the input is spinning so fast that the throwout will actually settle itself (input shaft outspinning the bearing) so that the bearing doesn't sping with the shaft. Just an idea.

Oh, one more thing to add. My old throwout bearing was covered completely with black goopy fuzzy stuff. So maybe the typical whirring sound experienced by members just happened to be muffled by this stuff before I changed it out; and now that I have a fresh throwout, I'm hearing a freshly sound?

Ah, I totally forgot about how the lightweight fly takes away from dampening ability. Good to know.

Pennzoil's Synchromesh bottle says, "It provides excellent oxidation stability, low temperature performance, synchronizer performance and is compatible with yellow metals, such as bronze, brass and copper component found in manual transaxles and transmissions."

And I'm still using the stock shifter. BG is good stuff, I had used RP before, and my grinding specifically in 4th got horrible. BG made it so I can shift at close to redline without any grinding again.

It's funny how all my friends (a spec v guy, an sti guy, a 240z with 327 block guy) all think there's something wrong with my light clutch, snappy engagement, high engagement point etc.

Awesome Charles, your input and time is much appreciated.

Now if only I could get that body brace back on correctly...lol