Hey eveyone, I have a 94 SL and my clutch is starting to slip, I heard this happens when the engine revs, but the car doesn't move as much as it should. so I'm not sure 100% but most ppl told me the clutch is slipping. I am not sure what to get but this is what I hear:

ACT is great, the best on the market, most popular, some say overrated
Exedy is also great, makes stock oem and performance clutches
Fidanza should be good, but its known more for its flywheels, which I'm not sure if I should get
Spec is a little cheaper than fidanza on 3sx.com, a friend tells me its good that lambos used them, a shop told me they're crappy and brake down
XTD is a brand I've never heard of, on ebay they have good combinations of clutch (even stage 3) and fidanza flywheel for 450. A friend tells me they're chinese and not good quality, some forums I read say they brake down, some say they're good.
Then there is centerforce and clutchmasters but im not sure if they make em for this car

Now the cheapest I seen is ebay like as low asbetween 100-150 for a clutch, and 450 with flywheel, but i want to get a stage 2 or stage 3 prob. I dont have many mods
I ahve inejn intake,iridium plugs,megnecore wires,test pipe,lightweight pulley,kevlar timing belt and 60K tune up done, Please tell me from experience what u guys recommend and where to buy it. I will gladly appreciate it and answer any of your questions in the future with my knowledge of these cars

 

i had that same problem and i am a mechanic in NY and it sounds like its the clutch and most likely if you ride the car alot with a bad clutch u wind up making some nasty groves into the flywheels faceplate .. i have bought a stage 3 fidanza clutch kit (including flywheel)from 3sx.com and i waited the 500mile break in period before i started beaten on the car .. all i can say is the clutch and flywheel are a really good combo. the car runs like it should and i am very satisfied .. hope this helps

 

where in ny are you located? I'm in queens and I drive a 94 SL. thank you for the advice. Let me know if you would be able to install a clutch or something bc my mechanic who worked on my car for 3 years left the country, thanks

 

Well i am located on Long Island (East Islip) .. if you would like to i would put the clutch and flywheel on i also own a 2004 Infiniti G35 with 530hp and i also have a fidanza stage 3 clutch kit for that also

 

I was just checking on XTD and XTR clutches you can get stage 1 and 2 for like 150...but I know one of em is cheap and one of theem is japan quality, justhave to figure out which one, also the attractive prices is on the oem exedy its 100 bucks on ebay, fodanza is like 280, and fidanza flywheel and exedy clutch is 450, im trying to figure out whats the best deal. OPlease let me know how much u would charge and which one u would recommend

 

What do you have done to you car? How do you drive? That will determine the clutch you should buy.

You need a new or a resurfaced flywheel or you'll be doing another clutch job.

If you don't break the clutch in, your an idiot and will be doing another clutch job.

 

Hello everyone. I also have a clutch problem and need to replace the clutch. I already talked to a friend mechanic that promised to help me replace it but said I would need to buy one, so I am searching for information on which clutch kit is better to acquire, found this forum and registered hopefully someone can make good suggestions here, I'd be thankful.

I have a Mitsubishi 3000GT 1997 (not SL, not VR4).

I dont know that much about cars so probably dont need the best kit but would like something good, something that wouldnt break and perhaps make my car go faster a bit.

Can someone explaine the main difference between stage 1 2 and 3? I assume 1 is more standard and 3 is most towards performance? Which should I get if I want my car to be fast but dont race professionaly yet?

EMC 3000GT, what did you mean by "break the clutch in"? Could you explain what that means and how its done?

Thanks.

 

which clutch you choose is a direct result of how you intend to drive the car. If you're more of a commuter that's just looking to make it to work and back, you probably don't need anything stronger than a stock OEM clutch.
The performance level of clutches is rated using the "staged" system. Basically, the higher the stage, the more power the clutch is intended to handle. The stock (OEM) clutch is rated to perform properly under normal driving conditions, when the engine has the stock rated horsepower and torque. A stage 1 clutch will allow you to drive more aggressively after you throw on some power adders (intake, exhaust, basic bolt-on's) without having to worry about blowing out the clutch. Stage 2 will let you modify your car even further (adding up to 100hp, for example) without having clutch slip issues. Stage 3 is normally the peak of street-legal cars. This is when the power/legality ratio starts to tip in a bad direction, and if you're making enough power to worry about a stage 3 clutch slipping, you should probably be on the track.
In short, these "staged" clutches are for modified vehicles (typically) who's owners have exceeded the threshold for power that the stock clutch is able to contain. If all you have are some small bolt-on's, you'll probably want at least a stage 1 clutch, just to make sure you have a beefy enough clutch to take the beating of a hard launch every now and then.
As far as a flywheel goes, let me say this. If your clutch is slipping, then you've successfully used it to completion. When you push a component of your car to that limit, things down the line start to fail too. Hence, it is mandatory that you at least re-surface the flywheel before installing a new clutch. As EMC said, you'll be doing another clutch job before you know it if you don't.
Breaking the clutch in involves not driving like a maniac for ~500 miles to give the friction surfaces of the clutch time to get worn down and used to the temperatures and forces that it will be exposed to. The big problem that happens is people throw their clutch in, then take the car out, rev to 7 grand, and side-step the clutch. This causes warps in the disc, elongated sections of the clutch (depending of if it's a puck style or not), and even catastrophic failure. It's important to expose the new clutch elements to less extreme forces and temperatures, before dropping the full fury of your engine onto it.
Wow, that felt like a rant almost. haha Hope it helped. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. Oh, and if you want a site where people will give you complete recommendations for what name brands and models are the best, give 3sforums.com a try. I love that site, and everyone there is friendly and helpful.

 

Thank you, you have provided good explanation, much better then I seen at another forum.

Only little question I have is about the flywheel, how do I know if it needs replacement or not? Also how do I know if it needs resurfacing? Or its a fairly standard process to resurface it?
The reason I am asking this is the friend mechanic that promised to help me replace the clutch said I do not need to buy new flywheel to replace, I havent asked him yet if he planned to re-suraface it or not yet.

Also are there any websites or video packages that have tutorials of step by step process how to do various things on cars, like replace clutch, add exhaust or intercooler and about making car go faster and things like that? Preferably that focuses on 3000GT cars?

 

As far as telling if your flywheel needs to be re-surfaced, any damage to the flywheel will usually be visible in the form of chatter marks, streaking, bubbles, basically anything that is not a smooth finish. I'd do a search online and try to find some examples of poorly worn flywheels and compare a pic of yours to it. If you're not really the mechanical type, have your mechanic check it out for you. Normally if a flywheel has been resurfaced more than before, it's time to replace it. If it has severe cases of damage (as listed above) it's time for a new one.
Resurfacing is a common practice, due to the fact that clutches usually get worn down before any severe damage has been done to the flywheel. It's just the nature of the way the two work together that the clutch would take the brunt of the beating.


Here are a few sources of good, well written how-to's:
http://3sforums.com/index.php?board=51.0
http://3sforums.com/index.php?topic=452.0 (also has technical info on how parts work, and benefits of upgrading parts)
http://www.3sx.com/faq/

These links are all for 3000GT/Stealth platforms.
There is another website that has a ridiculous amount of write-ups on it, but unfortunately I'm at work and don't have it saved in my favorites on this computer. I'll post it when I get home.