Sad Trombone time....

Driving home the clutch felt strange when I shifted from 2nd to third gear. Went to grab the clutch again to shift to 4th and it didn't go anywhere. IT still has pressure, but nasty vibrations. Something in the clutch assembly went out, either the disc or pressure plate. Brand new clutch, hasn't been launched on or slipped. Less than 30 miles on it.

 

I need to drop the transmission anyway to figure out my 5th gear problem. Just sucks though as this clutch in here is rated for around 500ft/lb of torque. The motor specs at 260hp and 250 ft/lb torque. It's a new clutch, barely used. Going to contact ACT about it and see WTF they are willing to do. This fucker was $450 for the damn clutch kit

 

Talked to ACT, once I pull it apart if there is an obvious defect (as in I think the splines are the culprit) they'll stand behind the warranty.

 

Thing is though, I bought the clutch October 2009. I then installed it March 2010. I didn't drive the car until late 2011/early 2012 lol. The fact that they're willing to honor it if it is defective is awesome.

 

This'll make you cry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JfvIdJayis

 

Sorry, I was preemptive in my thoughts. I still stand behind the ACT clutch kit I purchased. It did NOT, repeat NOT fail. The clutch disc measured at .314-.316" thick between all 6 pucks (Measured edge, center and edge on all the pucks). The thickness on the pucks from the factory is .315" so I'm well within specs still (minimal wear which would lines up with the amount of driving it's seen).

The failure was the ARP flywheel bolts. I swear I used loctite and torqued them down but I guess not. Once the transmission was of 2 of the bolts were backed out enough to touch the clutch disc (leaving road-rash like marks on the rivets). Other than that, there is no physical damage done (thank god).

Pressure plate, disc & flywheel are good. I measured the ARP bolts and they match the factory specs still. This time I have a bottle of red loctite, two torque wrenches and my breaker bar (to hold the crank pully in place while I torque the bolts with loctite).

 

Forgot the pictures...

Here's what the flywheel looked like when I pulled the pressure plate. I didn't mess with any bolts, after I took the picture I was able to remove all of them with my fingers. You can see the 2 that had the contact with the rivets.



Clutch disc. Not much damage here but small 'road rash'.

 

I dont know what the failure was, but I have red loctite, the bolts are fine, and I have torque wrenches with breaker bars. These fuckers aren't coming loose again.