What clutch to choose

[appletree]

Getting to the stage now were i need to think about what clutch i'am going to run as Ant whos building my bottom end is going to need it so he an get the bottom end balanced.

I know next to nothing about clutches other than i'am probly going to need an uprated one.

can anyone help me out with what type to choose and the pros and cons for each?

Not realy sure what torque i'll be making but as said before i'am going for 300bhp so its going to be 200+ft/lb i'd guess.

Ive found a company who can make me up and organic version of mine with an uprated pressure plate or they also do paddle clutchs for it.

i realy dont want it to be an on/off afair with lots of judder which some of these uprated clutchs seam to be prone to

Cheers Matt

[DanThe]

Id stick with an M20 setup, theres plenty out there putting more than those figures through them

[appletree]

Can you fit an m20 clutch to a m42/m40 flywheel with out having to change to the 323i flywheel? i wanted to keep abit of weight in the flywheel to help the idle as its still having to turn the supercharger over.

or did you forget it was an m42?

[DanThe]

Use the M20 flywheel and clutch i.e- 'setup'

[Simon13]

why isn't Ant telling you what he would recommend? A black diamond will be good, but a standard bmw clutch can take big 2.7 power easily with 220lbs+ of torque.

Standard clutch can take turbo 2.5's and their extra torque to a fair level also.

[rix313]

I've got a 30% uprated organic clutch for mine and I lightened the M42 fly wheel. If you wanted to go for the M42 setup I can get your fly wheel done if you wanted it?

I did ask, the clutch above my one is a paddle think it was pushing £300 for the drive plate, pressure plate and a new release bearing. Not sure how paddle clutches are for road usage as its my understanding they're either 'on or off' so don't know how easy it is to balance one on a hill start etc.

As much as it pains me to recommend them, try Helix autosport they might have something for you, good luck getting it if they do though.

[e30_Turbo]

If you're gonna do it right get an uprated one, the stock M20 clutch is strong but some don't take much over 200ftlb and other well over 300, mines still the original but I am carefull with it, only gun it when moving, it'll slip easily is 1st and 2nd when booting it.
SPEC clutches are what most use, quite cheap from the states, otherwise randondave knows a man who'll make one up for you and he rates them bigtime.

From the info I have found the less paddles the harsher the feel and use. An uprated pressure plate also seems to work well, it's a trade off tho, more feel less holding or huge holding and no feel.

[Jhonno]

M20 flywheel and uprated M20 cover with a sport clutch disc if you are feeling flush..

Lightened flywheel will be fine with the supercharger as far as I am aware, end of the day it is only stored energy, it isn't doing much at idle

[appletree]

Ant did suggest i bought an uprated one and suggested that fritzbits could make me an uprated organic one to use with the m42 fly wheel. Ant also said that the rotrex charger he did on the 325 he recomended an uprated clutch was fitted.

Rix how much was your organic clutch and were did you get it from? if you don't mind me asking.

And how much was the flywheel to lighten and balance?

[rix313]

Clutch was £135 with free postage: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0334088525

The machining like mine was £40, I'm yet to find out about the balancing but I'm hoping to get that sorted this week.

[DanThe]

Whats the organic about? Does it reduce carbon footprint? Produced in a big open field?

[appletree]

Its made from dryed grass thats compressed to make a hard wearing material.

Like those dodgy brake pads that were in the paper abit back that disitigrated when you use them

Don't realy know what it means

[ShakeyC]

Organic clutch is nothing to do with what its made from, it’s a loosely applied term for a clutch with a long springs to take up the preload which gives a nice easy progressive clutch pedal so in fact organic just refers to some weak springy springs. The friction material can be made up of anything but because of the long preload tend to overheat with hard use they don’t like big torque or lots of revs. Bit like Kevlar clutches in traffic they can stink and overheat but some hard driving clears up the plates and face and normal bite resumes usually if a clutch is advertised as Kevlar stay away usually over priced and worse than OE but Halfords shoppers will buy anything with a composite in the name.

Then you get into paddle clutches which are named as each section of friction material looks like a rowing paddle that simple really. Paddled Kevlar clutches are bit better than ones I said above because the space in-between paddles allows heat and dust away so these tend not to overheat as much and therefore better, but as a paddle design you have higher clamping force and less preload so they feel heavy and mechanical.

Next up is hybrid organic, carbon, carbon clutches which aims to be the in-between of OE organic clutch and paddle clutches by having same temperature ranges but one side is organic material for soft take up and other side is ceramic, carbon or organic mix for longer life with heavy clutch cover but usually these wear out the cover plate much quicker and I believe feel worse out the lot it can’t take big torque, revs or particularly nice in traffic either. What I used to do with these is reuse OE cover plates over the hybrid friction material which improves everything really all the comfort of organic with the bite and clamping of paddle style.

Then you go into high end ceramic carbon silicone types, which really is either on or off affair. These wear out flywheels usually every clutch change needs flywheel refaced otherwise goes out of balance through heat warping but these are intended to use with either semi or full sequential gearboxes or dual clutch designs which adds some preload to each change as with modern high end sports cars makes it easier to live with everyday but irrelevant with old turds as it means completely redesigning the whole transmission.

[appletree]

Can i use a stand clutch with a upratedw pressure plate? Is it more the pressure plate or the material thats the limiting factor?

[ShakeyC]

sorry I re-read my post I could have wrote it far better to understand

An organic clutch from likes of helix, ap, or the place Ant suggested in largest possible diameter with the largest standard clutch cover which will fit over it would give the bite and friction needed with light'ish oe pedal feel. Hope thats a bit clearer.

[shorty73]

I've got a 30% uprated organic clutch for mine and I lightened the M42 fly wheel. If you wanted to go for the M42 setup I can get your fly wheel done if you wanted it?

I did ask, the clutch above my one is a paddle think it was pushing £300 for the drive plate, pressure plate and a new release bearing. Not sure how paddle clutches are for road usage as its my understanding they're either 'on or off' so don't know how easy it is to balance one on a hill start etc.

As much as it pains me to recommend them, try Helix autosport they might have something for you, good luck getting it if they do though.

What's wrong with the Helix Rich? I've got a new flywheel that needs a 7 1/4 clutch. I was thinking of Helix as they'd been recommended. Do you think I should get different?