New SC Kit.

[TroyLotus]

Now I am starting to get really excited about this kit. It is funny that I am looking at buying the SC kit as soon as I get my car, which is next Friday and I can not wait. I talked with Charlie on the phone the other day and I am very pleased to say he is as knowledge and well spoken on the phone as he is on the forum here and in emails which just helped my already high confidence in him. He said we will have a choice of reflashes, one for the standard size pulley and one for the 2.8" pulley and higher hp that requires the clutch upgrade. Charlie- Thanks for being patient with me and answers all my questions. When I install the kit I will be doing the clutch/flywheel and exhaust all at the same time. Exciting times to come here soon. My garage is clean and my tools are shacking with anticipation.

OK, now that I plan on getting this kit and putting the smaller pulley for more hp I will need a clutch. I plan on putting on a Fidanza flywheel, but I am not sure on with clutch to get. Any suggestions on just how much clutch we will need for the 300rwhp range. I have read that people really like the ACT, but I am a little confused on just which one I would need with this power level as ACT has a lot of different options.

ACT -sport/heavy duty/extreme mod street/perfomance disc/6 puc
ACT Product Search | Products ~ Advanced Clutch Technology®

Fidanza - 2-1 , 3-2
Fidanza Performance Clutches & Clutch Kits

Exedy stage 1 or 2 ?
EXEDY Globalparts Corporation | High Performance and OEM Clutches and Flywheels

clutchmaster- FX100,FX200,FX300,FX400
Clutchmasters.com - High Performance Clutches and Flywheels

RPS- turbo clutch sport or max-
Welcome to RPS Performance Products [TurboClutch.com]

Southbend- Celica SS Street / Celica SS Track
South Bend Clutch - Dodge clutch kits and Kevlar Pilot Brgs. Dnya Max Clutch Kits for high performance.

[LordZ]

I've had really good luck with the RPS product line on other vehicles. I will probably go that route since they have a segmented flywheel to go with it. Their customer service was top notch as well after the sell.

I've also ran ACT 6 pucks before, very on/off obviously. But held my power just fine. RPS was just more streetable to me.

Fidanza flywheels, I've actually warped one of their inserts in the past which I why I prefer the segmented style of RPS over their products. Never ran their clutches though.

[TheBrander]

Originally Posted by TroyLotus

Now I am starting to get really excited about this kit. It is funny that I am looking at buying the SC kit as soon as I get my car, which is next Friday and I can not wait. I talked with Charlie on the phone the other day and I am very pleased to say he is as knowledge and well spoken on the phone as he is on the forum here and in emails which just helped my already high confidence in him. He said we will have a choice of reflashes, one for the standard size pulley and one for the 2.8" pulley and higher hp that requires the clutch upgrade. Charlie- Thanks for being patient with me and answers all my questions. When I install the kit I will be doing the clutch/flywheel and exhaust all at the same time. Exciting times to come here soon. My garage is clean and my tools are shacking with anticipation.

OK, now that I plan on getting this kit and putting the smaller pulley for more hp I will need a clutch. I plan on putting on a Fidanza flywheel, but I am not sure on with clutch to get. Any suggestions on just how much clutch we will need for the 300rwhp range. I have read that people really like the ACT, but I am a little confused on just which one I would need with this power level as ACT has a lot of different options.

ACT -sport/heavy duty/extreme mod street/perfomance disc/6 puc
ACT Product Search | Products ~ Advanced Clutch Technology®

Fidanza - 2-1 , 3-2
Fidanza Performance Clutches & Clutch Kits

Exedy stage 1 or 2 ?
EXEDY Globalparts Corporation | High Performance and OEM Clutches and Flywheels

clutchmaster- FX100,FX200,FX300,FX400
Clutchmasters.com - High Performance Clutches and Flywheels

RPS- turbo clutch sport or max-
Welcome to RPS Performance Products [TurboClutch.com]

Southbend- Celica SS Street / Celica SS Track
South Bend Clutch - Dodge clutch kits and Kevlar Pilot Brgs. Dnya Max Clutch Kits for high performance.

Wait a minute, did you say 300rwhp? So this kit will be capable of that much boost with the smaller pulley?

[JustinP]

Originally Posted by TroyLotus

Any suggestions on just how much clutch we will need for the 300rwhp range.

I've always preferred Competition Clutch, I had a stage 4 on my last car and it felt stock - stage 2 or 3 would be fine for 300whp though.

Why the lighter flywheel? It's going to make your rpm's raise faster which could hurt traction, i'd stick with the stock flywheel so it takes a bit longer to go through the gears - with a 6 speed we already go through them pretty quick.

[LordZ]

pretty sure the boost is going to raise your rpm faster too if traction is your primary concern...

[Mr. Oz]

Originally Posted by JustinP

I've always preferred Competition Clutch, I had a stage 4 on my last car and it felt stock - stage 2 or 3 would be fine for 300whp though.

Why the lighter flywheel? It's going to make your rpm's raise faster which could hurt traction, i'd stick with the stock flywheel so it takes a bit longer to go through the gears - with a 6 speed we already go through them pretty quick.

Raise the RPM to fast?? Let off the throttle a bit...there is NO such thing as raising the RPM to fast...

[LordZ]

lol Oz, just what I was thinking. Didn't want to twack someone with just two posts though.

[TroyLotus]

I was just saying 300rwhp to be safe with the clutch that would be needed and no worries. I am guess 275-290rwhp with the smaller pulley once it gets put on the dyno when you look at the first ones with the larger pulley.

Doesn't a lighter flywheel cause faster revs due to less centrifugal forces needed to spin it up so it takes less energy which means that energy can be transferred the rear wheels, hence more power so why would I want to keep a heavier flywheel?

[Dragon]

This is chillin in my living room just waiting for the stock clutch to give up...

[Rei]

OHHHH is that a twin plate clutch setup with inter grated flywheel please supply part numbers!! Good thing about upgrading to a twin plate is that pedal feel will be stock and hold more then enough HP/FTLBS.

One note is that some clutches won't be too good if the boost kicks in too hard so always get over kill for your power levels. If you intend on having 350ftlbs get a clutch capable of dealing with 500ftlbs.

[E.D.]

Originally Posted by TroyLotus

... He said we will have a choice of reflashes, one for the standard size pulley and one for the 2.8" pulley and higher hp that requires the clutch upgrade. ...[/url]

So there are already two tunes completed which will be offered from the start or later on? Any HP/Torque numbers already known for the smaller pulley tune?
Oh well, let's just wait untill they sort out the last things for the kit so it can be introduced to the market.

[Dragon]

Originally Posted by Rei

OHHHH is that a twin plate clutch setup with inter grated flywheel please supply part numbers!! Good thing about upgrading to a twin plate is that pedal feel will be stock and hold more then enough HP/FTLBS.

One note is that some clutches won't be too good if the boost kicks in too hard so always get over kill for your power levels. If you intend on having 350ftlbs get a clutch capable of dealing with 500ftlbs.

Actually it's a ORC super single, so it'll be grabby and eventually kill the tranny I'm sure... They have a solid hub disk as well, but I got the sprung hub to hopefully help the transmission live a few extra days...

part number is ORC-309D-08T

This clutch is good for 340 Nm / 35kgf-m / 250ftlbs of torq. 18.5 lbs is the weight of all components. It's around $1,000 and for another $500 you can get a carbon disk version.

This was at the 2008 Tokyo Autosalon and may be available now. It's also a complete kit with flywheel as well..

[Rei]

I doubt that the clutch will kill the trans, remember to rev-match and you'll be good. Twin Syncros are very forgiving. If your worried and I'm surprised no one bothered with this yet but axle cages for the cv's will help with the drive axles from snapping.

I'll be talking with the Exedy reps later this week so we'll see what they have stateside. Will get part numbers and overall figures shortly.

[Dragon]

Originally Posted by Rei

I doubt that the clutch will kill the trans, remember to rev-match and you'll be good. Twin Syncros are very forgiving. If your worried and I'm surprised no one bothered with this yet but axle cages for the cv's will help with the drive axles from snapping.

I'll be talking with the Exedy reps later this week so we'll see what they have stateside. Will get part numbers and overall figures shortly.

Part number for the Exedy is in the pic.. I'm a tranny killer btw.. I've done in a good 30 or so in the last 20 years, but most of them were drag racing... They seem to like to let go in 3rd gear on average.

[TroyLotus]

So there are already two tunes completed which will be offered from the start or later on? Any HP/Torque numbers already known for the smaller pulley tune?
Oh well, let's just wait until they sort out the last things for the kit so it can be introduced to the market.

As far as my talk with Charlie on the phone I would have to stay yes. I told him when I put my kit in I will also be doing the flywheel and clutch at the same time and I will be making a custom header and exhaust system so I would require the smaller pulley (I assume I have to purchase separately, but maybe not). When I send Charlie my ECU to reflash it would just be the tune for the higher boost as he said the lower boost and higher boost tunes would require different flashes, which makes sense. I also asked if someone did not get the pulley at first and installed it later and he said he would reflash again like he does for other customers at a $75 price and that is more for shipping and a tiny bit of his time to actually do it, which I think is reasonable considering it is a new tune for different parameters. I am very excited because the tune for higher boost is totally what I am looking for and what I want and is what caused me to say to Charlie's kit here and not buying a bran new lotus SC. This is going to much more fun.

Troy

[E.D.]

wow, I thought there were only plans to do a stage II w/higher boost in the future. It would indeed be great it was already finished! Very curious what numbers it will produce.

[choi0706]

if anyone wants a ORC clutch, I have a local source for them.. very short lead time as well..

[biodan]

Originally Posted by charliex

.....<i>snip</i>

i personally think that something happened to a sensor or a vacuum leak when the clutch was replaced by an external shop, i'm going to plug into the car over t'internet on tuesday with our fancy diagostics equipment and take a peek at it with them.

......<i>snip</i>

Any update on the resolution of the idle problem?
Also, any ETA on when the kit goes on sale?

[E.D.]

I sure hope their future customer service is better up to speed than their technical troubleshooting. It takes them two months (?) to replace a clutch (8 hour job) and solve the idle.
That's ridiculous and also stupid out of a business POV when you have $100K of kits in stock: you want to solve the problems quickly so you can start selling the stuff and get a return on your $100K investment. At least that's what I would want.
Again, I think it takes them an awful long time unless there are additional timeconsuming problems which haven't been published (yet).

[xtn]

Have I missed anything, or are we still in the dark about who will supply this kit? It's entirely possible that it's just a couple of guys, with regular jobs, trying to start up a small business. So their time line for R&D might be quite a bit slower than some company with ten full-time engineers and a big shop who are dedicated to the project.

This might be a fantastic solution. It might not. We don't know yet. But don't start pre-judging based on what you think their time line ought to be. Maybe they just havn't had the time to address one required bracket design, or maybe charliex just hasn't had the time to address one little tuning issue. Who knows; it could be anything.

xtn