So what's the clutch life look like with a Katana?

[Noizemaker]

Friend of mine is bending my arm to pick up a supercharger for my '05. He's havin' to work really hard to convince me, lemme tell ya.

I'm basically down to 2 options.

-Factory simplicity and engineering of the Lotus kit. I just don't care for the high $$/power ratio. Be a much easier sell if I was in California and needed CARB... but i'm not.
-Katana. Looks upgradable to the VF2 intercooled setup someday, it's over a grand less even counting engine management and makes an extra 20hp.

Where my curiosity lies is thus: I'm not looking to seperate the motor and trans this year. No time like the present, I know this... but I've never found an aftermarket clutch that doesn't come with some tradeoff, be it chatter or pedal effort, etc. As such, i want to keep the stock clutch as long as I can. Can the stocker hold up to a box-stock Katana setup? What's the upper holding limit of the stock clutch?

Been rolling through the FI forum for a few days reading and haven't seen mention of this... figured i'd ask. Feel free to link me to the post I missed if i asked a completely noobish question.

Thanks all,

[fpitas]

I think the answer is...it depends. My clutch did fine for a while with the Katana, and was good when it was replaced. Other people have not been so lucky. I think there must be a lot of variability in the clutches from the factory. If you have a good one, it might be OK.

[toedrag]

Hi Noizemaker,

Yeah, it's been discussed a few times. These were a few that I found:
VF SC and Clutch replacement?
Stock clutch longentivity w/SC or FI
FI- Who's running the OEM Clutch

Search Titles Only for the word 'clutch'. Don't limit it to the FI section.
LotusTalk - The Lotus Cars Community - Search Results

Long story short, with either factory or Katana, there is generally no need to replace the clutch solely based on torque gains. More people are likely to replace the clutch on either VF II or TVS.

The lifetime is difficult to determine because it really depends on your style of street/track shifting. If you have good technique, I don't think you'd see any real decrease in lifetime on the stock clutch on either Katana or factory SC.

Also, you can check newcelica.org for another perspective on the stock clutch limits. I think you'll find it's consistent with the opinions here, though.

[Dragon]

stock clutch will be fine with the Katana or BWR kit...

[Darth G-F]

Absolutely no problem with the clutch after a little over a year with my katana. I track the car regularly and drive quite aggressively.

The only time I had a problem was launching the car at 5000rpm on warm A048R, I got no wheelspin, only clutch spin...

I know a guy with a VF2 still driving on his stock clutch. If you do not drag race, you should be fine for a good while on the katana. But withthe VF2 not sure it will last very long.

[fpitas]

On the subject of aftermarket clutches, my ACT XT does require somewhat more pedal pressure than stock, but I understand that the ACT HD is about the same as stock. No chatter with the XT so far, if I'm careful letting it out the engagement is perfectly smooth.

[shinoo]

The stock clutch is fine. The vast majority of our Katana clients are running stock - with plenty of track time.

[Noizemaker]

Thanks for the info all! Nicely done toedrag, way to bring out the "search noob" hammer gently! I actually didn't search, i just read about 4 pages deep and didn't see it. Serves me right, i guess.

Looks like once my OT comes in and we get Forza shipped i'm gonna have a project lined up to deal with, guess i'm goin' Katana sometime soon.

[Westrock]

Just try not to feather off the line too much and the clutch will hold fine. My clutch is doesnt show any issues so far with VF stage 2. Oh and let off the gas between shifting, dont full throttle shift. Those two things will keep the clutch going.