any word about a new clutch yet?? from clutch masters or anyone??

 

yeah, any updates?

 

Ok, my clutch disc exploded i think and my wont fully disengage from gear. Seriously. It is in my driveway, and I'm borrowing my mom's little z3, so I'll probably have to be a guinea pig for us. I'll most likely drive to clutchmasters tommorow, since its just in fontana. Dealer wants $1100.00, fuck that! For the same piece of shit clutch that seperated within 32,000 miles. I think for sure my warranty is gone since it is reflashed by hondata(warranties dont wanna mess with a car that underwent 'brain surgery'). Any advice, or preferences on whom I should contact. This is immediate, I'll probably be dropping my car off tommorow somewhere.

 

Symptoms that have led to my diagnosis are these: Shifter is in neutral, clutch pedal fully depressed, start car, shifter wont go into any gear. Shut car off, clutch pedal depressed, jam shifter into gear, then start car. As the engine turns, car lurches. Ok, car is on, clutch is still depressed fully, but the car is rolling. Press the gas, rpms jump and clutch slips but wont engage, so the car barely moves. Take foot off of clutch, nothing different in perfomance or feel(still broke). Depress clutch again, cant pull the shifter out of first, or put it into second from neutral while car is on. I know nobody wants to read my little book that I've wrote about my clutch problems, but any enlightment on my situation would help. What happened to my clutch? Im gonna go check my fluids right now. Anyone think they can help?

 

sounds like its gone if you cant get the car to move when its in gear. notice any smells?

 

I can get it to move, I just cant get it in gear while motor is running. If i shut it off and put it in 1st gear, then it just goes when I start it. As the starter cranks, the car lurches. Then when car is on, it rolls forward while clutch pedal is fully depressed. If I force it to go like this, then it really stinks like burning clutch.

P.S. Happy Memorial day!

 

anyone? Im calling clutchmasters, hopefully its cheap and fast

 

clutchmasters didn't have anything for my car, and they dont work on cars anyway. My car is getting the comptech CL-S clutch disk and lightweight flywheel put on right now, should be done by noon. It is a direct fit according to billy @ comptech. He spent an hour or more making sure it fits. They have a new clutch/flywheel combo for an 06+ accord/04+tl that he was cross refrencing with the clutch/flywheel for the CL. Looks like direct bolt-on, and if not, it is an easy issue. The shop that is doing the install will let me know if it bolts right up. Had to buy a factory pressure plate and throw-out bearing for $400.00, and labor is $400.00, so as of now, this new clutch issue has cost me $1800.00. Im glad I bought the ct kit a year ago!

 

400 bucks labor for the clutch install isnt bad at all

 

any word on the install?

 

Have you check the master and slave cylinder? Have you had any fluids under the car? Its quite possible that its not the clutch itself but the master or slave cylinder not wanting to move the clutch. Is the pedal real light or does it feel normal? If you look under the dash at the top of the clutch, is there oil there? If your clutch is bad, it would more then likly be the pressure plate. But if it broke, you would have heard some serious noise when the parts went into the flywheel. If it was the clutch, it would just not go at all, and it would be glazed or (not very likly) the surface area would be worn all the way off, but again, you would have had metal on metal for that, and with the glazing, it would just slip and not move. Throw out bearing, doubt it, but again, you would have had noise. That is why I think it is the master or slave cylinder. The only other thing would be the tranny itself, but the 6 speed tranny is pretty strong, it can handle up to 500hp without any problems. That has been shown on the NSX.

Good luck. Also, how was the Hondata flash, did it feel like it made a big difference? Can't wait to see if they are going to put it into production.

Jason

 

No, they havent called me yet. Im glad everybody chimed in, I've felt like I was pretty much alone on this one, guys. Nobody read my posts(boo-hoo)! I checked both master and slave, their both doing their thing. Fluid levels were fine, no leakage in my garage. $400.00 is $75.00 an hour X 5.3 hours. Think it takes that long? Anyway, when they call to say its done, I'll get all the old stuff back and know exactly what it was. So am I the first TL with a lightweigh flywheel?
The hondata thing worked, and im pretty sure they will go into production. I think i'm still not supposed to say anything- But, My car redlines real close to 7500. I think if it made 0 hp/tq(makes much more that that) it would still sell just based on the raised rev-limiter and no speed governer.

 

Sweet, let us know how it feels when you get it back. I was actually the one who contacted Hondata about doing this. I spent 2 weeks not being able to say anything and trying to get some data together for them. Dougs a real cool guy to talk to. I am waiting and saving, as that is the next mod I want for the car.

Again, let us know how it all worked out when you get it back. Jason

 

Did clutchmasters say when they'd have the kits ready?

 

ok, its finally broken in (over 500 miles of easy driving, smooth engagement, low rpm shifts) and going strong. Btwix, no they did not. Im still scared to rev to anything near 7000 rpms, but first impressions from driving it kinda hard; More mid range, speedo climbs faster, but somehow feels slower/smoother? Engages differently. Feels almost like a 2-stroke. rpm's drop drastically between shifts, and you have to use more throttle to take off in 1st cuz rpms keep droping as clutch pedal is released. Best explanation i can give is like taking off on a two stroke bike, high gas, slow clutch. I havent done any runs yet(0-60/qm), but I know its faster. Launches good, and no slippage for now. 6th to 3rd on the freeway @ 80mph is great. It used to slip and slide into gear, now it just clunks into gear. I love it because my car is moving again, but still unsure of how much performance gain.

 

The drop you are feeling when shifting is due to the lighwieght flywheel. You have shaved off alot of wieght on the mass of the flywheel. I went from a 22lb flywheel on my prelude to a 8lb. It reved 10 time faster, put at the cost of having to give it more gas to get moving. Also when you let off the gas, it droped straight back to idle. Let us know how it continues to feel.

Jason

 

That's interesting... Is that a good thing?

 

Did they say when they are going to sell the lightweight flywheel for the accord/TL?

and so was it a direct bolt on for the CL-S flywheel and clutch? or there were some change made to get it in there? and does anyone know if only getting the light flywheel without the clutch will be incompatiable? It shouldnt right?

I was thinking if the rpms falls faster with the lighten flywheel then maybe the holding of the rpms will fall faster too

 

It is a direct fit. The flywheel in the 'thunderhill tl' was modified. There is 8 square flywheel position sensor triggers pressed into the flywheel for the cl-s, and held by metal dowel pins. The tl flywheel doesn't have them, so for weight reduction, that is what the 'thunderhill' crew removed, and that was the clearance issue I was worried about. Turns out it fits fine! Comptech only sells the flywheel and clutch as a combo kit. You would wanna replace all the components of the clutch, not just the flywheel, but in theory, if your clutch disk and pressure plate are fine, you could replace just the flywheel. Rpm's drop to below 1000 a within a second after I press the clutch in. Oh and I was doing some good launches today from stop sign to stop sign, and finally felt the 'power' i got from the lw flywheel. Even harder to get traction in 1st now.

 

Warranty Pays 7.2 Hours Labor On Flywheel/clutch Replacement, Add 2.5 For Main Oil Bearing Seal. 7.2 X $80=$576. @ My Dealer+ Parts.

 

i.e., generally we charge warranty x 1.5 for all customer pay repair orders, so you'd be looking at 10.8 hours x's whatever labor rate the dealer has. here it would be 10.8 x $80=$864 in labor alone. jump on the shop doing it for $400!

 

It doesn't hurt it. That is why you put the fly wheel in. It allows for the motor to rev up alot faster. This means less torque is eaten up by the flywheel having to be turned. But on the other hand, without that mass, you RPM level drops very quickly, so between shifts can be tricky. You have to make very quick shifts.

jason

 

wouldn't the lightened flywheel be more beneficial for a track car that would be running in the higher rpms most of them time? I'd think that the lightened flywheel might possibly disadvantage a daily driver, which could be hurt by the loss of mass...I'm just trying to think about maintaining momentum, uphills, etc... ???

 

Stop and go is hell. You do get used to it. Very beneficial at the track!! With less mass turning, gas mileage should go up(theory). The engine does not have to work as hard to maintain the same RPM. Its one of those things that until you drive it you, won't know what to think. I personally liked the feel of it. Very quick throttle response, extra pep and very quick launches and that was on the inline 4 (H22A4). Imagine what it would do on a motor like the j32.

The only big draw back is the gas to start. Talk about having to relearn how to drive a car. With a stage three clutch and the light flywheel, it made for a fun drive. It took me about a month to get used to it again.

 

For curiosity's sake, describe the clutch feel from a stop. To me, the OEM feel could be described as a short, late engagement.

 

I used to be able to pull out w/out using the gas from a stop. I still can, but its much more technical. Basically, you have to slip the clutch a little bit to get moving. Normally, to take off, the procedure was clutch out a little, gas, clutch out, engaged. Now the process is a little longer, clutch out, gas, clutch out, gas, clutch out, gas, clutch out, engaged. Think of it by sound. No more err err err, and more like rrreeeeeeeerrrrrrrhhhhhh . If that makes sense?