Aftermarket Clutch Life
 

I was wondering if anyone has used an aftermarket clutch with NA power levels and how many miles they got out of it compared to their stock clutch. I am at ~80,000 miles and my clutch is starting to slip, which seems reasonable. I am going to replace the clutch and slave (slave is fine but I've heard of many problems) soon but am looking at getting a clutch with a little bit more bite. I want it to last a similar amount of miles if possible though. Does anyone have experience with aftermarket clutch life?

80,000 miles and no slave failure ? that's pretty darn good man !

I've heard good things about the specialty Z clutch kit as well as Z1's; can't comment on life though, still on the stock one myself.

It all depends on how you drive your car. It is a wear item. Relatively speaking, the more you shift, the more it wears.

Unfortunately I don't know if you will get an answer on this topic. I would be curious to know as well but there just aren't enough high mileage 370z's out there that have had enough time to go through a stock clutch and an aftermarket one. Most people that have aftermarket clutches are boosted or race a lot and there is no apples to apples comparison. Likely most of those that have switched to aftermarket setups did so before the stock clutch went out. If your driving style is the same you should get comparable life from aftermarket.

I understand that it is a wear item. That is why I mentioned that I got ~80,000 miles out of the stock clutch. I am mostly interested in whether there are any that wear at a similar rate to stock. If you got 30k miles from stock and 25k from the aftermarket, that would give me a good idea of what to expect. I just don't want to get an aftermarket clutch that will last 1/10th of the time with the same driving style because the labor and hassle is a large portion of the clutch replacement.

call me crazy, but if longevity is your main concern and you don't have bigger power plans for your car, I'd say it would sort of make sense to just get a new OEM replacement. With an upgraded CSC of course

I hope to be around 400hp soon, I'm not sure how well the stock clutch will handle that or how it will cut down its longevity. I will have to look into the upgraded CSC. I have seen it on Z1 but didn't pay it much thought since mine held up alright and replacing it at the clutch change is only $130. I am not sure my dealership would like that kind of a modification and they typically take good care of me so I'll have to see what they think about it too.

Oh got ya, 400 hp N/A ? I wouldn't trust the stock clutch on more than 400 lbs of torque for long.

Z1 sells a NA 400hp package now: VQ37VHR 400HP Package

I have long tube headers instead of shorties and a very free flowing exhaust so I figure 400hp should be no problem since I will have all of the other parts. That is only ~310ft lbs though. I think that is do-able for a stock clutch but pushing it, which is why I am looking to go one step up from a stock clutch, just to make sure.

Did Z1s "400hp package" ever have any independent dyno testing?

Just so you know if you didn't already...

they're 400 hp package is talking about 400 crank hp not to the wheels, your actual approximate wheel hp will be a bit less than that

I know that but clutch ratings are based on flywheel power, not wheel

Give me 3-6 months and I'll post updated dyno numbers. I'm not trying to promote Z1. I was just saying that I think 400 NA is attainable with the right parts.

If you get an aftermarket clutch, make sure you upgrade the CSC (DO NOT USE OEM). Specialty Z has a kit that comes with their aftermarket (Tilton I think). Or talk to Joe at ZSpeed and he will hook you up with the ZSpeed CSC and whatever clutch is best for your usage. I happen to have the Z1 elimination kit with exterior slave cylinder. But I'm still on the stock clutch and fully expect to get 80K+ miles out of it (currently at 60K).

Also, if you got 80K miles out of stock clutch, I would fully expect you to get the same or more mileage out of any aftermarket clutch designed for the street. This is, of course, barring any significant change in driving style.

Whatever you do, don't buy a spec. Even at gunpoint.

Well, my Southbend stage 2 clutch (Exedy disc) lasted less than 10k miles before it exploded on me. No track time, and I don't do burnouts or anything like that. I'm pretty sure this was just a fluke, probably defective from the factory. Anyways, I would think an aftermarket disc would last just as long as OEM, depending on how you drive.

^^^That sucks and is not normal at all for any brand clutch. Doing a clutch job again without having 10 times the fun is no fun.

im at 75,000 miles on original clutch with slave....maybe its time for aftermarket clutch

any idea whats the average range of clutch install??

If it's not slipping it's still fine. There's no hard and fast rules on clutch life since it's so driver dependent.

Usually 8-10 hours is what I've seen.

Dealership quoted me at 6.5 hours for install. A recent ex Nissan Tech friend said it can be done in 1 1/2 hours.

I think 90minutes is a little exaggerated time frame. 6 hours is more realistic. Its not really a hard job with a lift and proper tools, but is time consuming. I did mine in 10 hours or so, with the car on jack stands. I only worked on it an hour or two a day after I got off from work.

With a lift, you can do it in 2hrs or less, no problem. I got real fast doing timing belts. I could do one in 1hr 15min with the time starting when I pulled the car in the bay. This is also with a water pump change. So I had to blead the coolant system also. It can be done.

Clutch, unhook the shifter from inside the car, drop the exhaust, drop the driveshaft, starter, cross-member bolts, bell housing bolts, and it is out of the car. The only pain is getting the tranny back in. Sometimes it will fall in like butter, other times the input shaft can be a challenge to line up with the clutch disk/pilot bearing.

Rolling around on the floor sucks...:) Been there, done that.

A clutch should last the life of the car if driven properly. I'm on my fourth manual car, all of them except the G i put way over a 100k. I went to an aftermarket clutch in G for the turbo build and at 44k the clutch was still perfect.


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As an update, I purchased the Z Speed Stage 2 Daily Clutch Kit. This includes South Bend Stage 2 Clutch, 19lb Flywheel, Heavy Duty CSC, & goodies. Hopefully it doesn't blow up like MJB's... I should get it back from the shop in a couple days. My local speed shop is installing everything and my PPE LTH at the same time. I talked to multiple people about doing them myself and the consensus was to use a shop if I wasn't comfortable and didn't have access to a lift for at least a week, in case anything went wrong.

The shop charges $109/hr, which I know is expensive but they are the only speed shop around that I can get to return a phone call consistently and I got tired of chasing the other two shops I've used down to throw my money at them, so the estimate was $1,400 for headers and clutch install (~6.5hrs each). They are very good about charging less if it takes less time and there is some cross part removal so fingers crossed it will be closer to $1000.

And not having a transmission jack to get the angle and elevation of the transmission right so your wrestling with a heavy transmission. Not having a lift and the proper tools makes it a PITA.

I bought a transmission jack on sale for <$120 from Harbor Freight with a coupon. It was worth saving the extra $1K I would have to pay someone else to do it.

If you were closer, I would offer it to you to use free or buy cheap. But shipping would probably be way more than I would ask in cash.

You should be alright bro. Mine was just an isolated incident. I think the disk was defective from the factory. And 1,400 really isn't all that bad for the clutch and header install. Sounds about right. I've done both and they are very time consuming.

I bought the same jack. Since I knew I was only going to need it one time, I sold it to a coworker for half off.

I should probably post it up on the forum to see if any local wants/needs it. Yeah $50 was what I was thinking :icon17:

Not that it matters now, as you already got a clutch, but yes the aftermarket one should give you close to the same mileage, depending on driving habit changes. I found with my ACT/Stillen set up the clutch aside from being way more firm, grabbed harder, I don't think the OE one will take much more power for any length of time. The only reason I had to pull mine out was I needed my car back on the road and didn't have time to wait for a aftermarket CSC, so i'm on my second OE clutch set up.

There is more then you think well over 100k...