it seems that the warmed up slant i put in my 41 plymouth has more motor than clutch. motor was built to near 300 hp, running a 3:23 8 3/4 posi rear end, and a A-833 4 speed od trans. i put in a stock 9 1/4 clutch and preassure assy, because i had it here. also a aftermarked hydraulic (puller) slave cylinder. everything has worked out great, but the clutch is a little weak on launching. i thought i was smoking the tires, but it turned out to be clutch smoke. i will be pulling things apart shortly because of a bad rod bearing, and thought it would be a great idea to put in a stronger clutch at the same time.
looking for recommendations on what would be a good clutch and preassure assy to put in with the stock flywheel and bellhousing

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Most of the stuff people worry about ain't never gonna happen anyway!!!
chuck Anglemyer
chucks' rod garage

http://www.slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic ... tch#346414

just an idea, there really isnt much you can do.

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1966 Plymouth Valiant, 225, 3 on the tree, 8 1/4 3.21 sure grip, hyperpac, holley 650dp, holset h1c

Pretty much you are stuck with not so great choices in stock clutches...I've already burned up 3 spec clutch sets they said would be fine up to 350 hp...I doubt I'm horking more than 280 ft/lbs of torque throwing a heavy car... Looks like Lou also just slid a Spec 2 clutch...so that leaves nothing on the stock side...

The next step up is to get an adaptor or a aftermarket bellhousing and use a small block flywheel and the 10 1/2" clutch....a few people have had good success wit their McCleod SB clutch, I know one from our side of the continent uses a different brand but same size in his drag application.

I'm currently working on fitting the 11" truck clutch for an A-body as an adaptor/bolt in.... So far the only major headache is the starter application...more on that in another post.

-D.Idiot

I am going to call Specclutch today. Just pulled trans out this morning after new "stage II" clutch slips under moderate throttle. Some funny things about their 9" clutch. They should be able to make a kit that will work, yet only a few people have made them work with their higher end kits.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Gentlemen, I'll relate my own slippage experience with my six puck Spec. How it may reflect on your problems'll have to be your call.

First though, know that I'm the sort of bonehead who'll fight a problem to the death, over whatever time it takes.

When I first installed mine in my HAMBster, it was OK, could easily smoke'em on the 1400 lb car. But that was with quite hard hides I'd had around at the time.
When I switched to the Cokers (much softer rubber) it immediately slipped at 70 to 100 percent pedal.

I did the usual, in & out of the car several times to try different things. Each time I found nothing obvious, but each time I put it back in, she ran better for a few passes, then slowly degraded back to slipping.

Now over the years, one of my habits in clutch work is to very lightly hand sand the disc, just to rough up the faces a bit to allow it fresh faces to seat in each time.

So, extrapolating from my procedures and the results, I came up with the idea to actually sand off a couple thou, and see how it worked. The upshot is that it's back in and handled last season very well.
I'm leaving it alone this year to see how that move holds up over a longer time span.

I had two other problems with it, but the one other mechanical problem was NOT Spec's cause, it was my own. My build "kicks back" heavily at idle, and repeatedly bent & ripped loose the connection straps. My problem with Spec was their refusal to sell me any components for the unit, only offering a straight rebuild, at their facility. I had no wish for another "stock Spec" unit, I wanted it strengthened.

Thus, I had to manufacture my own replacements. This I did, multiplying the number and strength of the straps several times, which in each case only served to delay the destruction a bit longer.
I finally re-engineered the thing to a full floater, and am quite happy with that aspect of it now. But I digress ......

Back to the slippage problem. Pending this season's results, it looks like their discs may be needing the face "grain" opened up, either through manual material removal as I did, or perhaps through some number of street miles?
This is a normal result with "ram pressing" production procedures in other manufacturing processes as well. High pressure pressing typically forms a "skin" on many types of material. While most usages find this beneficial, on friction usage material it would need to be removed, and their suppliers may not be removing quite enough.

I'm exacerbating the problem this year as well, as I've added a mini-spool to the car, thus loading the clutch even more.
I'll post up my results as the season plays out.

So, slippage (initially at least), and no components availability. Those are my only two complaints with Spec so far.

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Sex, drags, and rock & roll.
Dick, 225% crazy.
Hobby (cars, that is) Photos link

Thanks for your input, Dick. Mine really slips at <50% throttle at only 2600 RPM - maybe 100-150 ft-lbs on this engine? Dismal. Can't imagine it improving a factor of 2 or 3 in holding power with any surface treatment/sanding.

My McLeod 9" kit worked well out of the box, and took tons of abuse. I am putting that in tonight/tomorrow. Wish McLeod had not disco'ed that PP... Maybe if we had enough demand?

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

No argument here, I did my homework initially, and would've liked to go with the McLeod unit, but they were out of production already. Wouldn't have needed to mess with a puck design then.

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Sex, drags, and rock & roll.
Dick, 225% crazy.
Hobby (cars, that is) Photos link

Interesting.....

I have a Mcleod disc....and used a stock pressure plate . I too have a habit of buffin' up the surfaces before install. The flywheel was done in a lathe ....but I did the pressure plate by hand with a flapper disc on a little angle grinder. I dont mean in any old slapdash manner, of course.

I did the disc with a copper dish scrubber (Kurly Kate) and of course Brakeleen.

I broke it all in in a gentle fashion before any banzai clutch dumps. The fact that my trans is pretty lightweight keeps me from dumping the clutch much.

My preferred launch is done at an idle......the hammer it once the clutch is engaged. I have never had any slippage once the clutch is fully engaged.

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

you guys are making me feel better about my slippage. i get none once the car is launched. it's just that off the line slippage that i would like to get rid of..
my car isn't intended for racing, but we have a couple of friendship 6 cyl races we would like to run this summer. would hate to get beat by a 235 chevy!!

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Most of the stuff people worry about ain't never gonna happen anyway!!!
chuck Anglemyer
chucks' rod garage

I wouldn't worry of a 235 as much as a 261. I'm putting one on a stand for a turbo app for my 51 hard to tell a 261 from the rest but the extra cubes help.

But first it's an hx35 for my slant. Which so far I've not had to worry of the clutch and this thread is makin me think that once I go turbo I'd be better to switch to a 904.

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225, Offenhauser, Holley 350, A833OD, 3:55, GM HEI,99 Durango starter
BOOSTED! WH1C, BIG FMIC, 10#
Operation Noble Eagle 03-05
Operation Iraqi Freedom 05-07
Operation Enduring Freedom 12- 13

I spoke to Mcleod last year and asked about the possibility of doing another run of their pressure plates in the Slant 6 pattern. They said they would be willing to do it but it would take 100 units. So do we have 50 people that would buy 2? Or 100 people that would buy one? I doubt it.

But there is no doubt that their stuff works and works well. It can take serious abuse from a 3300 pound car that runs slicks as well as running numerous back to back runs without the slightest bit of fade.

All that was from a 9 7/16" clutch. Not even a full 10" one.

Anyone want to bank roll 100 Pressure plates at $250 each?

Rick

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2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

If I had the front money I'd buy an order, and re-sell'em myself. The Spec I had to diddle was 4.5 bills.

I'd be in for two.

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Sex, drags, and rock & roll.
Dick, 225% crazy.
Hobby (cars, that is) Photos link

i'd go two also.

_________________
Most of the stuff people worry about ain't never gonna happen anyway!!!
chuck Anglemyer
chucks' rod garage

I would buy at least 4 of those, maybe more. I spoke with Spec yesterday and will be sending my 2 brand new kits back for inspection and to make a new plan with them.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

I'd take 2-4 also so that is 10. Only 90 to go!

I still think the best thing that could happen would be to be able to get a steel flywheel for less than the $450 going price, and then use the off the shelf Ford stuff from Mcleod.

If you can get an off the shelf Clutch and PP for $400, and you knew it was a great clutch and would take some abuse, most of us would bite the bullet and pay that. But add in another $4-500 for the flywheel and it hurts quite a bit more.

Rick

_________________
2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6