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Like many performance oriented decisions it can be difficult sometimes to chose the right clutch. Today we will talk about the most commonly selected clutch types for a performance manual transmission car, especially a high performance turbo car like the 3000GT VR4 or Dodge Stealth R/T Turbo.
The first step is to be realistic about four things.
Performance level of your engine
Everyone wants to make 1000 HP, but its very important when choosing to modify your car that you are realistic about your real goals. Building a performance vehicle is about balance and careful planning. You don’t want a clutch designed to cope with 1000 HP in your 320 HP car. The driving experience will most likely be pretty miserable on the street and a clutch like that is usually quite hard on the drivetrain.
Intended Driving Style, Percent Street vs Race
The other critical factor about choosing a performance clutch, especially for an AWD vehicle that can often NOT be traction limited is to be honest about the intended use of the vehicle. If you go to the track once a week you are going to want a more race oriented clutch than someone who goes once a year or never.
Driver Skill and Tolerance for Driving Compromise
The final thing to be especially cognizant of is your particular skill level and your tolerance for a car that can be a little harder to drive, especially in stop and go traffic. If you have no tolerance for a clutch that acts like an on/off switch its important to be real about that and choose a street friendly clutch.
Budget Considerations
Once you have decided your intended power level, the intended use of the car, and your drive skill the next consideration is your budget. Performance clutches for the 3000GT and Dodge Stealth AWD clutches typically start out at about $350 and can go up into the thousands for twin disc units. Be realistic about your budget, and also realize this may not be a one time expense. Clutches wear and even can fail under extreme abuse, you are unlikely to buy one clutch and have it for the life of your vehicle if you drive hard and keep the car for a while. Some of the twin disc units are designed to be rebuilt, but often the rebuild cost can exceed that of a standard single disc type of clutch.
At the same time it is worth buying a known brand, rather than saving a small amount of money, due to the labor of removing and replacing one of these AWD transmissions being so intensive.
Clutch for Stock OEM+ Power Levels
If you have a very mildly modified AWD or FWD 3000GT or Dodge Stealth you may wish to use a clutch made by the same company that made the original clutches these cars came with and made to OEM specifications. The Exedy OEM level clutch will be great for a stock car or a car with just some basic bolt-ons, such as an air intake and exhaust, that spends most of its time on the street.
Exedy 1991-1996 Dodge Stealth V6 Stage 1 Organic Clutch
Exedy OE 1991-1996 Dodge Stealth V6 Clutch Kit
Full Street Clutches
Full Street clutches will typically be based on a stock organic type of friction material, will contain springs in the center hub, and be very easy to drive. They can stand drag strip runs at the track, but should be given plenty of time to cool down between runs and not slipped excessively. On the 3000GT/Dodge Stealth platform a full face street clutch can be pushed surprisingly far. We have no issues pushing our person DR750 500+AWHP car on a street clutch very similar to the ACT street clutch. We have run the ACT street clutch at the track and as a daily driver and find it to be VERY easy to use. Besides a stiffer pedal (and holding up to a launch and being able to bark the tires into 2nd) no one would even really know it was not stock.
Spec 90-99 3-0L VR4 Dodge Stealth Stage 2 Clutch Kit
Spec 90-99 3-0L VR4 Dodge Stealth Stage 1 Clutch Kit
ACT 1991 Dodge Stealth HD-Perf Street Sprung Clutch Kit
Street / Strip Clutches
Street/Strip clutches may often be of a puck design, but maintain the sprung hub. The very aggressive grabby nature of the puck design can actually tend to tear out the springs in the center hub on repeated very hard launches. This is not common in a quality clutch, but has been known to happen with some brands.
If your car lives on the drag strip you may want to continue down and select a clutch without springs. The springs help cushion the clutch just slightly, but their primary purpose is to dampen harmonics and rattles and lessen input shaft wear.
South Bend - DXD Racing Clutch 91-99 Mitsubishi 3000GT Turbo 3-0L Stg 2 Drag Clutch Kit
Spec 96-03 Eclipse 2-4L & 90-98 3000gt NA not VR4 Stage 3+ Clutch Kit
Spec 90-98 Mitsubishi 3000GT - 90-99 Dodge Stealth Stage 3+ Clutch Kit
ACT 1991 Dodge Stealth HD-Race Sprung 6 Pad Clutch Kit
Race Clutches
A race style single disc clutch will often be a pucked design, but the springs have been removed and replaced with a solid riveted hub. This leads to having less parts to break, but may be a little more brutal in engagement, may lead to rattle at idle and harmonics at certain speeds, and may lead to slightly more input shaft spline wear. The rivets are not invincible and may still be damaged under considerable abuse, but should last longer than a sprung hub design. One other good feature of a springless design is the disc is lighter, which takes some stress off the transmission synchronizers.
The SPEC 4+ LW is a favorite of ours. Other than its narrow engagement window you could think it was a normal street clutch. Easily and smoothly slippage, quite, and releases cleanly. Lighter design for less stress on your transmission synchronizers.
Spec 90-98 Mitsubishi 3000GT - 90-99 Dodge Stealth Stage 4+ Clutch Kit light weight version
Spec 96-03 Eclipse 2-4L & 90-98 3000gt NA not VR4 Stage 4 Clutch Kit
Spec 90-99 3-0L VR4 Dodge Stealth Stage 5 Clutch Ki RACE ONLY
ACT 1991 Dodge Stealth HD-Race Rigid 6 Pad Clutch Kit
Twin Disc Street Strip Clutches
OK, now we are talking. We are stepping up to race clutches that can be driven on the street. We personally ran the strapped street/strip clutch during a 1500 mile drag and drive event. We ran an 11.2, did 25+ passes, and drove the 1500 miles of street driving and had zero issues. After removing it we saw zero wear on the clutch. We did a ton of launches and burn outs and LOVE this clutch.
These clutches will certainly take some adjustments to your driving technique. They are slippable, but the engagement window is very narrow and you can’t slip them all day or they will start to have release issues. They really need a good launch every once in a while to keep them from getting sticky.
One other good feature of a twin disc modern design is the moment of inertial from the smaller discs is less and they release cleanly at high rpm, which takes some stress off the transmission synchronizers.
These clutches are easily rebuildable, you can change them to more race oriented features, and the strapped design, requested and tested here at R’venge Performance has zero rattle and just an occasional squeek during engagement (from the ceramic disc). You CAN live with this every day if you get used to it, but its not your grandma’s clutch.
Clutch Masters 90-97 Mitsubishi 3000GT 3-0L 4WD Twin Turbo 850 Strapped Series Clutch w-Steel FW
Clutch Masters 90-97 Mitsubishi 3000GT 3-0L 4WD Twin Turbo 850 Series Race Clutch w-Steel Flywheel
Clutch Masters 90-97 Mitsubishi 3000GT 3-0L 4WD Twin Turbo 850 Strapped Series Clutch w-Steel FW
