Just interested in your thoughts...

So you hike the power/torque of the engine and then many people upgrade their clutch.

All that energy generated by that extra omph has to go somewhere! So you upgrade the clutch - this puts more strain on the box. Perhaps this now becomes the weak point? You upgrade the box - then the shafts-diffs become the weak point etc etc.

So by just upgrading the clutch (which is what many do) you are just shifting the problem else where in the drivetrain often the box - agree-disagree?

So to be TOTALY fail safe you need to upgade everything - but big bucks!

So perhaps having a weak point is OK as you know what is going to break first and and can account for that. What do you think is the best area to have the weak point - perhaps the clutch? so is just upgrading the clutch not always the best move?

The comments above are
Just trying to provoke different points of view and get a bit of chat going
Steve

 

drive shafts are cheap, and easy to replace.

 

I'd probably just upgrade things as and when they break. If you up power, then smoke your clutch you may as well upgrade. Otherwise your new OE clutch might need doing again in no time!

 

Something's gotta give.

Learning and practicing mechnaical sympathy goes a long way, regularily sidestepping the clutch pedal on full boost generally doesn't give the best longevity out the drivetrain.

Use a better clutch by all means, but let it slip a tad and feed the power in - not too quick, but not too slow either


Whilst on gearboxes, one thing people have a habit of doing is ramming into gears too hard when making fast/hard full power shifts - should only need one or two finger's worth of pressure to make a fast gear change. Certainly gives the snycros and selector linkage much easier time.

 

Good points

``Something's gotta give``

So what do peeps think is the best thing to ´´give``
The drive shaft? - as suggested by Mr Cookstar

 

Personally, if something was to let go I would hope for a drive shaft.

Going on prices

My gearbox £3k

My clutch £1k +

Second hand drive shaft ~£70

 

The problem is that while a reasonable amount of extra torque may shorten the life of the gearbox by say 50%, as soon as the clutch isn't strong enough and starts slipping, its toast in no time at all, so unless the clutch is upto the torque, its pointless having the torque at all!

Simon

 

Yep, uprate the clutch, drive with a bit of mechanical sympathy, if that's not enough, then you really should have factored the cost of a replacement gearbox in before upgrading the power!

 

But we ALL have a mechanical 'fuse'!
Called wheelspin.

I have a mild tuned hillclimb Impreza (see <) that runs on real race hillclimb slicks. The slicks last 30 competition miles only. They Grip.

My car has Type R Sti V5 trans (stock) with dccd, AP organic clutch, plated rear diff etc = more grip.

For 3 years this combo has endured starts as attached. About 160 of them at the last estimate, and I have driven home after each meeting.

Those starts are 5500 rpm and dump the clutch (no smells, no slip)

The shock is released by the controlled amount of wheelspin.
I know of 2 other Imprezas doing just the same.

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