hi all

for the first time i took my car to the pod its completly standerd 03 sti
no launch control but it launched and managed to burnout all 4 wheels into second gear then the dredded clutch smell...well i think it is

it sort of smelled like burning rubber or plastic but was a wet day but the car drive fine afterwards but continued to smell for a good hour.

any suggestions to what it could be or is it normal to smell like that after launching

 

Your smoking your clutch, the oe clutch is not designed to take that kind of abuse.

 

right i done one run then stopped after the smell its the first time i have drive it hard to be fair..

so doing this once wont cause me any problems just dont do it again lol

 

Yeah, your car should be ok. I would not take any car to do 1/4 mile runs unless it was fully set up for it. It's not just the clutch you need to worry about, you can damage the gearbox, and diffs etc.

 

i have checked the car over and no leaks and no smell today drives like normal

but i think i will take ur advice and not do it again until it is set up for fast road use

 

What's the mileage? If it's still the original clutch there's a chance it slipped a fair bit during the 'launch' Much more of that and you can take the 'a' out of launch!

JohnD

 

the cars just over 66k on its orignial i will be ordering a new clutch probs a stage 2 as atm im currently storing parts ready to be fitted and mapped
looking for around the 400 mark either side doesnt matter but im in the process of bit by bit buying it for it all then to be fitted.

i did look at getting the gearbox and the diff reconditioned but as some say not broken dont fix it

 

I'm no professional mate and others will certainly give you better advice, but personally, I would never launch my car at Pod and hammer it off the line on such a sticky track surface. If you don't trash your box there & then you will certainly punish your clutch (sounds like you've already done this) and rape your drive shafts.
In my opinion and experience, after realising just how weak Scooby box's can be, just don't do it and live to fight another day with current box in tow and save yourself a fortune and a heap of heartache (it's really not worth it)

 

yeah cheers , i think if the car had a tad more power i would of been looking at metal shards in the gearbox to be honest

i have checked it out driveshafts and all ok so hopefully i just stressed the clutch this time

but for sure will not be running at pod