WOW you will never believe it
Yes, Look at the pressure plate and see if there is a serial number, or if it even says SPEC on it anywhere. This does not look like a Spec stage 3 clutch to me, but I only saw pieces, but it definitely isn't a SPEC flywheel, to me it looks like a resurfaced stocker, which could have been the problem if the machine shop didn't know what they were doing.
http://www.specclutch.com/products
See how your disc has gaps in the metal center, below the friction material and this one (spec site for 3+) does not... Ask the mechanic for the receipt or invoice from the parts he purchased. It would also be handy to have the receipt from when you paid him the money for the job. Something smells fishy with the mechanic for 1: the clutch doesn't look right and 2: it has happened to him before. If he can't provide the invoice form when he ordered the parts, ask him what site or where he ordered them from, and then call that company and ask if there was ever an order placed from him. I am really sorry to hear that this happened to you, but it seems like it could have easily been prevented if either the mechanic or machine shop weren't incompetent.
http://www.specclutch.com/products
See how your disc has gaps in the metal center, below the friction material and this one (spec site for 3+) does not... Ask the mechanic for the receipt or invoice from the parts he purchased. It would also be handy to have the receipt from when you paid him the money for the job. Something smells fishy with the mechanic for 1: the clutch doesn't look right and 2: it has happened to him before. If he can't provide the invoice form when he ordered the parts, ask him what site or where he ordered them from, and then call that company and ask if there was ever an order placed from him. I am really sorry to hear that this happened to you, but it seems like it could have easily been prevented if either the mechanic or machine shop weren't incompetent.
Looks like this clutch:
from:
http://www.roadraceengineering.com/evo/nonameclutch.htm
Which, when compared with Spec's advertised pricing of $699 for the Stage 3
and $849 for the stage 3+
Well... lets just say if your mechanic charged you for one and bought the other, he padded his stats quite a bit. It looks like a flywheel failure more so than a clutch failure, but it appears that that's an RRE disc.
from:
http://www.roadraceengineering.com/evo/nonameclutch.htm
Which, when compared with Spec's advertised pricing of $699 for the Stage 3
and $849 for the stage 3+
Well... lets just say if your mechanic charged you for one and bought the other, he padded his stats quite a bit. It looks like a flywheel failure more so than a clutch failure, but it appears that that's an RRE disc.
Take a picture of the crankshaft. It needs to be up close and personal so we can see the thread area of the flywheel bolts. Since you found the rest of the clutch (and some pieces of the flywheel) where is the center? If its attached to the flywheel its not the mechanic. Looking at your clutch plate its been burned on (and the we see the same sign on the flywheel fragment) but the wear is even which doesnt indicate a loose flywheel.
Did this vibrate on decel? Did it make noise on accel prior to failing?
I am not trying to defend him, I am pointing out there are some pretty big clues to it being the flywheel manufacturer and not the installation. It would seem had there been that many prior failures someone might have said something here about it or in your town? Just a thought.
Did this vibrate on decel? Did it make noise on accel prior to failing?
I am not trying to defend him, I am pointing out there are some pretty big clues to it being the flywheel manufacturer and not the installation. It would seem had there been that many prior failures someone might have said something here about it or in your town? Just a thought.
Another thing that I think would be useful were your numbers, how much power did you have with your setup? I don't think it is the problem, but what if the man chose a clutch that was insufficient for the power your car was making. Not sure if that is true at all, since this RRE disc said it can hold up to 500 hp, but throwing a disc on there that wasn't rated for your HP/TQ could have had problems. Chances are it would have slipped though if it wasn't sufficient, not gripped to the point of blowing the flywheel up. Those scorch marks on the flywheel are insane... I don't know what to think, something just reeks of foul play...
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 61
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From: PA
So here's where I am at right now. Finally just got the car towed off the side of the road. (luckily everything was still there). Anyways, I had the car towed to a local mechanic/friend of my parents. He really didn't have time to examine it, but he said something is def. wrong. He doesn't know why my mechanic would have put an oem flywheel on the car with a high performance clutch. After doing some more research I did notice that that clutch does not look like SPEC at all and now after looking over receipts, they say comp clutch. Which really pisses me off because I specifically told him I wanted to go SPEC. So now my next thing to find out is, is it a Competition clutch or the clutch that the dude just showed me in the picture above. I talked to my mechanic yesterday and he did not want to put this on himself at all. He was trying to put in on the flywheel manufacturer, which I think wouldn't work at all which would leave me screwed because the flywheel company will see that it was a high performance clutch with a stock flywheel. Either way, he put the wrong clutch in my car so that is a case in itself. He charged me $595 for the clutch itself whereas they sell for $330 brand new. I haven't talked to my mechanic/former mechanic at all today but my step dad did and said that my mechanic said I told him to put the oem flywheel in it???!!! haha He also said that he warned me that if I drove the car hard that this might happen. Also A lie. Why would I ever want to put something into my car that might do this? It doesn't make sense. I'm moving slowing but piecing together information as carefully as possible to get what I can out of this because this is def. not my fault and from what I am hearing from you guys and everyone else, very dangerous as well. Give me some info and feedback on this to let me know what you guys think I should do now?
but i am still in shock of this, holy crap
That is some serious damage and I feel for you kid. You NEED to be more aware of what parts are going into your car and not to trust the shady tree mechanics in your town. These are life lessons...
What part of PA are you from? If your close to pittsburgh we could meet up and talk about it if you wanted to... You should go in and show the guy the clutch, the disc you have and the price on that clutch from the manufacturer. Tell him, hey, I thought I told you I wanted to go with SPEC, wtf is this? and then ask, how the hell did it cost me $595, when I found it places for around 300! Thats almost a 100% markup over the retail price, either he was shopping at the most expensive aftermarket parts site around, or he just pocketed 300 from you. Also, he should know DAMN well, if he is any sort of mechanic, that you SHOULD replace the flywheel with the clutch with either the aftermarket clutchs recommended, or at least a lightweight reinforced one. There is a reason why Exedy and most companies sell theirs in a kit, that clutch is made to go with that flywheel, sure, it can work on others, but they suggest it for a reason. This is for sure on this guy if he is starting to tell you lies. WTF, he really is going to try and say that you said it was okay to do something that could potentially kill me, or totally ruin my car. Its cool, just slap whatever the hell you want on there? You need to get your paperwork in order, get the receipts and the pieces, keep everything together in case you go the legal route, then get up in his face/ or the face of the manager of the store. That way you can either scare him into a settlement, or if necessary go the legal route, and you have all your ducks in a row.
Again, sorry this happened to you. But everyone is right, YOU need to chose the parts you want in your car for a specific reason. There is no way this would have happened had you gone online, done some reading then found a deal on a flywheel/clutch combo on here and bought it yourself than took it to him. 1: you would not have gotten REALLY ripped off 595 for a 300 dollar clutch, 2: you would have made sure he put the right parts in 3: you would know the advantages and disadvantages of each clutch/flywheel combination. Sorry, this was so long, I just feel for you and want to help however possible.
Good luck
Again, sorry this happened to you. But everyone is right, YOU need to chose the parts you want in your car for a specific reason. There is no way this would have happened had you gone online, done some reading then found a deal on a flywheel/clutch combo on here and bought it yourself than took it to him. 1: you would not have gotten REALLY ripped off 595 for a 300 dollar clutch, 2: you would have made sure he put the right parts in 3: you would know the advantages and disadvantages of each clutch/flywheel combination. Sorry, this was so long, I just feel for you and want to help however possible.
Good luck
Wow crappy that he pulled that.
To be clear the stock flywheel is fine with an aftermarket clutch. It is not normal nor common for it to just explode. It had alot of heat in it prior to letting go which made it that much worse.
To be clear the stock flywheel is fine with an aftermarket clutch. It is not normal nor common for it to just explode. It had alot of heat in it prior to letting go which made it that much worse.
Okay, first thing is first....
We need to identify the parts in your car beyond any doubt. You have people bad mouthing Spec clutches for pages and it's not even a spec unit. Please stop everyone. I feel bad for spec. The parts you have must have some sort of identifying marks. Find them. Post pictures.
It's not a stage 3 comp clutch for sure. That is a kevlar disk with a different build than your picture. The pics I can find of the comp stage 2 doesn't look like it either. The springs in the center hub on the comp stage 2 have a smaller opening showing the spring than in your pics. The stage 2's also have less distance between segments on the disk. The stage 1 comp is a 6 puck. So, unless I'm mistaken you don't have a comp clutch either.
As of now your clutch disk is unidentified. It looks like a near stock organic replacement in which case you got taken to the cleaners paying for a spec stage 3.
There's nothing wrong with running the stock flywheel on a modified engine. It has no problems holding together. Many people prefer it to an aftermarket lightened unit because it's easier to start off and generally easier for daily driving. The stock unit would not fail like yours unless it had some sort of either manufacturing defect, installation problem, or it was improperly machined.
There's no problem with the mechanic deciding to use the stock flywheel. It's a decent choice. The problem is it could have been improperly turned. Maybe he didn't turn it at all? Has the mechanic or anyone else talked about getting the original flywheel resurfaced? Is that in your paperwork?
If you want our help we need more pics. Gather all the pieces of the flywheel that you found, arrange them back into whatever you have left of the complete wheel and take a pic. Take detailed pics of any markings you can find on the clutch disk and pressure plate. Take pics of the center section of the flywheel that is left where it bolted up.
Edit: aside from the spring holes being too large in your pic. It does look like the comp stage 2 at MAP. It might be a pic of the opposite side at MAP. If you look at comp clutch's website though the segments on the stage 2 are smaller in their pictures. Might be a comp stage 2.
We need to identify the parts in your car beyond any doubt. You have people bad mouthing Spec clutches for pages and it's not even a spec unit. Please stop everyone. I feel bad for spec. The parts you have must have some sort of identifying marks. Find them. Post pictures.
It's not a stage 3 comp clutch for sure. That is a kevlar disk with a different build than your picture. The pics I can find of the comp stage 2 doesn't look like it either. The springs in the center hub on the comp stage 2 have a smaller opening showing the spring than in your pics. The stage 2's also have less distance between segments on the disk. The stage 1 comp is a 6 puck. So, unless I'm mistaken you don't have a comp clutch either.
As of now your clutch disk is unidentified. It looks like a near stock organic replacement in which case you got taken to the cleaners paying for a spec stage 3.
There's nothing wrong with running the stock flywheel on a modified engine. It has no problems holding together. Many people prefer it to an aftermarket lightened unit because it's easier to start off and generally easier for daily driving. The stock unit would not fail like yours unless it had some sort of either manufacturing defect, installation problem, or it was improperly machined.
There's no problem with the mechanic deciding to use the stock flywheel. It's a decent choice. The problem is it could have been improperly turned. Maybe he didn't turn it at all? Has the mechanic or anyone else talked about getting the original flywheel resurfaced? Is that in your paperwork?
If you want our help we need more pics. Gather all the pieces of the flywheel that you found, arrange them back into whatever you have left of the complete wheel and take a pic. Take detailed pics of any markings you can find on the clutch disk and pressure plate. Take pics of the center section of the flywheel that is left where it bolted up.
Edit: aside from the spring holes being too large in your pic. It does look like the comp stage 2 at MAP. It might be a pic of the opposite side at MAP. If you look at comp clutch's website though the segments on the stage 2 are smaller in their pictures. Might be a comp stage 2.
Last edited by JohnDoe1984; Nov 3, 2009 at 06:32 PM.