Agree, just debating on HD vs XT for the street version, but also considering the Excedy twin. Need to read the other thread that discussed the results.

 

Ordered the ACT Twin T2S-M01 along with a new TOB and rear main seal. Clutch is on a 2 week back order and I spoke with ACT and they said I could track the build date by contacting them in about 1 week. Probably more like 3-4 weeks, but we'll see. Will give me plenty of time to take apart the tranny and figure out how to change to the 4.08 final drive and EVO 8 5th gear I purchased a few months back.

I hate that I keep having to work on the EVO because I have been sitting on a pair of Gen 2 GTX3071r turbos I had custom built for the GTR that are waiting to be installed. Even had the turbine housing backside custom CNC ported with a larger custom inconel wastegate puck installed. There is a known issue of boost creep when running these turbos so I worked with a company to have this done custom in hopes that I don't have boost creep.

 

This is what happens when you watch Youtube videos. Swapping the 4.08 final driver and EVO 8 5th gear. Now I just gotta figure out how to take the gears off.

 

So far this is pretty easy other than working through it for the first time. I've only needed a 6" 3 armed pulley puller to remove the bearings on both shafts, but will also need a press to remove the remaining gears on the output shaft. I bought a set of pulley pullers and a bearing splitter from Harbor Freight, but have only use the one 6" pulley puller thus far.




Once you get the top bearing off the other stuff just pulls off. You then need to remove the circlip using the correct tool. Advance Auto had the proper circlip tool, which they call lock ring pliers for about $16 and made life very easy. Once you remove the circlip you just press off the remaining gears all at once and the press back onto the new shaft and reinstall the circlip.
https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/...040%7CL3*16175




Changing 5th gear on the input shaft took about 30 minutes. Remove the circlip using the lock ring pliers and then use the 6" pulley puller to remove the bearing. With a flat head screwdriver gently pry up on the metal cap working your way around the base. Once it is off, below it is a 2 piece clip that holds 5th gear to the shaft. Just use a screwdriver and remove each half and then 5th gear just pops off and you put on the new one. Put back the 2 piece clip and the cap that secures it. I just used a plastic weighted hammer to bang the bearing back onto the shaft setting the other end of the shaft onto some wood. Then reinstall the circlip to hold the bearing.




On the input shaft I just need to press off the gears using my buddies press and then press them onto the new shaft. The only thing remaining is the bearing and according to Jacks you remove with a bearing splitter. However, there is no space between the gear and the bearing sleeve so the only way to pull is to pull on the cage of the bearing housing. I'm gonna call Jacks on Monday, but I may just leave this bearing on there and order a new one to press onto the new shaft. Overall, once you have the correct tools and you get familiar with the trans it is not that big of a deal to work on.

 

The new ACT Twin Disc shipped yesterday so I should have it sometime this week to put this thing back together. One thing I forgot to post initially is the best way to crack the case, which is to use 2 large pry bars opposing each other. There are a few areas on the trans that allow you to pry the case apart without having to touch the mating surfaces.



I cleaned the threads with brake cleaner and applied red locktite to the bolts that hold on the final drive gear, which are torqued to 98ft-lbs.



I got the gear set back in the case, which was easier than I thought. In fact, with a simple pulley puller and a press you can service the entire trans, which is not complicated once you start to play around with it. I did set the lash on the new output shaft, which Jacks told me there method of shimming the bearing and then putting together the case. If you can spin the shaft by hand and it goes 2 turns then the shaft is too loose. If it doesn't go a turn then it is too tight. Jacks said the MFactory usually required more clearance so I ended up going from a 0.045" shim to an 0.033" shim to get the desired effect, which took me 3 test fits. The input shaft shim just stayed the same since I did nothing to affect preload by just replacing 5th gear. I then assembled the trans to make sure all the gears worked, which they did. I will seal it up tomorrow using Ultra Grey and call it a day. I also ordered a new bearing for the output shaft, which you can see below since the one on the OEM shaft is just about impossible to remove and if you do, it will likely get damaged. Do yourself a favor and just order the $32 bearing for the MFactory output shaft.



It took about 1.5hrs to swap the gears from the OEM output shaft to the new 4.08 output shaft using just a low dollar & low tonnage press. The gears are not pressed on very tight so they press off easily and the best thing to do is just lay them on the table in a row as you remove each piece, which then allows you to put them back correctly. Even if you mix them up, just take a picture before you pull everything apart and you can figure it out pretty quickly. When you put on the sliders they can install 2 ways, which changes every 60deg of rotation. One way allows the sliders to engage the synchros and the other way doesn't. Verify they sliders engage the synchros for the gear before pressing on any additional gears. I have a video attached below to show what I mean.

 

I picked up my ACT twin in September and installed in December, I have nothing but great things to say about it. I finished 500 miles of German city and hill driving this week, and am looking forward to opening up with some hot laps on the ring next month. This is hands down the easiest clutch I've ever driven, and my first twin.

 

Glad to hear and I've had nothing but good luck from the ACT clutches despite many negative posts. This will be my first twin as well so I am hoping it will continue my positive experience with ACT products (minus their throw out bearing).

 

Finally, the damn car is on the road again. I ended up pulling the pan again and also removed the back plate holding the rear main seal so I could just reseal everything using my favorite stuff, which is the Nissan Gasket maker in a caulk tube. I drove it around yesterday and today with the speedo not working for some reason, so this afternoon I pulled out the sensor and noticed the connections were corroded so I cleaned them and the speedo is once again operational.

The clutch difference is crazy because the pedal feels so damn light having come from the ME2-HDG6, which is the heavy duty pressure plate with a 6 puck ceramic sprung disk. The engagement is as smooth as it can be and if you didn't know what was in there you might think it was a stock clutch. I did have to pull the pedal off the floor just a hair to get the engagement where I wanted it. Anyway, once I complete the break in I will start jamming on it and provide feedback.

The transmission actually works so I guess you can do anything if you just watch a YouTube video. Actually, there was absolutely nothing difficult about changing the gears and the only thing that bothers me about the process is the shimming of the output shaft because of the new final drive gear change. Spec says to use soldier and preload ~0.005, which is on the tight side of the spec. However, when I did this the shaft did not want to spin very much when sandwiched in the case. I called Jack's for a sanity check and they recommended shimming by feel, which meant the shaft should spin at least one full revolution with just that shaft installed in the case. Anyway, that is the method I ended up using and the tranny feels very smooth and shifts like a champ so far. I also swapped the EVO 8 5th gear so now that the speedo works, I am curious to see how it feels cruising down the highway.

I'll update more once I get some miles on it and start hard boosting again.

 

Kind of weird to cruise on the highway at 77mph with the RPM at 3K, but I definitely like it because the car is much quieter at that RPM. I really like how this clutch feels because it is so damn smooth with a light pedal pressure. Gonna put ~400 miles on it before I start jamming the gears to see how it feels with 600whp+. So far no drippy drippy of oil.

 

​​​​​​Two weeks of heavy stop n go traffic should do the trick 👌🏽, you'll hate driving the car that entire time; but I can assure you; that works lol.

I know you're not a novice, but just incase (maybe for those who don't know). Simply taking the car for a 600 mile stroll won't break in a clutch. It's the on/off activation that does the job, just like a new set of brake pads; the transfer of new material needs to take place on the new mating surfaces (clutch disc's to friction plates/and flywheel).

My Exedy Twin got just over 100 miles (if that) on it before I found the nerve to just send it, and well... It held lol. Car was making around 420hp/300 torque. No slippage at all.

 

I will put at least 300-400 miles of just local driving and that should take about 10-15 days. I am definitely curious too see how this clutch performs based on how unassuming it feels when driving.

 

The ACT twin looks promising.

How is the car with the taller evo 9 first gear and the 4.08 ?

 

From the reviews of the 4.08, many acted like the car wouldn't fall out of a tree off the line or it would be hard to start going up a hill, but for just the normal driving I've done after 50 miles the difference is subtle. I don't notice a huge difference when accelerating from a dead stop even if I start on a hill. I won't have a good feel for the 4.08 until I get the clutch broken in and can jam on the car, but my initial thoughts are the car doesn't feel too much different when driving normal.

I debated going with the EVO 8 first gear, but the actual numerical difference is very minor at 5% and a 2mph difference at 7000rpm. When you factor in the cost to swap 1st gear it just didn't make sense for me since the car is just a dd and I've only gone to the track once.

 

I have a few updates after putting ~225miles on the new clutch. So the trans has been doing well with no issues until Wednesday when I gunned the car in 1st gear, which was no big deal. I drove the car about 2 additional miles and then started to hear a gear whine on deceleration that was not previously there. This has been going on for a few days and hasn't gotten any worse, but I am only concerned because it was silent the first 2 weeks. The usual assumption is the transfer case is starting to go due to a worn pinion bearing.

I put the car on the lift and drained the transfer case, which showed almost nothing on the magnet expect a very light coating of dark smudge that covered a small portion of the magnet. I torqued the drain plug and then filled it back up. I then checked the rear diff and it had a significant amount of fine particles on the magnet, but no pieces of metal. I torqued the drain plug and filled it back up. I then took the car to my buddies shop and we isolated the deceleration noise to the front of the car and in his opinion the whine was coming from the tranny and not the transfer case.

I did a search on the MFactory final drive whine and there are numerious posts about this in the various communities, acura, honda, mazda, etc. According to MFactory, the whine has something to do with how the gear is cut, which is not the same as OEM. I don't notice anything wrong with how the trans operates or how the car feels so it is only a noise. It does this on all deceleration conditions regardless of in gear or in neutral and regardless of clutch in our clutch out. I called MFactory this morning and they confirmed this can happen with their gears and not something I should be concerned about if the trans continues to work properly. I also discussed this with Jack's since they originally rebuilt the trans and they were also thinking it could be the final drive.

In the interim I ordered more Mitsu transfer case fluid because Shep told me a way to inspect the gear in the transfer case for wear. Essentially, you drain the fluid and remove the inspection cover to see the wear pattern on either side of the gear. They sent me a picture of what to look for if the gear is damaged. If the gears looks good I'm gonna drain the trans fluid to check the magnet to make sure there is no unwanted metal. If that looks good then I will just continue to run the car until something happens.

The next thing I did today was to relocate the vacuum source for my PCV setup from the PCV can to the front valve cover. I wanted to see if the vacuum was the same between the two references. Essentially, I don't see a noticeable difference whether I read the vacuum from the can or from the front valve cover. While I was doing this I decided the short the Hobbs switch to check out the vacuum with the air pump turned on. To my surprise it wasn't turning on. Upon inspecting the 15amp fuse it had blown so it was not working when under boost. This might explain why I had oil pushing past the rear main seal. I swapped in a 20amp fuse and it works like it should and pulls ~5" at idle. Because I monitor the pressure with my AeroForce Gauge it allows me to set a warning light. I now have the warning light come on anytime the PCV presssure exceeds 0psi.



Since the PCV is working and the clutch has ~225 miles I decided to do a few 1-3rd gear pulls on the new clutch with boost ~31psi. The car screams as usual and the clutch performs flawlessly. I didn't try to bang the gear as hard as I could, but it switched like butter at 8500 RPM with not problems. It was nice to have the car going again and I think I'm going to enjoy this clutch. I will likely just take it easy for another 100 miles or so before really seeing what it can do, but so far so good.

 

For documentation purposes the clutch was installed with odometer at 157,375 miles.