anyone have experience with Clutchmasters or RAM clutches.

I had a RAM Powergrip in a ~550 rwhp cobra and it was a super daily driver clutch and no slippage in the upper gears. Inoticed that they have a clutch for the 350Z now.

 

I spoke to RAM today, and they said they decided against making the clutch for the 350Z...damn vaporware!

 

I have the RPS flywheel and 6 puck clutch...the clutch catches faster but once I broke in the clutch I got used to the feel and readjusted the clutch travel its fine...the RPS flywheel is billet and weighs 14lbs...I paid 949.00 shipped out from my local shop because they price matched intense motorsports sale price which they are still advertising....

 

I am a big fan of RPS clutches/flywheels, for moderately powered cars...sub 500whp. I drove the 6puck, and its awesome. You can easily get used to the engagement, and pedal is about 25% stiffer than stock, but not overly stiff.

 

Im waiting for their carbon/carbon setup to test out...RPS stuff is pretty slick

 

can someone elaborate on how the tilton is on hills? Im thinkin its a PIA...but id like to here some personal experiences.

 

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

This quote is going on my sig! ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Hard. Just like not on hills. Not really any different. The whole manual transmission on hills problem is a matter of speed with the clutch pedal and accelerator. The Tiliton forces you to be fast or you'll stall anyway.

I stall it most often after I get my ID checked after I've come on base while the gate guards are watching. (<- I hate that.) I think it's cause I'm trying too hard to be smooth so it doesn't make all that noise.

Anyway, I've figured out why all the NASCAR, Indy, CART, and F1 guys always burn em coming out of the pits. It's cause they'd stall like me trying to be smooth. The racing flywheel and clutch really isn't a street part.

 

Not to preemt my long-term clutch.flywheel test article in Sport Z, but I'd have to say that the Tilton is difficult on anything over a 5% slope. Use of the handbrake can help you to get the revs up without stalling the engine, but it's still difficult to find the friction point properly and feed in throttle smoothly.

As for any of the race cars that you might have watched on TV, there's other factors to explain those burn-outs. First, full race motors are not like our VQ35s- they usually have extremely peaky torque bands with lots of top end and very little "ummph" in the lower rev range. When I ran a Tilton full race clutch in my Nissan tubeframe GT car, it was easier to rap the engine up to clear it out and immediately let the clutch out to spin the tires. Once underway, there is immense holding power- even with a single sintered disc- and less wear, which usually occurs on getting out of the pits!. Finally, tires need to be brought up to temperature quickly and spinning them creates a momentary bit of friction which aids this.

 

I dont like the design of the RPS carbon carbon clutch. They use steel backing plates, and rivet the carbon material to the discs. ATS uses solid carbon disc, and the engagement is going to be smoother. The RPS carbon is also significantly more expense than the comparable ATS.

 

I have the JWT flywheel and its easy to drive. In fact i would say its an all around winner mod. Low rpms are loud not difficult. My flywheel now makes no noise at all when in neutral but i think i may be in the minority about the noise issue. Driveablitlity is great and it does make your car feel faster. The only thing that would keep me away is if i did alot of stop and go low mph traffic driving which i never do.