Any interest in a new clutch setup?
As you all know STILLEN products and ideas come from our experiences on the New Zealand Rally. In 2006 we ran the rally with a factory clutch and it broke, on the last stage of the last day...We were able to finish the stage and barely limp the car back to service but we did not want to risk that again. We knew that our upgraded clutch was going to be good and would not have any issues but the engineers at AP Racing told us that they could build something even better. But, it would require a lot of new parts that we would have to make.
This year we worked with AP Racing again to develop a clutch for our car that we never planned on offering for sale. The initial plan was just to build a one off setup for our race car. However, I have been approached by a few people to begin offering these clutches. There are a few important things to mention though. It's not going to be a readily available item, we are going to try to offer them without having inventory on hand, realistically it won't be the right clutch for the majority of the GT owner's, and it won't be cheap
This new clutch will consist of a much smaller clutch assmebly, 30% smaller and MUCH lighter. I will get the exact weight savings as soon as I can. Also, STILLEN will manufacture a new flywheel, fulcrum nose cone, and ring gear adapter. These parts are a combination of 6061-T6 billet aluminum and chromoly steel to make the complete kit.
This clutch will rattle. No question about it. It might chatter a little bit when you're first getting used to its operation. It will not be for 99% of the owner's of these cars. However, if you regularly track your car, or you launch the car hard, or you have added ALOT of power and need something a bit more extreme. This is the clutch for you.
Now, I am sure that I just scared everyone off by saying it won't be well suited for most of the people that own these cars. Or, that it will rattle, and chatter a little bit. But, let me finish by saying that I had the oppurtunity to drive our GT home this year after the rally was finished. I drove about 300 miles or so and after that experience I can easily say that this is absolutely the clutch that I would have in my car. It took a few operations to get used to the quick release point and it definitely took a bit more effort to push down the clutch pedal, but the overall feel was much nicer for me.
Here's the catch...The COMPLETE package. New clutch, flywheel, fulcrum, and ring gear adapter, comes to $3,650.00. This higher cost is directly related to the low production runs. If there is enough interest to get 10 or more kits produced I can lower the price significantly.
So...Is anyone interested in a new clutch option?
(I am currently trying to get more technical data from AP Racing in England however they are on one of their European winter vacations...Some of them won't be back to work until January 7th.)
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Originally Posted by kmillen
