ACT XT Street & Lightweight Flywheel

[Weasel Soup]

As the title indicates, I put an ACT Clutch kit, SB8-XTSS, into my FR-S. The 347 ft/lbs of torque holding capacity is absolutely overkill for my car and engine power, but it is what was available. I would like to think that this will result in a longer lasting clutch, and it will be all I need if the car ever gets a supercharger or turbo.

I've got roughly two weeks, 1000 miles, and one RallyCross on it now, so I feel its time to put up a review. I'm putting this information up because I didn't find much about this setup on this forum.

I'm not doing a DIY because I used this one:

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...ghlight=clutch

It was very helpful.

The parts seem to be very high quality, and the box came with everything needed to do the job except for thread lock for the bolts. Side note, my car is a 7/13 build date and had 28,550 miles on the stock components. The car sees regular use at RallyCross events and has also done a handful of AutoCrosses. My factory throw out bearing was gritty when I took it out.

I didn't make any adjustments to my clutch linkage or pedal assembly during the install. My clutch engagement point changed a lot. My stock parts engaged fairly high up in the stroke of the clutch pedal and was pretty vague. After the swap the engagement is very near the bottom of the pedal stroke. The clutch also bites much more aggressively. I am no novice to manual transmissions, and have driven both new clutches and lightweight flywheels before, but never an upgraded clutch. I stalled the car more than once before getting on the road to go home, and about four times in the first 24 hours of use.

Funny note; the first start was done with the car still on jack stands and in neutral, the rear wheels were rotating. That caused my sister and her husband to ask questions.

I did also change to the Nameless header and their catted overpipe/front pipe and flash the OFT base stage 2 map during the clutch change. That means I cannot attribute all the differences to the clutch kit alone. Now that I've cleared that up, the engine accelerates much faster the before. There isn't much more clutch noise than before unless I'm doing dumb things like ridding the clutch. As stated earlier, the clutch grabs hard and fast. This makes gear changes easier to do fast.

My car also gave me issues getting into second gear stock. While this hasn't been completely eradicated, it is much improved. This may have just as much to do with taking the drivetrain out of the car as it does the new and different parts, but it is a change all the same. The quicker revs compound, the higher in the rev range the faster they change. This has the effect of pronouncing the nature of the FA20, it shines at high RPM now.

I may adjust the clutch pedal rod to move the engagement point higher in the pedal travel, but other than that I wouldn't change or second guess my choice.

[GsxrMe]

I've had the clutch for almost a year and love it. I never changed the pedal but wanted to at first. After the first 1000 miles I got use to it and the engagement pedal feel became perfect.

Of course you have the prolite flywheel and I have the streetlite. Just keep in mind with any prolite you may have a rattle when out of gear. It's normal and there's nothing to adjust.

[Fred E]

I also have the same XT clutch with the streetlite flywheel and enjoy the improved pedal feel and how it grabs the flywheel. There is definitely chatter at idle and it gets worse when the A/C is on, but that's to be expected.

However, the first one I had on just decided to let go in the middle of wide open throttle at ~250 ft-lbs of torque at the wheels. It was sent out for warranty and ACT determined that the pressure plate was defective and only half of the clutch was getting engaged.

The replacement clutch has been confusing as the engagement point seems to "move" as the clutch warms up. When cold, the clutch grabs when the pedal is relatively close to the floor, but grabs much closer to the top of the pedal range when warm. The clutch system was bled during install and again a few weeks later after I noticed it, but there has been no change. Anyone have any ideas?

[Weasel Soup]

Funny thing, we had a winter storm Thursday night. On my way to work Friday morning the traction control program managed to stall the car as I was pulling away from a red light.

[Weasel Soup]

Originally Posted by Fred E

I also have the same XT clutch with the streetlite flywheel and enjoy the improved pedal feel and how it grabs the flywheel. There is definitely chatter at idle and it gets worse when the A/C is on, but that's to be expected.

However, the first one I had on just decided to let go in the middle of wide open throttle at ~250 ft-lbs of torque at the wheels. It was sent out for warranty and ACT determined that the pressure plate was defective and only half of the clutch was getting engaged.

The replacement clutch has been confusing as the engagement point seems to "move" as the clutch warms up. When cold, the clutch grabs when the pedal is relatively close to the floor, but grabs much closer to the top of the pedal range when warm. The clutch system was bled during install and again a few weeks later after I noticed it, but there has been no change. Anyone have any ideas?

That sounds like a hardware issue, not a hydraulic problem. Did the whole setup get replaced, or just the pressure plate?

[Fred E]

Originally Posted by Weasel Soup

That sounds like a hardware issue, not a hydraulic problem. Did the whole setup get replaced, or just the pressure plate?

The whole system was replaced so that everything could be sent back to ACT for inspection. I might have to get the transmission out just to double check the install as a whole to find the issue.

[Weasel Soup]

I had trouble ensuring the clips holding the throw out bearing to the clutch fork were on to stay. It took four or five tries before I was satisfied with it, but I don't think thosec lips wouldg I've the symptoms you describe.

[Hyper4mance2k]

Originally Posted by Weasel Soup

Funny note; the first start was done with the car still on jack stands and in neutral, the rear wheels were rotating. That caused my sister and her husband to ask questions.

That's totally normal. Almost all manual cars will do this. The pilot bearing isn't frictionless, so the input shaft is still turning. Even with the transmission in neutral, the fluids are turning and rotating the gears. You can put your hand on the tire and it'll stop moving. If not, it's because the pilot bearing is bad, hanging up, or misaligned.

[Weasel Soup]

Originally Posted by Hyper4mance2k

That's totally normal. Almost all manual cars will do this. The pilot bearing isn't frictionless, so the input shaft is still turning. Even with the transmission in neutral, the fluids are turning and rotating the gears. You can put your hand on the tire and it'll stop moving. If not, it's because the pilot bearing is bad, hanging up, or misaligned.

Yeah, I've experienced it before. It's still neat to see, and fun when the un-educated see it for the first time.