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F1 Racing Stage 2 Clutch + 11.5lb Flywheel Review

7K views 37 replies 20 participants last post by  schmitty 
#1 ·
Considering there is so much contraversy over F1 products ive decided to purchase a stage 2 clutch and their 11.5lb chromoly flywheel and write a review on it. So first ill start with customr service. i ordered my clutch and flywheel from Gripforce.com for 250, and paid for the 2 day shipping. it arrived the second at around noon. Everything was packaged well including the clutch, pressure plate, throwout bearing, install tool and flywheel. No visual defects or damage. The clutch disk has good contruction. nothing loose. rivets nice and tight. torsion springs are stiff and secure. the flywheel is perfect cut and has a tight press fit pilot bearing. Ive installed the clutch and flywheel and now have 100 miles on it. Pedal effort is small with the stage 2. the clutch grips very well. either semi short or really short if you drop the clutch. slight clutch chatter was noticed during the first 50 miles, as a lot of clutches do during breakin. No more clutch chatter is present. Throttle response with the flywheel is amazing. definetly noticed over the 22lb stock flywheel. Overall this product is GREAT for the money. i would recommend it.
 
#3 ·
Exactly what I want to get for my h23a1 swap I'm working. Thank you for posting this because I thought I was going to have to do it myself. F1 for the broke ass people win lol!
 
#6 ·
UPDATE: Currently 1500 miles in. Feels great. good pressure, throw out bearing doing good, same with pilot. Grabs nice, no slip, holds strong. Good as a daily as well. Smooth if DDing and will grab quick if road racing. Lookin good. Ill keep ya'll luders up to date.
 
#9 ·
I can vouch for the stage 3 6 puck for the 3rd gen. I'm at about 4k miles on it now and works better than ever. Crazy chatter during break in, but it does well now.
 
#10 ·
Yupp. Chata chata. Its like the crank and main shaft are sayin "hate hate hate hate hate hate" at the beginning. Youll get more if your running a lightweight flywheel as well.
 
#11 ·
Luzer gave me advice to drop it from 2 or 3k to get going from a stop and that helped with the chatter during the break in. Realistically my break in period lasted like 1500 miles. That's a rough idea of how long it took for the clutch to become comfortable to DD on.
 
#13 ·
I had an F1 Racing stage 2 clutch and it sucked. It didn't even last me 500 miles on my freshly built b20a. The clutch disc tension springs broke. I must admit I raced my lude one time with my new clutch with at least 400 miles on it. But either way it shouldn't had fucked up like that. I'm running an OEM Exedy clutch now and it's perfect. I wouldn't recommend this clutch to anyone.
 
#15 ·
I can't speak for your springs but what you posted in 3rd gen was you babied it from the beginning. I on the other hand did many moderate to severe drops from the beginning. I am pretty sure my stage 3 six puck sprung clutch from f1 was ceramic. I also purchased a f1 racing 9.75 integra one piece chromoly fly at the time. Mine is great still. My only complaint is that the combination of the the two are little too much to deal with in stop and go traffic on the freeway where you have little area to move forward. Also that lightweight of a flywheel adds several hundred rpm to drop it in at to keep it running. I would say an additional 350 -500 rpm. Hopefully in the next day or so I can find out if I can increase idle by about 400 rpm and it still run right. I tried one method like the book says but that didn't do the trick.

I have not done alot of research on breaking in clutches just what I heard here and there. I know if it is anything like my hawk ceramic pads for the brakes, the manufacture says right on the box to do like 10 moderately heavy stops at like 40mph then like six all out slam the hammer down at like sixty to break them in. I just did this last month and they work great. Hawk box also said not to ride the brakes while breaking them in. I am not saying you didn't get a bad product but I would be curious what your flywheel looked like when you opened it back up to replace the f1 clutch. Was it stock flywheel and if so did you have it resurfaced while installing the f1 clutch? If not stock flywheel was it an f1racing lightweight flywheel?
 
#14 ·
I'm hoping to get a full life out of this stage 3. It was used by rev_rage and I can't vouch for his full experience with it, but so far so good here. It was good for my budget at the time.
 
#16 ·
Well, I drove nearly 1000 miles on my f1 stage 2 without giving it over 50 percent throttle. Break In AND installation is key. I currently have e around 8k on it now and it's great. The only one issue is that sometimes, especially in cold temps and initial start up it it grabs slightly as soon as I release the pedal and pulls the car forward until engagement and I think that's from when I installed it I didn't put very much high temp grease on the main shaft cause I was worried about contaminating the clutch disk so the disk sits toward the pressure plate side when it deos that.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
 
#20 ·
Glad I read this review, i'm picking up a stage 3 sprung clutch and 11.5 flywheel soon. I had a stage 1 exedy a few times now and I have had great success with them. Once I ran a 8.5lb flywheel... never again. Way to light, 11.5 was the next flywheel I ran it was perfect. I just need to beef up the torque capacity and for the price, you can't beat f1. Everything else close to 300lb's is $400.
 
#21 ·
A some people on the supra forums buy them for their MKIII's, the same case is true when it comes to what age the F1 clutch was made. Recent ones are pretty damn good for the money you pay. Now that I have money, next clutch I buy I'm going exedy, but if I'm ever in a situation again, I'll go F1.
 
#25 ·
Shoo, my F1 stage 1 failed on me when I was in 1st gear going into 2nd after a launch at the track. Shift out of 1st trying to go into 2nd and wouldn't let me. Clutch pedal stiffens up hard as a rock like I'm on Competition stage 4 clutch or some sh*t. Had to leave it in Neutral, force it into 2nd, and coast down the drag strip.

I hit 29 sec on a quarter mile. Thought I blew up the clutch, but nah. It overheated and just needed to be cooled down. Found this out after we're leaving home and it shifted fine. I was like "I could've do some more runs that day!!!" Oh well, I went Exedy stage 1 clutch and Fidanza 8lbs flywheel the next weekend after that. No problem whatsoever. Never gonna mess around with F1 ever again.
 
#26 ·
The only way I can see overheating a clutch is by letting it slip for an extended period of time. Clutches don't really over heat. They grab a spinning flywheel real quick and pressure holds it in place with the spinning flywheel. If you have the flywheel spinning against the clutch disc over and over by letting it slip you will over heat, but you are also using it incorrectly.
 
#28 ·
I had a stage two clutch with the 12lb flywheel...didn't go to bad until i pull the motor apart and realised the springs were getting ready to jump out of the plate. Didn't have much use on it either, but then again I don't know the hell it went through as my mates thrashed it all the time. The time I had with it was good though. I would say value for money :)
 
#29 ·
Well, on my F1 Stage 1 + OEM flywheel. The clutch is good so far. I've only put close to 3,000 miles on the car. Still pulls hard. When I got the clutch in it. I couldn't drive it worth a shit. Remember, I bought this car with a slipping clutch and it's engagement point was nearly to the edge of the clutch pedal travel. The car would engage hard and quick. I stalled too damn much on it :p. The engagement point was really low and I had to retrain my leg. But I broke the clutch in for 500-750 miles (total pita). This is my first manual transmission car and my first clutch breakin.

I should mention I didn't use the F1 throwout bearing as I heard it was crap and used the Exedy OEM one. I broke the Exedy OEM clutch trying to install my transmission, that was the reason for me to buy an F1. I don't do much driving to get more miles on it.

I've raced with the Stage 1 a few times (pretty much only from a roll except one time). I still mess up on downshifting as it's not smooth sometimes. So, I'll see how long it lasts from my abuse xD. But so far I like it. But, I'll only risk it again, if this clutch lasts and I'm ever in a bind again.
 
#31 ·
I have sold about 300 of these over the past year. Not just for Preludes, but every single make of F1 equipment.

I have had little to no complaints from all of them. 90 percent of my customers use these clutches for built engines, from bolt ons, to 600 hp track cars.

Id say they are worth it.
 
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