I have an Exedy Pink clutch on my Hawk STi which is currently making 350 bhp and 360 lbft. I've always found the clutch to be hard work in traffic since it bites quite agressively and moving off from rest smoothly is a matter of getting the revs between 2000-2500 rpm and feeding in the clutch carefully, otherwise the car jolts. I've always blamed the clutch for this abrupt behaviour and was thinking of changing it, but my question is, is it the clutch itself or is it more likely a symptom of a lightened flywheel (I have no idea what flywheel I have)?

Given I'm going to 400 bhp later this year (already have a forged rebuild), I was considering changing to a Stage 2 competition clutch. Just wondering if it'll be more or even less friendly when I'm stuck in traffic. Should I be looking to change the flywheel too?

Thanks

David

 

I had an competition clutch and flywheel package on my last forged 2.5 blobeye running 440bhp, was a great clutch for everyday use no harsh bite or unwanted noises. I currently have an extreme lightweight flywheel and ap racing clutch in my hawk sti running 350/370 and i find it about as close to a stock one as possible......almost perfect in every way.

 

 

Is this what you're running?

https://scoobyworx.com/subaru-imprez...ge-13097-p.asp

 

I've had an exedy pink in my previous and current sti and no such issue with it being aggressive, in fact it's no worse than std clutch just a bit heavier

is yours an exedy puck/paddle clutch?

 

 

Your pink box should cope with 400 bhp or so. I was running 470/476 on my pink box . No issues . Now I'm rotated at 523/480 and 553/504 on meth. Still ok with no issues . Must stress not launching the classic but I do drive it hard .

Maz

 

Yeah, mine's a bit long in the tooth anyway, so plan to change it. I did see some folk are running very high power and torque with it, but like you say, it's about how you drive the car.

 

An awful lot of the pink boxes were ****, dodgy friction plates usually the culprit which caused a lot of juddering etc. So very likely that is the problem

A different friction disc would sort it, as would a complete new clutch ( non Exedy pink box ). The problem is there is simply no way to tell if it will be good or bad until it's already in there.

Extreme do singles that will easily cope with the power that drive fine, and you do not need any aggressive friction discs that will make them nastier to drive.

 

Just to update, I make the switch to a Stage 2 Competition Clutch and have to say, it's wonderful. I no longer stress about getting into stop/start traffic like I did with the Exedy Pink clutch. The pedal is lighter and the bite is much more progressive. It's just perfect. I did go for a clutch and flywheel package from Scoobyworx, so the change of flywheel is probably part of the equation.

All things considered, I think I can finally say my Hawk STi is the best car I've ever owned (the classics I used to run were fast but they kept going wrong. In the Hawk I've only had the CEL warning light come up once and it cleared itself almost immediately. That's in 2.5 years!!).

 

 

I need to comment so that I get a notification of a reply so that I can then click the above link on my other phone and save it to my favourites.
everyday driving how long would a standard clutch last? 100k?

 

I have a slightly sloping driveway and generally need do some manoeuvring (around too many other old heaps) when parking up.

My Subaru dealer changed the standard clutch on my MY'99 classic under warranty when the burnt clutch bad egg smells started at just 36K miles.

I fitted my 3rd clutch at around 105k and switched to an Exedy Pink which only started slipping at around 170K miles.

Having said that, I've now switched to a Competition Clutch on my Bugeye as the last Exedy that I fitted made terrible 'cement mixer' noises on the overrun that really started to p1ss me off.
After checking and changing this and that I finally binned the Exedy and, hey presto, the rumbling noises disappeared.

I've found the Comp clutch to be a bit heavier than the Exedy Pink but better (sharper and less juddery) on bite.

I have tried and then junked the lightened flywheel (I had been warned, but didn't listen) as I just keep stalling the thing when parking up.

 

A bad driver could destroy one in a day.

A good driver could easily see 200k+

There is no simple answer.