Clutch Choices!

[MidLifeCrisis]

Driving home the other night, while shifting into 3rd the clutch pedal went limp and stayed to the floor. The car stayed in gear. Thought I snapped the cable. Upon further inspection I found that the cable had not broken. The diaphragm fingers were still depressed but the pressure plate was still engaged to the clutch plate. The car is 400 mi shy of 100K. I was probably due for a new clutch anyway.

Do any of you guys have a clutch assembly preference? Good experience/bad with any particular brand? Any recommendations?

For a 96 Cobra.

 

[Alex_96Cobra]

I have a RAM clutch but it was in the car when I bought it (going on 2 years), but I drive it hard and it seems to hold up just fine. my $0.02

A

 

[Booyah]

Spec stage one should be good for you.

 

[spike31460]

For the money the "King" Cobra clutch will serve you well. Great performance and good Launch when you need or want it, but great driveability as well. D&D performance has the "kit" for $169. It has 40% better performance over stock with 8% less pedal effort. He has great prices for any Mustang driveline products. Check him out...Spike
Mine is in the mail as we speak....... can't wait ........hate to see the Cobra up on lifts........

 

[Lee]

Had a King Cobra clutch installed yesterday. So far I like it. I was surprised to find that the clutch pressure feels lighter in the left leg that stock. Clutch engagement is narrower that stock but controllable.

 

[Doug]

I would suggest a spec stage II...Thats what I have and I like it. I should have got a stage 3 or 4, but oh well.

 

[Nordi]

I have the FMS King Cobra and think it is a great clutch. It's been in for over a year and a half and I haven't had any problems. When I put it in there was actually nothing wrong with the clutch, the throwout bearing was squealing. So at 70,000 miles I wasn't tearing it apart for the bearing only.

 

[Poisoned Pony]

Last clutch swap, I went with a stock replacment because I was going to sell the Cobra, but since then I have decided to keep it. The 1st to go will be the pathetic stock clutch in favor of a SPEC stage 2, aluminum flywheel and Steeda adjustable cable. I drove another Cobra with this setup and I loved how it felt :thumbsup:

 

[spike31460]

I've heard nothing but bad things about the "made in taiwan" Steeda clutch cable. They snap very easily. I had bought the kit (including the quadrant and firewall adj.) and have installed the quadrant and firewall adj.. Had to do some fitting with the plastic stock quadrant to keep the billet one from rattling. If you want to know what I had to do, PM me, and I'll explain further. I refuse to install the cable. If I need to replace it at a later date, I'll go FRPP.........Spike......

 

[SVTMUST97]

I have the King Cobra clutch and love it. Also I just put one in my wife's 91 GT. It's not hard to do. Just remember to resurface the flywheel to the new clutch.

 

[SnakeDriver97]

I have a SPEC stage II...love it. I'm thinking I should have went with a III (430 @ the wheels)

 

[97greensnake]

i dropped a kIng Kobra in mine and it holds up great ....

 

[svtcobra808]

I have a spec stage III, and i can tell you this... it sucks for a daily driver, especially after a fresh install! Forget feathering the clutch, easing it in.. or easing period, you either go and no go. Sounds good but in reality... i was either burning out taking off or chattering the clutch trying to prevent burning it out... or last but not least, stalling the car trying to prevent both of them. Needless to say, it was not enjoyable for the first 400miles. The clutch broke in around 450-500miles, and before i knew it... i was in love with it. Even now, being in traffic, it somewhat sucks. It still has that go or no go feeling, but its very controllable now, whether cause i'm use to it or what. I had a couple friends driving it way past its 500mile breakin and needless to say, they reminded me when started to break in my clutch. So the outcome of that is they hate it.

Mind you i have a 4 puck clutch, and from what i heard, the 6 puck works alittle smoother, or should i say.. works smoother than the 4 puck. One thing about this clutch when you shift agressively, its definetly a tranny breaker!

 

[gmaine]

Hey SVTCobra808, I am also in the process of breaking in a Stage III clutch. After 350 miles, 1st gear is still shaky but getting smoother. This clutch really graps making a smokey burnout a piece of cake. I am still chasing down some squealing on mine which occurs periodically only when the car is in motion. Did you experience any squealing during the breakin period?

 

[svtcobra808]

Hmmm... none that i can't recall... although i do get a very slight chattering when its in neutral on occasion, but thats normal. As for the squealing... i'm assuming you installed a new throw out bearing, and lubed the inner race and the shaft stem?

 

[Mario92]

I went with the King Cobra clutch kit too. Bang for the buck you can't beat it. SPEC's are nice clutchs too but I'll try them out once I'm ready to do a 5.8 swap. :-D

 

[MidLifeCrisis]

Thanks for the input. I went with the FMS King Cobra clutch and pressure plate assembly. Its going in tomorrow along with my new Fluidyne radiator. The only negative thing about the new clutch is that it didn't come with an alignment tool!

You guys want to hear something funny? I went to my local Auto Zone to see if they had an alignment tool and the guy behind the counter told me I didn't need one, that the clutch disc was self-aligning!!

 

[johndt351]

I got the D&D SHD 11". 425 shipped, works wonders with N2O and 4.10's

 

[COBRA WOLVERINE]

spec stage 3

 

[spike31460]

Got the "King Cobra" all finished up today and am happy that I chose it. Very excellent driveability, and when you want to give it some, it will more than handle it............A wise choice for lightly modded stangs.........Spike............