Southbend and me are going to get into it here in the next few days. Clutch was put in with a new Fidanza Flywheel, broken in over about 1200 miles. As soon as I got the turbo on and was pushing over 170 WHP, she started slipping, BAD! 190 to the wheels and she just cant take it. Slips out of 2nd REALLY bad. Clutch is about 12 months old, actually 11 months, and 10 of those months where on an NA setup with light rims. I drive the car as a daily driver and do not push the car on a daily basis.

Jer can vouch, he road with me while I was at the ABQ BBQ. The clutch would engage, I'd step on it, and the RPMs soared, but we didnt! You may have better luck with the clutch than I did. Hopefully it is just a bad clutch out of the lot that they sold me. I hope their customer service is better than my experience with their product. I will let you know what happens when I contact them to see if they will replace the clutch or tell me to take a hike.

I can attest o the fact that his clutch is slipping badly. My OEM Original Clutch, on my RD2, with 86,000 miles on it, doesn't slip at all.

I actually find the whole subject about Southbend Clutches funny. If you go to NT or EXD and ask about clutches for a turbo setup, everyone and their mother will jump in and recommend that brand as being the best out there. But the funny thing is, none of them have turbo setups or are putting any kind of good power down. So how do they know? ...................................... But don't you dare argue about it with them!


Even though I grenaded the Clutchnet, it still holds a TON of power and lasted about 2.5 years. So far, I would say it's the best we've got.

I mean no offense by posting this at all, as from what I read you are a skilled and know what you are doing with a clutch install but:

Did you bleed the clutch slave cylinder after you installed the clutch?

When you remove the slave cylinder from the trans sometimes the piston pushes out of its bore and allows air back into the system.

I know it sounds like b/s, and you would figure that air in the system would only cause a spongy pedal and if anything would cause difficulty DIS-engaging the clutch fully, the only reason I even mention it is because of my experience just after I bought my second tib:

Took it for a test drive and it wouldn't hold shit, would slip in 5th gear at 2 grand (if I stomped it, it would go straight to redline). So I mention to the sales guy that it needs a new clutch and it will cost about $500 (average cost for the parts and labor, around here anyway), so he knocks $500 off the price of the car respectively.

So I baby the car home (2 hour drive - rd1's are hard to find out here!). Took it to school the next day (automotive program at a local college), and bled the clutch system. Note: there was what looked like fresh brake fluid right under the slave cylinder bleeder valve at the time, and it made me wonder...

Man was I happy when the clutch gripped up like hell! I was rather suprised that it actually worked, but it did.

I get a call from the dealer the next day, and he mentions they JUST put a new clutch in it and low and behold, when I looked at the pressure plate it sure as hell WAS brand new! So that means that one of their techs must have bled the clutch system improperly because the clutch still grips fine to this day.

Sorry for the long assed story jacking up your thread, but I figured I needed to explain myself to be properly heard, and if you haven't yet bled the clutch, it MIGHT be worth a try at least as it only will take 5 minutes of your time.

Of course if it doesn't fix the problem, then this really does suck and you should at LEAST get your money back in full.

Good luck.

Jer, thanks for the thread brother! cool.gif

tdonnell- I had the clutch installed by a very reputable shop here in Denver. As far as I know the clutch was installed properly. I am going to bleed the clutch and at the same time, remove our restrictor spring and see if that will help at all.

Really though, I have a gut feeling its the clutch and not a poorly bled clutch or the restrictor spring. I ran the car for 10 months on an NA setup and had no problems. When I upped the torque with the turbo, thats when I began to have problems. I will keep yall posted on the situation as it developes.

You can't have a clutch that's installed incorrectly. Once you turn the key and hear no *clang clang*, then you're safe.
There are morons that try to install the plate backwards, but there's no way to it's going to work like that. So like I said, if the car runs, you installed it correctly.

this thread make me happy i listened to others and didnt mess with the soundbend. next try you should try an ACT clutch, you really cant go wrong with them.

^^How do you know? Are you putting down 190whp in your n/a Tib?


You see, this is exactly what I'm talking about. People are recommending clutches for applications that they have no experience with. Just because it works well in a 120whp Tib, does not mean it's gonna hold 150+whp.

In MY experience, you could probably use 85% of the aftermarket clutch brands out there for an n/a Tib.

But when it comes to boost, there's only 1 or 2 brands that will:
1. Hold enough power for a WELL boosted Tib (10psi, 240whp+)
2. Not grenade in your tranny while doing it.

I agree. I think that's where half of the problems here come from, we have folks swearing about clutches but only pushing stockish power.

Maybe we need a Clutch Review Thread?