Clutch

I know some people that are runing a 10 inch clutch in TA/FC. I know one that ran in the 5.60s.
What do you think? Is a 10" clutch the way to go and not the 10.7?

 

DOES SIZE COUNT?

 

Hello!
According to my wife size does matter but I'm not sure if we were still talking clutches or not. We use a 10.7 but have no sweet numbers to give you yet. My thought is consistency of clamping force vs. rotating mass. You pick! Can any of the gurus let us youngun's know what they have found out? I'm still trying to find The IDIOT'S GUIDE TO CLUTCH MANAGEMENT cliff notes.

Come on guys spill your guts.
Any thoughts are appreciated.
JDD

 

read national digger last week issue, regarding clutches past and present and you'll see what's hot and what was done in the recent pass....Warren dauzat

 

Funny cars have to give up more early(counter weight)so more slipping friction with a larger radius,works consistanty better.

 

Is there any good info out there, either on-line or in print that would be worth reading about clutch set-up? It appears that you start with the manufactures suggestion, then go run laps until you get a handle on it. I suppose there are just so many variables no way to even baseline a set-up. Like approximate hp and approx weight and gear = x-base pressure and x-counter weight. Any ideas?

 

If you give the clutch manufacturer the details of your combination, he will usually give you a good starting point. The thing to keep in mind is every car is different, and subtle differences can change the clutch setup quite a bit. Your clutch might also have fingers with different geometry, which could mean the counterweight could range from 40 grams to 100 grams. For what it's worth, I have found that our 10" Crower and 10" East/West want about the same thing, 66 grams per finger works pretty well with 2 1/2 to 3 turns of static (about 600 lbs).

 

66 GRAMS PER FINGER???PLUTONIUM BOLTS!!!HA HA J/K

 

Sorry, meant total.

 

Thanks Ken, I used to do a bunch of clutch work on a Pro-Mod car. This is one area of great interest to me. I enjoy hearing other opinions on what they want and like. We are strongly considering going to a clutch and a Lenco in our AA/FA for the 2005 season. I fig I had better get caught back up with the technolgy that is out here. Thanks again for the replies.

 

Ken, is there much difference between the Crower and East/West clutches? I have not seen an East/West up close yet. Thanks.

 

Other than the hat height, I found that the Crower and the East/West worked the same. I put a new East/West clutch in last year, with exactly the same counterweight and static, and the car ran as well as before. I did manage to gain a couple hundredths on the 60 foot with the new clutch, but I don't know for sure that it wasn't something else I did. I don't really prefer one over the other, they are both nice pieces.

 

Don't know that he wrote the book on clutches, but I'm told that Nick Bonnifante ( Bonnifante Clutches) is the man! He serves almost all the fuel Teams and a load on Alky guys. He is a past F/C pilot and his son, little nickey, is the crew chief for Bob Gilbertson. The family lives and breathes clutches and racing. Fuel teams fly into his shop to work on his clutch dyno. This guy knows his stuff. I can tell you first hand that he is a super guy and been alot of help to us. I'd give him a call and get the right hardware and set up with support after the sale. Brownman

 

A data logger is almost mandatory on a clutch car i think . It is the only real way to see when the clutch locks up for sure or breaks loose on shifts . One can compare the drive shaft speed , engine rpm's, and the input shaft to see what is really happening and when it is happening . The initial cost of a data logger might seem high but think what you could burn up trying to get close with the set up .

 

Dave, how about this data from the driver:
"when I rev it to the stage rpm I can't hold the car from rolling the lights" = too much static or driver needs to eat more spinach!
" when I left off the green I saw a lot of black dust inside the car"= asleep if he saw green or his left leg is telling his brain not to step off that pedal completely because his eyes are ahead of his balls !
" I never felt it shift"= both hands had a death grip on steering butterfly and were NOT gonna move, not even a thumb!

and finally for clutch "theory 101"
if the floaters look NEW after a weekend of raceing= not enough counter weight or the driver is never stepping off at all !!
or if the plates are royal blue add a little more counter weight or tell driver not to leave in third gear next time.

Good luck from: Dr. Dauzat's school of "don't do dat"

[ March 19, 2004, 06:16 AM: Message edited by: NITROITCH ]

 

Hey Warren....with "Pearls" like that..what else could a driver ask for. I'm told it's not Brain surgery..but if it's not done right you may get a rectal from the crew chief! Brownman

 

I cant belive you guys would trust never mind belive anyone when it comes to these cars,the first lockup clutch had 6 fingers,now we can have 9, PROPANGANDA ALL IS PHONY, AND YOUR NOT A FUEL GUY!!

 

Hey, nice posts guys. I agree on the data logger, although the driver one was pretty funny. It probably was not too far off the mark either. I would guess that leaving in third gear is just slightly better than doing the dry-hop in reverse. LOL. No it was not me! I saw it done though. It kills the lenco everytime. Anyway, thanks for the responses. This is why I keep coming to this site.

[ March 19, 2004, 03:32 PM: Message edited by: Rapid Randy AA/FA ]

 

Randy:

If you head in that direction I have several real nice clutches just laying around.

Bill

[ March 25, 2004, 03:10 PM: Message edited by: topfuelscum ]