Hiya everybody,
About a month ago I had a Cusco Twin disk clutch (the $1500 one) installed on my Evo and I have not been particularly happy with a few aspects of it. I don't care at all about the noize between shifts and the slight chatter it sometimes exhibits. I am concerned about the issues listed below and inparticular would like to know if I may have recieved a bad clutch or could it possibly be an installation issue...

1. At a stop, it is very hard to put in 1st or reverse. If I adjust the clutch pedal higher, it resolves that problem but then my clutch pedal is positioned FAR to high.
2. This relates to number 1 above: when launching, the clutch doesn't really engage until my foot is almost 5 inches from the floor. It is really hard to time my launches. My 60fts were good (1.7x) but my reaction times suffered.
3. Even when the clutch is fully depressed, the car rolls forward lightly when in 1st, and rolls backward lightly when in reverse. This symptom became worse after my third run Friday night.
4. In every day driving, my clutch engages THE EXACT MOMENT I start to release it but in this super light way, as if one of the twin disks is prematurely engaging. It just barely gets the car rolling and then the clutch REALLY engages after about 4 to 5 inches of lifting my foot off the pedal. Out of curiousity, I put it in 1st at a stop and kept my foot on the brake as I lifted the clutch pedal. As I lifted the clutch, it slightly bogged (went from 900 to 700 rpms, but didn't stall until I had foot 5 inches off the floor.

Well, what do you think?

 

Did you bleed the clutch line? Also I would adjust the pedal up more . How many miles do you have on the new clutch ?

 

About 800 to 1000 miles on it now. I did bleed it once (when I took out the restrictor) since it was put in. If I adjust the pedal higher, it feels ridiculously high, like I'm gonna hit my chin with my kneecap, lol.

 

Hrm these twins dont need to much time for break in period you should be more than past it now. My ATS is adjusted pretty high right now, but it always releases at the same spot. One other thing you could try is to call up lancershop and see if you can get a clutch rod extender, but in all reality it is a shortener My freind had this on his exedy twin and it helped engagment alot. Almost cut the pedal length in half but shifting was never a problem. Then you dont have to worry about it be adjusted to high. It is a thought , I have one other freind with the HKS GD max and engagment is about the same. It is pretty high ..

 

What he said above, get the Lancershop extender rod. I have it and it helps alot.

 

Put the bleeder back in tom. Taking it out=broken drivetrain. Plus with a twin plate, you want to slip the clutch a little anyways. However, i dont think this relates to your problem significantly.

 

Clutch dump = Broken drivetrain. I havent had any problems with launching with it out. My freind tried to leave the restrictor pill in with his exedy twin but then he had problems with quick engagment when needed to move on normal roads.

 

The same symptoms were there with and without the clutch fluid restrictor. I only took it out to see if removing it would help resolve the issues I was having and it didn't. I can pop it back in, but that is not the problem.

 

I can't comment on the Cusco specifically but I had a similar problem with another twin disk clutch (different make, different type of car). The issue was the plates occassionally sticking a bit on the spline. Some molybdenum lube eventually took care of it. If you don't find anything else that explains it, this may be worth a try. But I would definitely look for air first and if necessary power bleed to make sure (go to a shop that has the equipment).

 

I have a similar set-up except I have the exedy. When 1st installed I had some of the same symptoms as you, espicially the trouble getting into first. So I got the shorter actuator rod from lancer shop, put in a SS clutch line and problems completly solved(I left the clutch restricter in BTW). I also used lancershops short shift kit along with the bushing set. Made a night and day difference. Make sure your clutch is throughly bleed, that could very well be the root of your problems.

 

Seems like you need to re-bleed the line. I'd start there before ripping things apart or adjusting things elsewhere.

 

Because the clutch is dragging in your lower gears it does sound like the line is not bled properly...get a friends car side by side and check the movement/ or difference in the movement of the slave cylinder rod located under battery/airbox

 

As far as bleeding the clutch, smog was experiencing the same problem before we removed his restrictor pill and re-bled the clutch line. There is a good chance that a few bubbles did not work their way out when we bled his system. I guess we can always try to bleed out the sytem before he goes back (again) to the shop that installed his clutch. After reading another thread on this clutch, there is a huge possibility that the installer could have made a mistake by not properly installing the clutch.

 

I had an Ogura twin disc clutch in my car. I had almost the exact same problems as you (car creping in 1st gear, starts grabbing right away, buit doesn't fully engage till foor is almost all the way off, etc...). I thought it was air in the clutch line, bad throw out bearing, or bad pressure plate. After taking it all out, we saw that it was the metal plates between the discs burnt.

I also had similar experiences with the HKS GD Max. The metal plates that sandwich the center clutch disc broke the rivets around it that held it in place, so the center clutch disc was floating.

 

I have the same clutch without the extension rod. Doug did adjust the clutch pedal slightly though to get it to feel right. It is hard for me to get into 1st and reverse, but not too hard. I honestly love my clutch and dog it daily and have no problems so far. The chatter comes and goes, but it really doesn't concern me. Mo has it too and has no problems. Your clutch may be messed up. Good kuck.

Matt