The kit that I got with the unfinished car, looks like the sachs 215mm that rod simpson (currently?) sells. Is that adequate for a mild cam 283? Has anyone had a bad experience and ended upgrading to the 9" (228mm) from kep or renegade?

I guess I could try it and see, but if the general experience is bad, I would consider upgrading before I put the motor/trans in the car.

Thanks

I don't have direct experience with that configuration but I am running a 930 transmission with a KEP plate along with a Sachs (240 MM) disk and the disk seems to be going away with only about 8k. I'm not saying it doesn't hold but I can tell the difference in how it grabs. I am running a 350 and likely have taller gears with my trans. I am sure others have direct experience and can chime in.

From past experience:

You need to upgrade to the 228. The pedal pressure is stout with the 215 conversion parts. They had to really step it up to hold any kind of torque with the 215. A StageII from KEP will work fine.

KEP started the adapter plate/clutch conversion business in 1968. Everyone else came along much later.

You can build it with the current parts.. you just wont like the clutch pedal sitting on a hill in SF traffic


B

They all buy from KEP IIRC. the adapter plates are made in house though.

Mild cam 283? You'll be fine with a 215mm.

Im running a vw assembly... 200mm (iirc) with my semi wild cam 355, with fi, headers.. bla bla bla.. The clutch is awesome... NEVER any slip... it revs SUPER fast. (to fast for a street car... oh well.. hehe)

Andrew

Oh ya.. thats with stage 4 from KEP. awesome customer service.. guy went out of his way to find the stuff to get my setup working right.

i'm using the KEP with no problems but i've just started using it. light and grips well.
355 SBC.

Roger... Dont worry bout it... abuse it! As long as the tires "spin" then you arnt breaking anything... lol

And yes... I've launched it too... nearly pee'd myself (because I didnt want to break it.... lol)

I also have a Renegade kevlar disk and used it for a short time. With that one there was no slippage at all. I didn't reinstall that one because I was still working on my hydraulic clutch setup and didn't want to damage it. When the current Sachs goes I will put the Kevlar one back in.

I'm running the 9" Kevlar clutch and so far it's holding well. First week after upgrading from the smaller clutch I broke 3 CV's

The Kevlar is damn near bulit proof once it's broken in.

Great feel, long life what more could you want?

The small size stuff needs some huge clamping pressure (and pedal feel) to hold decent power. Need to be sure your clutch tube is in good shape if you go this route.

BJH

Thanks for all the replies!

I have the stage 2 215mm sachs.
Since it's new (and paid for!) and might be good enough, I'll give it a try.
If it likely wasn't going to work, I'd bite the bullit while it was out. Upgrade with the flywheel, clutch parts is probably a good chunk of change.

I noticed Simpson's site had a kevlar for the 215. What is the visual difference between a kevlar and a regular ? I think mine is a regular if it looks like organic material brake pads)

Here is a picture of my kevlar disk.

yeaahh! ...Mines NOT kevlar.

Changing the disk may be a cheaper option for me than the whole setup.

sorry for the mini hy-jak...

Andyrew, you forget about the 11 1/2" wide rubber upgrade??? there'll be little tire spinning i hope. =-) but i know that makes for greater potential of breaking a tranny. LOL i'll launch it at the end of the summer when i have all winter to find a G50 replacement....

new, not used Kevlar is fuzzy kind like a tennis ball. Once broken in, they look like drive-ablities.

BJH

One thing I noticed with my Kevlar cutch is how little material there was. I never seen a clutch before and the used one I took out had no material what so ever on it.

I just checked and surprised it's like $295 for the kevlar disk at RSH!
I hope these things last. They seem expensive, and somewhat small(compared to the 11in on my other SBC.)

Launching asside... All my full throttle 2nd gears with new 255's on the back stuck.

And that was the limit of the tires... I dialed in a tad bit more low end tq just for the heck of it.. and I just spun the tires.... Thats what happens now... But my timing isnt right... my top end sucks. (dizzy swap.. dad "borrowed" it.. for his elcamino... grr reinstall screwed up my "perfect" timing..)

Andrew

You are also moving a considerably lighter car... so you shouldn't need as much clutch.

Ive seen them still working fine @ 40K HARD miles

Ended up replacing it anyways going from a 914 trans to a 930

BJH

I'm running the stock 240mm Sachs disc (smooth engagement) coupled with a monster KEP 930 pressure plate. It's a bear to press down, but it behaves very well and doesn't slip at all (435HP to the tires). KEP says this set up is good for 550 ft lbs of torque and I have less than that. So far so good....until I cheat and give it a 200 shot of NOS...WEEEEEEH!

PS I have talked to a number of people running the kevlar disc and they all seem to like it. The only thing is you have to carefully break it in for a few hundred miles. If you don't do this properly, you'll smoke it. Scott @ Renegade told me this.

Maybe I'm the only one, but my kevlar experience was not so great. The disk was a couple thousand miles old when I bought the car, so I didn't break it in. It slipped bad under load, which caused heat, and quickly warped my p plate.

I swapped it out for a Kennedy Stage II kit and have been happy as a clam with that set up. I talked to Brad before making my change, and as I recall he was not a big fan of Kevlar ("kevlar is not a friction surface", or something like that). The disk was smooth as glass when I took it out.