SPEC STAGE 3 Clutch Fitment

I just dont like tobz lol. I have numerous friends that had work done by Tobz (Evos) and had nothing but bad things to say about him...one had gotten his motor built by tobz and had a rod knock when the car was first started by the owner and tobz wouldnt fix it. Not meaning to make u mad or anything, but tobz isnt the Mechanic/Tuner to brag about...His work sucks balls. Out of 6 friends that had work done by him, only 1 liked him and he had a stock subaru tuned for fuel efficiency...

Well if they're taking Subarus to him that's the first problem. He's a DSM/Evo guy. ; ) His shop is always packed with Evo's so he must be doing something right lol.
 
lol the one friend that like him had a subaru. everyone else Evos and it does say that in my post. Hes better off going where he use to be, his drive way working on evos and street tuning them.

I can respect your opinion, I have never had an issue with him and like I said his shop is always packed with Evo's so he must be doing something right. He tuned my "stage 2" Evo 2 years ago on 91 octane and I can pull C6 Corvettes from a roll so I guess mark me down as a happy customer lol. He also took care of me when my BBS' got stolen and hooked me up with a set of loaner RPF1's with no collateral until I got the insurance money to buy new rims.
 

HolyCrapItsFast

Drinks beer!
Not to turn this around on the installer but there is a specific procedure for installing the throwout bearing. Essentially you have tio install the fork and bearing on the transmission first before anything goes together and then mate the engine to the transmission. Then once the engine is mated you simply push the fork toward the firewall hard to engage the bearing with the clutch.

Ask the installer if he did it this way. If not then the clutch will not disengage at all.
 
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Batmobile_Engage

Squirrel Meat Aficionado.
Staff member
Not trying to troll or start crap but this will most likely turn out shitty for you. I hope I'm wrong but I bought the same clutch from Defined Performance for my Evo 9 MR and had an Evo exclusive shop do the install and they ran into the same problem. Originally the vendor and SPEC tried to blame the installer (which is a joke) but after SPECS' "tech" people talked to the installer they came to the conclusion everything was done correctly (shocker)! Defined then had me send my clutch out for inspection to SPEC like he will probably have you do. Before sending the clutch I asked SPEC if there was any possibility that the clutch was defective and the tech said it was a one in a million chance. Well after wasting 40 bucks shipping the clutch and having the car down another week SPEC came back saying the clutch was fine and not damaged during the install so the issue must be my car. Sounds logical even though my installer told them my car was fine, so instead of having my installer try the SPEC clutch again and risk having to pay for 2 installs I bought a similar Exedy and it went in with 0 issues. Basically I think you're going to be left with an expensive paperweight unless they happen to say it is indeed defective. I should have known better when my installer (Owns and operates the premier Evo shop in Colorado and the surrounding states) asked me what brand of clutch I got, cringed and said SPEC clutches are garbage. Feel free to PM me for additional details, it really sucks man good luck.


(If this offends the mods feel free to edit or take the post down, just sharing my experience with the OP)

EDIT: I took out how the vendor handled the issue and sent it in a PM to the OP.

Ohhhh F M L !
 

Batmobile_Engage

Squirrel Meat Aficionado.
Staff member
No, but a bonafide transmission shop. The shop owner had a '06 STi for a while. I trust this guy...reasonably.
 

ZachTTLM

New member
I can honestly say that we have used SPEC on many of our builds as well with no issues. They make a good product, this is why it is hard for me to grasp the splines being off. The O.P. said they had the clutch in the car after it was all together the clutch wouldnt engage. How did it go the first time if they weren't lined up? I have had cases where we have installed a clutch on these and after a pump or two the clutch goes to the floor and stays there, is this what was actually happening?
 

IGOTASTi

System Operator
Staff member
I say we wait to see what the issue is before everyone jumps the gun. Thank you.
 

Batmobile_Engage

Squirrel Meat Aficionado.
Staff member
First off, holy shit did I get a lot of support from you guys, and quickly! Thank you so much.

I called the mechanic a little bit ago and discussed all the installation tips, etc. with him that
you guys mentioned. He confirmed that everything was installed that way and he said he's
done numerous Subies, some with SPEC clutches even.

He measured some tolerances on the inside spline grooves and found one very tiny area that
was a little different, i.e. a few thousandths of an inch. He ran a light file in there and found
a small metal burr in the paint. He filed out the burr and smoothed the paint, reinstalled and
everything is peachy. I'll pick it up in a couple hours.
 

Grinder34

Track Monkey
Glad it worked out for you!

Post up a review once you have some seat time with it!
 

IGOTASTi

System Operator
Staff member
Good deal!

Our goal here is to help each other and protect our members and vendors. :)
 

Batmobile_Engage

Squirrel Meat Aficionado.
Staff member
Post up a review once you have some seat time with it!

Will do! I can't wait until I get about 500 break in miles on it. I'll
be sure you let you guys know what I think.
 

Batmobile_Engage

Squirrel Meat Aficionado.
Staff member
Since this issue has been resolved, and is no longer urgent, maybe we should move it to the DRIVETRAIN section so
it's more easily searchable in the future for other members. Moderators: that's not something I can do, is it? If so,
explain and I'll do it.
 

Batmobile_Engage

Squirrel Meat Aficionado.
Staff member
I see your in Key West, I may be making my way down that way soon and would love to help you out with the install seeing as I know there arent many subie shops in that area. You can ask about my reputation on pretty much any subie site if you need to know what kind of work I do. Let me know. Also, Call Punisher Performance in Orlando. Scott is a good dude and knows his stuff as well.

I've talked to Scott a couple times, I think he's pretty professional in his work.

Whenever you're headed down this way, let me know. I'll show you one of the future winners of the STi of the Month contest ;-)
 

Batmobile_Engage

Squirrel Meat Aficionado.
Staff member
Well, the clutch obviously isn't broken in yet. lol I've only put maybe 5 miles on it so far
but I have to say I love the feel.

The pedal isn't too heavy at all, maybe just a little more than stock. Engagement isn't ridiculously
quick, rough or loud. I don't have to give it 3,000rpms to get rolling. I can slip it and get slow rolling
easily with no chatter.

It's so comfortable to drive and yet holds every bit of the power I'm making (385whp; I believe
it's good up to something like 550wtq). I'm sure Jordan at Defined can correct or confirm that
number.

I couldn't be more pleased! Thanks again to Jordan at Defined Performance for recommending
such a great product! It's EXACTLY what I wanted.
 

Batmobile_Engage

Squirrel Meat Aficionado.
Staff member
Well, about 5,000 miles later, and I'm still very happy with this clutch. It gets A LITTLE more grabby after being broken in and abused,
but still it is the smoothest performance clutch (on the heavier side of things [525 lb-ft. wtq. capacity) I've driven so far.

Still very pleased with this SPEC product.
 
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