Street/strip clutch & flywheel package

[Dragsinger]

Of all things, I am building a 1953 Studebaker as a hot street rod that, knowing myself, will see some track outings.

Primarily it will be parades, shows, and back roads running through the gears and showing a few youngins what Studebaker taillights look like.

Nice 350 SBC, Tremec 5 speed, as must as 7000 + RPM shifts, the car will be relatively light, I estimate around 3000 with the driver.

My question is, what is a good choice for clutch and flywheel?

[Rory McNeil]

Originally Posted by Dragsinger

Of all things, I am building a 1953 Studebaker as a hot street rod that, knowing myself, will see some track outings.

Primarily it will be parades, shows, and back roads running through the gears and showing a few youngins what Studebaker taillights look like.

Nice 350 SBC, Tremec 5 speed, as must as 7000 + RPM shifts, the car will be relatively light, I estimate around 3000 with the driver.

My question is, what is a good choice for clutch and flywheel?

I have a 59 Ford with a 428 Cobra Jet engine and Toploader 4 speed , with 3.50 gears, but it`s 4000 pounds. I originally was running a McLeod "Street Pro" with an organic 11" disc, with a 30 pound steel flywheel, which worked great on the street, but with slicks at the track, the clutch would start slipping in 3rd and 4th gear. Over the winter, I switched to McLeods "Super Street Pro", which has a organic facing on one side, and a metallic facing on the other side. I have only put about 500 street miles on it so far, but it has been working fine, and has good street manners. I haven`t taken it to the track yet, so can`t say for sure if the slipping with slicks is cured yet, but I will be putting 4.30s in for the track, so that should also make life a bit easier on the clutch. With a 3000 pound car, and I assume a fairly low 1rst gear ratio in the Tremec, either of those McLeod choices should be OK, unless you have tall gears, and plan on launching hard with slicks.

[weedburner]

The sbc version of a Ram Powergrip is organic/metallic dual friction and under $400 at Summit. Its a 550hp rated dual friction with very good street manners. I currently have one on a 19lb steel flywheel behind a 600hp 355 with a 250hp plate. Nitrous hits after a slight delay, no problem dead hooking radials @ 2525lbs or spinning the Powergrip 8500+ rpm. Very happy with it for a street/strip application.

I have run full face sintered iron solid hub units on the street, worked ok but hub splines and pilot bushings wore fast and didn't like the squealing during casual engagement. The dust also caused problems with the o-rings in my hydraulic throwout bearings.

The all metallic puck 650hp rated Powergrip HD has sprung hub and a marcel, but it occasionally shudders in my application when trying to feather.

Grant