clutch recommendation

Hey guys, I'm continuing on my quest to be cheap in my swap and have a large pink elephant in the corner of my office I cannot ignore any longer: my future clutch.

For my swap, it is once again a 2000 LS1 and T56 being shoved into my '75 vette. The donor parts are at 83K miles and for all I know the clutch is original. Now I could go in and inspect the clutch and junk, however, I think it would be best just to replace it now while I have it all out.

Right now I plan on keeping the engine close to stock, but I have serious power goals in the future (distant future with regards to time, but not miles). I was thinking of going with a stage 3 for future proofing, but that will be overkill until I do mod for more power. The Fbody guys seem to be all over Monster clutches, but seem somewhat new to the game, so only time will tell.

So what are you guys running? I feel I should at least upgrade a little off of the stock LS1 set up.

Also, what should I have replaced?

Thanks guys.

If you upgrade your engine to more serious power levels, will you be pulling it out again? If so, use a stock clutch for now.

I believe I will be. That's when I'll be having it rebuilt. You don't think I should buy a stonger clutch now for future proofing? Not trying to argue, just looking to understand it all. Looks like I'll go for the LS6 clutch kit and call it a day until I get the engine redone.

SPEC clutches are grabby, but they chatter like crazy. I'd stay away for street apps.

Mine is rated at 450 tq. and it's still holding up at prob 600 right now.

I tried an Exedy clutch behind my T56, worked good. Smooth, held with stock power, no complaints.

Exedy is made by Valeo, same as SLP. Careful not to spend more for the same clutch, most of them are Valeos... from Germany I think.

I planned on staying away from Spec clutches. They even say there will be 'some' chatter. Haven't heard much about Exedy. It's worth a look. All in all I think I'm going to go with an LS6 or LS7 clutch. They're about $500 for pressure plate, disc, and I believe flywheel. All I need is a slave cylinder and alignment tool and I'm good to go. I haven't found any for that price in the aftermarket and they do somewhat 'future proof' me to a certain extent. If I wind up adding little things here and there, I won't have to worry about a clutch problem. Plus they are smooth as any OEM. Whenever I do go for big power, then I'll go for the big time.

greg75vette said:

I planned on staying away from Spec clutches. They even say there will be 'some' chatter. Haven't heard much about Exedy. It's worth a look. All in all I think I'm going to go with an LS6 or LS7 clutch. They're about $500 for pressure plate, disc, and I believe flywheel. All I need is a slave cylinder and alignment tool and I'm good to go. I haven't found any for that price in the aftermarket and they do somewhat 'future proof' me to a certain extent. If I wind up adding little things here and there, I won't have to worry about a clutch problem. Plus they are smooth as any OEM. Whenever I do go for big power, then I'll go for the big time.

Click to expand...

The Valeo clutch was smooth, held up and it was cheap. Unless you're making big power, spend your money elsewhere.

Well this one doesn't seem too bad. What I was finding was the stock replacement LS1 clutches were only about $20 cheaper than the LS6 and (a little more for) the LS7. Hence why I was looking at them. However, Seems like the valeo clutch at autozone is $391, but I have found a mixed bag of what is included (not sure if the flywheel is or not) If the flywheel is separate, it will be awfully close to the price of the LS6 clutch (which comes with a flywheel at the price I listed). I have a list of stuff to buy today at AZ and Advance, so I'll ask around and see what I can find. Thanks for the suggestion.

enkeivette said:

greg75vette said:

I planned on staying away from Spec clutches. They even say there will be 'some' chatter. Haven't heard much about Exedy. It's worth a look. All in all I think I'm going to go with an LS6 or LS7 clutch. They're about $500 for pressure plate, disc, and I believe flywheel. All I need is a slave cylinder and alignment tool and I'm good to go. I haven't found any for that price in the aftermarket and they do somewhat 'future proof' me to a certain extent. If I wind up adding little things here and there, I won't have to worry about a clutch problem. Plus they are smooth as any OEM. Whenever I do go for big power, then I'll go for the big time.

Click to expand...

The Valeo clutch was smooth, held up and it was cheap. Unless you're making big power, spend your money elsewhere.

Click to expand...

Well I look your advice and bought a valeo/luk/exedy clutch at autozone yesterday. I searched them out and it seems like they are an OEM supplier. Good enough for me so I went for it. $391.99 bought me everything I need except the slave cylinder (and maybe a bolt kit). I'll take it.