New Engine, New Clutch.

[simon_y]

So anyways, As some of you know I am building my Euro R engine for boost through this endless winter. Some might remember that I made a Turbo rebuild DIY. That's whats going on.

I'm still in the planning stage cause I don't want anything to go wrong. But anyways my plan is to remove my Euro R H22a and rebuild the whole top and bottom end and reinstall the motor and new clutch and bolt on my Greddy Turbo Kit and go for a Tune.

Anyways, My question is how am I going to break in my new clutch? I can't drive it, or more like I don't want to break it in on the street and drive it around because my AEM is running an NA tune on it right now which I highly doubt is going to work very well on a boosted application. I don't want to bring my car in to tune when my clutch has 0 km's on it and not broken in yet. Then the first thing the clutch is going to see is full throttle pulls on the dyno before its broken in which could ruin the the whole life of the clutch.

What options do I have now? Do I look around to see if anyone is running a similar boosted map and load it on my EMS temporarily and break it in slowly on the street so it is at least drivable?

 

[Russianred]

I can share the maps I have with you, but they are def not for your engine. They are F23 maps. Devin (Hotaccord243) and Alex (Akoutmos) may have some more input on this. I know Alex does a bunch of his own tuning as well. My recommendation for breaking in the clutch is to daily drive the car for 500 miles to break in the clutch, but keep it in vacuum (no boost AT ALL), and slowly accellerate to where you need to go. It's going to be a pain, but I've done it for a month straight while waiting for a tune - on a basemap. As long as your car is mechanically sound and everything is set up right with no leaks, etc. and you stay out of boost - you should have no issues granny'ing it around. Hope this helps!

PS - If your NA tune can get you from point A to point B with no issues AS LONG AS you don't get into boost and stay in vacuum, you should be good to go! After all - all NA is, is staying in vacuum .

 

[jdmcg3]

this is a good question.. it now has me rising an eyebrow.. because i will too be putting in a brand new clutch with my swap. then going start to get a tune..

but to think about it.. on the dyno its not like they are shifting hard or dropping the clutch and doing clutch kicks. they just womp on the motor. so it shouldnt be to much of a problem.

 

[Russianred]

^ He's right and wrong. Really depends on the amount of power going to be put down. If it's within 300whp I would say it should be ok to dyno with a new clutch, it won't glaze because they aren't dropping it our being rough on it, just running the engine. Now if you were putting down way more WHP, then it may be a problem because the fresh clutch would have to hold that much more power without being broken in. These are my beliefs about this scenario.

 

[simon_y]

I understand where you guys are getting at. But aren't the clutches like new brake pads and rotors. Isn't there like a glaze or something that needs to be burnt off before everything really starts to bed in. I assume the clutch is the same. I don't know. lol. Because the flywheel and pressure plate is still all new and shiny. lol.

Well, I do have a pretty good NA tune. It was tuned more for maximum power than street drive ability. It's running super rich. During cruising my AFR is at a constant 11.5:1 -12.5:1. My friend said it pops flames from my muffler when I downshift and high RPMs. lol.

But the thing about the Greddy kit that I read is that boost starts to come on at around 2000 rpm according to some prelude guys who had/ have the Greddy Kit. So keeping it in vacuum is going to be hard, especially with the T2W4 transmission. 5th gear at 60 kmh is 2000 rpm exact, so you can imagine all the lowers gears. lol.

The TD05 18G turbo that I'm going to be running is small which is why boost comes on hella fast. lol.

 

[Russianred]

It's actually the opposite - where on pads you need to get the glaze off by running it, on a fresh clutch you want to PREVENT glaze by running it too hard. You'll be fine as along as you use the clutch the way it's meant to be used and don't tear on it. For the amount of power I am assuming you are shooting to make - you should be good, it won't glaze or tear up the clutch by doing dyno pulls and careful daily driving. It really all depends on the power you are trying to make - read my prior post.

 

[jdmcg3]

Nikita with the good info like always. Thanks bro

 

[Frisky Arab]

Seems kinda inconvenient, but you could pay someone to put it in their car and break it in for you... Now that I think about it, that would probably be a last resort type deal since they would have to drop their tranny to pop your clutch in.

 

[simon_y]

So I've been reading around and I may have to end up breaking it myself before the tune. I also have to break in my engine again before I can take it to the dyno. I also stumbled upon a post by Bisimoto on another forum. The OP of the thread had the same problem as I did and Bisimoto stated that he disconnect his charge pipe and break in the engine NA to guarantee that the engine will not see boost.

 

[jdmcg3]

Seems kinda inconvenient, but you could pay someone to put it in their car and break it in for you... Now that I think about it, that would probably be a last resort type deal since they would have to drop their tranny to pop your clutch in.