Well, I think it's time to do something with the clutch set-up in the '32. I've been running a stock resurfaced GM 168t flywheel, 11" pressure plate and 26 spline disc since I built the car about 10 years and 73,000 miles ago. The stock clutch works fine other than it chatters real bad now when it gets hot in stop and go traffic, yet it doesn't slip at full throttle, unless I power shift it (which I've outgrown). I called Centerforce today and they recommended the Dual Friction, but I don't think it's what I want because this is a daily driver. I do like the idea of a little more holding power, but I don't need 90% increase and I don't want to increase pedal pressure. They did say the Centerforce I is about 30% increase in holding power and the Centerforce II is about 60% increase in holding power. Has anybody had any experience with the Centerforce I or Centerforce II setup in a daily driver? Does anyone know the torque rating of these clutches? The guy at Centerforce didn't know. I'm also planning on a new steel flywheel in the upgrade.
I just installed a Centerforce Dual Friction last week in my Ford 302/T5 Falcon, together with a Ford Racing billet steel flywheel. I don't know if it's the clutch or the flywheel (probably both), but it's a great improvement over stock. Lighter pedal and smoother engagement. Great on the street. Don't know torque ratings, but sure it's plenty for me.
You can not go wrong with the dual friction in a street car in my opinion. I have had both clutches in a number of cars and have never found the Centerforce II to be be to much. The pedal pressure was still lighter than most clutches I've had including other diaphram units. I have used two dual friction units in two different cars in the last couple of years both sbc's with Ford toploaders behind them. Sold both cars to people that used them several times a week to drive in town and never had them say anything but great things about how nice they were to drive. Both were fairly mild setups with 3.90 rearend gearing. I did tear up a Centerforce I in a Camaro with an LS7 454 but that was not the clutches fault as much as a very powerful engine in a fairly heavy car and was prior to the Dual Friction being available. I just put a clutch in my 55 Chevy and did not put a Centerforce clutch in it because I have an NOS Scheifer Revlok that I have been wanting to try for years. The Revlok had a great deal more pedal pressure than any Centerforce I have had and if it does not work out I will be putting a Dual Friction Centerforce clutch in it cause they work and I stick with what works. Your mileage may vary.
Have a Centerforce 1 behind a 322 nailhead in my 51` Meteor. Works great, no chatter. Using a 9 11/16 Chev disc and an S10 5 speed. This is a cruiser, not a drag racer. Used the Centerforce 1 mainly because it takes a moderate amount of leg pressure to depress it.
Another vote for the Dual Friction; I installed one in a '64 Comet I used to have and it reduced pedal effort and gave smooth operation, clean shifts, and never slipped.
Presently have them in two cars right now. Behind a 400 plus hp and 650 plus hp without any issues. Work great.
First one I tried a II, I couldn't believe how easy the pedal was to depress. Held up great even with the abuse.
I used a 10 inch mainly because I already had the flywheel drilled for a 10 inch Ford cluthch. Same bolt pattern
I have run a Centerforce II assembly in my 37 Ford since 2010. The engine is a SBC 388 in front of a wide-ratio Muncie M22. The clutch has been flawless: light pedal pressure, great holding power and easy/smooth release. Then I started having problems in 2016, but those are not the fault of the clutch. My recent problems have been clutch-drag at the track, making it impossible to shift quickly. I still have no problem on the street; it is smooth, easy to shift with no vibration. But it now drags at the track. I kept trying to adjust more throw at the clutch fork for more release. But nothing helped. Then a buddy and I inspected carefully. Check out the attached photo. This is taken from under the car looking directly up at the pressure plate with the inspection cover removed from the scattershield. A hard foreign object obviously got into the scattershield area and got caught between the rotating pressure plate and the scattershield. There are other witness marks, but only one visible area of disk separation. One small area of separation, but enough to account for clutch drag. I will replace the Centerforce II assembly with a Centerforce DFX Clutch Cover and Disk. This is a less street-friendly setup, but it offers quicker release at the track. I'll scrap the removed disk, and set the removed Centerforce II pressure plate on the shelf to use on some future street project. On that point, Centerforce originally did not offer the disk and pressure-plate separately when I bought my Centerforce II in 2010. They do now, and I called them to ask what changed. The Centerforce guy said this is to support the buyer who had an oil-down of the disk during installation, like from a leaking rear seal. You don't want to have to replace a pressure plate under those circumstances.
Montana1, the clutches I used were 10.5" units. They are actually DF units for a Ford Bronco application as I remember. As mentioned above the parts were not available separate initially and it was the only way I could get a 10.5" clutch to use in a Chevrolet using the Ford four speed.
Thanks Finn, that's a good story! I have a 385" sbc in front of an Astro Performance T-5 that will take about 450 lbs. torque. The car weighs about 2600-2700 lbs. and is a daily driver. I will probably go with the Centerforce II because I like the soft pedal, smooth engagement and good grip. I don't think it will hook up too hard and break anything. I had a stock clutch hub spring come apart on the old bus one time and it got caught between the disc and pressure plate and did the same thing. I kept fiddling with the clutch pedal and it finally fell out the bottom. I ended up changing the disc out in a church parking lot in Columbus, OH. Next day I was back on the road.
Thanks for the info. It's always amazing to me how we can come up with a mix and match set up to make it work for our individual applications. That's Hot Rodding!
Still looking for torque ratings for Centerforce I & II clutches if anyone knows. I did find out from Centerforce that the Dual Frictions units will hold around 600 lbs of torque. That's good to know.
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