GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

Hey guys,

Here is my current drivetrain setup:

Spec Stage 3 sprung 6 puck semi-metallic disc with lightened pressure plate option
cryoed Racing Beat 9 pound flywheel
cryoed stock PPF
newly rebuilt tranny with cryoed synchros
Differential brace
stock driveshaft, diff, axles, toe links and trailing arms.

I have a TII diff sitting on the shelf to be installed soon, along with rx7.com diff bushings and rotary extreme toe links and trailing arms.

I'm mainly concerned with the axles. I spoke with Ari over at www.rx7.com at length today, and he recommends running MT ET Streets in 26x10.5x16 or 26x11.5x16 in order to gain traction while simultaneously minimizing chances of drivetrain failure.

I am having the diff swapped in soon, and it seems that if I am going to get the 300M chromolys from Ari, now would be the time being that the axles have to be removed anyway. The suckers arent cheap at 800 bucks, and I can get them cheaper than that, but not too much cheaper, lol .

So, what are my options? Will I snap an axle with my current setup, making some occasional/amateur passes down the strip? Once Ari is in NJ, if my FD is track ready I may see if he can click off a 10 second pass in my FD. I figure if anyone can do it, he can.

Having said all this, my FD is primarily a street/highway car, followed by some road racing and occasional drag racing.

It seems the expensive decisions never stop with this car

Swolbynos

buy the axles from the www.driveshaftshop.com they are $550

that is the ssame setup i will be running except i have an Exedy twin disc. hopefully some others will chime in

Larz

Goodfella, you just can't stop, can you? But I don't think any of us are in a position to talk on this forum. God I wish I had the money to dump into my FD like you do. It was always my understanding that a 6 puck would make the car a major PITA to drive on the street, but I haven't had the opportunity to drive one myself. And it has been my understanding you street drive your FD quite often. From my understanding of drag racing FDs, the stock axles seem to be rather stout compared to some of our domestic counterparts. The few FD drag racers I have associated with that have swapped to cromolys have been happy with them.

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

Hi Larz,

I have been saving up for over the last year, and in that time have really only put gas in the FD.

Looking for more input---I am thinking that these axles will just be pricey overkill for my application.

treceb

i daily drive my 6 puck. and since i have a lot of slop in my rear i havent really launched hard at the track. maybe ill look for a safe area by me to dump the clutch a couple of times. everything is stock, old and worn from the tranny back.

Robertio

If it's any help I wont be running ET streets on my car as I'm fairly sure the axels will fail. In the space of 2k miles I lost my gearbox and diff (with KG diff brace) so I'm sticking to Toyo R888's which are pathetic (in my limited experience) for launches, but grip well once rolling. If I could afford the axels I'd get them and ET streets then run a sweep on when the diff would let go again.

If you can afford the axels I'd say go for it, it's one less thing to worry about.


I'm also running a 6 puck Spec clutch and I'm not sure what to make of it. Some times it is fine, other times the biting point seems to move around randomly. Have so far lost the clutch completely on 2 seperate occasions, it then returned after the car was left sitting for a while. It's not much heavier than stock when pressing down, but does spring back with a lot more force. It is by no means un-streetable, and I find it perfectly useable but do tend to avoid holding it on the biting point.

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

^^What in the hell are you doing/how much power are you making to blow out a tranny and diff?

I just mailed my TII diff out to www.cryoscience.com to have them freeze it. For $60 bucks plus shipping one way (they pay the other way) you can't beat that

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

Rich,

PM "RTS3GEN" here on the forum. He's been thru about 3 trannies, 2 diffs and a few axles with an un-sprung 6 puck (he does road racing as well as a little drag). He recently switched back to a sprung 6 puck (after the last tranny failed at a road racing event) to get more life out of his components. He's now running another beefed up tranny from Pettit, Kaaz diff and the RX7.com chromoly axles.

BTW: He's about 359rwhp

Robertio

About the same as yourself (a bit over 400rwhp). Tranny let go on the first 1/4 run, diff called it a day on the dyno (after about 150 pulls).

Since then the car has been used purely on the street and nothing else has broken. To be fair I can't go WOT 2nd to 3rd at the moment, I'm waiting for solid engine & diff mounts to cure this problem (not yet warm enough to go WOT in 2nd without lighting up the tires anyway).

Mr3plus1

iTrader: (5)

Out of curiosity, how does that spec 6puck drive? I have the stage 3 sprung 4puck and its a bit annoying. If you're racing its great, but for street use its very akward. It doesnt like to engage in the same spot every time (and I have yet to figure out exactly why). It makes this really weird metal squeeky noise about half the time I come out of 1st gear too. Im wondering if the sprung 6 acts the same?

Mr3plus1

iTrader: (5)

Finally, someone else who has the EXACT same symptom as me. Im running a sprung 4puck spec clutch and it does that to me. Sometimes if I sit there right at the catch point and barely engage the clutch it'll catch and then all of a sudden totaly let go, I pull the pedal out a good 1 or 2 inches and BAM! Instant engagement without warning. Does yours require different amounts of throtttle to engage smoothly too? Sometimes It'll engage fine with, say, 10% throttle, other times I'll go to let it out with the same throttle and it bites instantly and kills the car. Doesnt seem to be related to how hot or cold the clutch is either.

Fritz Flynn

iTrader: (263)

Typically sprung 4 or 6s are about the same it's the unsprung clutches that are a bitch for daily driving.

I think the feeling of release is related to rpms and rev speeds not that the clutch itself is releasing at different points it's more a matter of when it grips based upon fly wheel speed and heat.

On cold mornings my clutch slips more which makes it engage smoother but once heated up I need to rev pretty high and slip a bit for a smooth release.

I find a quick rev to 3500 makes for a pretty consistent take off. I have the spec 6 sprung with an 8lb fly.

Rich,
RE your question. It's all about bushings and how good you can drive. I'm sure you've had enough exp launching and your bushings are probably excellent as well so you're fine with the stock setup. Don't waste money on axles and please don't cryo treat anything else LOL

Peter Ferral could run in the 9s and 10s all day with a stock drive line.

IMO solid diff bushings are not good for hard launching or much of anything else. The more torque you can transfer to bushings shocks tires etc....the longer your drive line will last. Of course you need to replace the bushings on occasion

tcb100

Goodfella, I have made repeated sidestep launches at 7,500RPM-8,000 RPM & I'm still on the stock driveline and axles with 100,000+ on them.

I think MT ET streets are the reason why nothing has broken yet.

Peter Ferrell & Ray Wilson broke exactly one axle over all the time they raced. Peter told me that so long as you are using ET Streets and have your pressures down in the 12 range, you don't need fancy axles.

And I had exactly the same inconsistency with the grab point on my sprung 6 puck and on an iron clutch as well. I suspect its a flywheel problem.

Somedays engagement is not much different than a stock clutch, other days I'm lurching all over the place. Beats hell out of me.

Mr3plus1

iTrader: (5)

On a side note, I have the upgraded rear bushings (not solid. RX7store sells them. They're just non liquid filled). They're awesome. No noise, no vibrations, but it really helped. Although, in comparison, my old bushings were shot. One had torn all the way through and leaked some of the fluid out.

I'll try your method Fritz. I have a racingbeat flywheel. Ive been blipping the throttle to like 1500 which seems to work about 60% of the time. When its cold in the mornings it sucks, and when it gets real hot from stop and go traffic it starts to get a lot more grabby. When its warm it seems to be the most predictable.


Im still trying to figure out what the squeeking is. It only does it when Im coming out of first gear and not every time. I thought maybe the clutch was backing some of the bolts out, but I checked that and nothing. I thought maybe I was torquing the engine and drivetrain over and it was rubbing against something, but I cant find anything. Seems to be totaly clutch related. Maybe the springs in the clutch?

Robertio

Yep, sounds exactly the same. Only time it is 100% happy is if the car is driven brutally - lots of revs on launch and just banging it between gears works fine, it's just when driving around normally it is inconsistent.
Fritz's temp theory does tie in to a certain extent - a couple of weeks back it was fine from cold, drove for 20 mins without any issues, stopped to buy some food, got back in and the biting point was all over the place. Yet other times it is fine when warm.

t-von

iTrader: (8)

What are side step launches and what kind of 60ft times are you getting? I also have a sprung 6 puck but I'm switching to a stock disc here shortly for better drive ability.


So overall your saying it's safe to dump the clutch at 7,500-8,000 with a sprung 6 puck and ET streets with 12psi pressure?

rotary

i had a unsprug 6 puck and blew out 2 diffs in 2 months and my car was basically stock at the time. after the second diff i bought a kaaz. i also cracked my power plant frame. now im runnin a street strip clutch i like it better than the 6 puck. less chatter and its better for street use especially when you drive to manhatten alot.

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

^^^You will never ever ever catch my FD anywhere near the city.

AnthonyNYC

iTrader: (3)

I've driven my car really hard before with the ET Streets and stock twins pushing close to 400HP. I never really broke much. Maybe an axle here and there.

This season I changed the tires from ET Streets to the new MT ET Drag Radial and I have been breaking drivetrain parts in the last 2 events.

I first broke my 4.33 gears and then the axles. This Sunday I raced at the import survival series at etown and broke both axles but then you have guys like JD that run drag radials all the time and do not break anything.

I even dialed the car down in HP to 480-500 this past weekend and still broke both axles. I personally think its the drag radials. I am headed back this Friday to Etown with my old ET Streets and we'll see what happens.

That is good info from Peter Farrell. Here is a pic of the damage.

Anthony

HotWheel

Atco Nj 2003 it was stock with a cat back ACT Street Strip clutch/ pressure plate
and SR motorsports 9.5 aluminum fly wheel !===== SPider gears, syncro's,
and water seals Cost me $5K F@#k drag racing !

I Do the twisty's Know

mono4lamar

iTrader: (32)

yeah doing stuff from the dig will do it to your driveline... i havent tracked the car yet and i dont know if i want to. i get my thrills from rolls. i dont think i would ever get a spec clutch. im in the process of figuring if its going to be the racing beat 6 puck or from the ZX3-XT00 ZX3-HDR6. im looking for 450-500whp and its going to be turned down most of the time but when its gets opened up i need somethin to hold and hold well. any advice would be appreciated. also think i should so the kazz or some sort of lsd mod? walk me through this a lil bit. im not clue less but i would like some input.

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

If you don't want a spec (mine is holding up great) look into the new ACT sprung 6 puck, which you may have mentioned above, the zx3 hdr6. I think the sprung 6 puck is a great streetable clutch for high torque applications.

89t295k

My rps ext pp 6 puck ceramic sprung (what a mouthfull)just started to slip in 4th at the strip after two years(6-8k miles) of abuse.
At least 100 drag runs and countless burnouts.

Any more than 14 psi and it slips after a few shifts on the stock flywheel....it is a pita to drive in traffic so I am looking at the exedy twin now.
It got me an 11.6 at 121 though.
The flywheel has been resurfaced twice because it always gets heat checked(from slipping it in traffic???) the disc looks new though.

I wonder if a crome moly flywheel will wear better?


Seems like all the drivetrain problems are from dropping the clutch and non sprung setups.
I slip the clutch and have had zero problems...but, my flywheel pays for it.

I just want to run 20+psi down the strip once to see what she can do.

ErnieT

iTrader: (2)

Rich,
Just bite it and buy the axels and kazz. You will have no issue's with drivetrain failure. You break in the kazz right and you'll barely know its there. I've had two in each of my 7's. You MUST use the kazz diff fluid and nothing else. And drop it at 9K baby!!!!

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

big E, this thread was started a little while ago.....I have since went with a new cryoed TII diff/4.3 gears/rp diff bushings. Kept the stock axles. I am very happy with the setup, esp the 4.3 gearset, really woke the car up wrt throttle and boost response