hi, the time is fast approaching to replace the clucth in the XR8. now at the moment it has a clutch industries/PBR heavy duty clutch. ATM the clucth slips quite a bit under hard accelartion now im not sure wether the clutch plate is rooted or there just isnt enough clamping force from the spring to hold it secure against the flywheel

ive just bought the car about a week ago so im not 100% sure on its history. ie. when the clutch was last replaced and if the flywheel was machined etc etc.

my questions are:
what clucth kits are you v8 guys using?
what sort of money am i looking at spending for a decent clutch kit?
what sort of power are your motors putting out?
are any of you running a lightened flywheel?
is it worth the extra money?
or should i just go for a standard replacement flywheel?

also last time this car was dynoed it put out approx. 130kw at the wheels.

any reply's are much appreciated, cheers

i don't drive a V8, but i've heard that the brass button cluchtes are ok, i run a exedy heavy duty in my 6, now a question i want to ask, 130kw, thats abit low for an XR8 i would think? a new heavy duty should do it.

what clucth kits are you v8 guys using?

PBR clutch.. good s**t, good pedal feel, do the job, and "EL XR8" on here is pushing 200+rwkw through one. So it'll cope with 130odd
Unless you are going crazy doing burnouts all the time or going to the drags every week, I wouldn't go anything much beefier.
You'll just end up with a clutch that is a pain on the street.

are any of you running a lightened flywheel?

EL XR8 is, we put it in at the same time we did the clutch.
He seems happy with it, and I'll probably go one myself when the time comes.
hard to tell what difference it makes, hes got the blower as well.


or should i just go for a standard replacement flywheel?

a yella terra lightened flywheel is cheaper then a genuine replacement flywheel from ford.
Or just get yours machined.

As Jared said above, I'm just running the Heavy Duty PBR one, with a Yellaterra lightened flywheel.
I haven't driven it a huge amount since its been in, probably 1,000km's or so. But its holding well. I didn't want to go Ceramic or anything extreme like that, as i'd rather my clutch wear out over a few years than my gearbox spit itself into pieces.
The lightened flywheel was alright. It made a little bit of difference, but nothing huge though. Just let the motor rev a little more freely and quickly.
Unless you want a new flywheel, then i'd probably just get it machined. I'm not even 100% sure why i got a lightened one! haha

I just got a mate with an AUII XR8 220 an Extreme Ceramitallic cushioned button clutch kit and had the clutch cover modified to 3000lb clamp load, and have also got myself one ready for te new combo. He is more than happy with it, and he does alot of traffic driving too. Being a cushioned button/sprung centre it is not as harsh in operation but you still dont want to slip it too much as the ceramic buttons will cause you to chew through flywheels. Can be abit chattery at times but thats how it should be when you driving it lightly. Overall, clutch pedal feel is the same, grabs gears very strongly and hasnt slipped on him yet. Just remember an organic based clutch will always be better for the gear box itself as its got a little bit of give there where as a ceramic one is much more grabbier and will definately reduce life of gearbox if driven hard.


For the above kit your looking at anywhere between $500-650, but for the PBR's as EL XR8 is running i think your looking at about $300-450, not 100% sure but EL XR8 may be able to confirm.



The same mate of mine is also running a Yella Terra std weight Billet flywheel with his, just for a bit of added insurance, being explosion proof.
Personally i wouldnt be going to a lightened flywheel. It may let the engine rev up quicker, but remember when you reduce the weight of your flywheel you sacrifice a small amount of engine torque which i dont like the idea of. The difference that the lightened flywheel will make i think will hardly be noticeable, a set of underdrive pullies will basically do the same job.


Going to a Y/T billet one i think is definately worth the money, i got my mates and mine for $385 each, which like Steady ED said is cheaper than a std replacement one.
But if your on a bit of a budget just machine yours up providing its alright, havent seen a castiron one explode yet but i'd much rather a nice piece of billet steel bolted to my crankshaft.

it depends on your point fo view yess you sacrifice some bottom end torque but windsors make sfa power and torque below 2k rpm ive noticed with mine if im going a burnout itll struggle till 2600rpm then onc i go past that it goes bleep to redline in no time at all

allowing the engine revs to come up means you get into powerband quicker. im upgrading to a lightweight one ( was contemplating ultralight but nah )

You running heavy duty PBR (who are now called LCutch Industries) or are you running there RPM kit? RPM kit is the shib niz!
Excedy make some good stuff to but.

What car do you have mate?
I take it its auto?

i'm using an Exedy sportstuff V8 clutch in my XR6

does it's well.

i'm running the lightwieght nuetral balance yellaterra flywheel in my XR6 and to tell the truth you don't notice any loss of torque at all. I would recomend it to anyone looking for that extra. then you can the underdrive pullies aswell