ClutchMasters FX350 (and FX400) reviews

Discussion in 'Mazdaspeeds.org Official Parts Reviews Section' started by VoodooJef, Jun 7, 2018.

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  1. VoodooJef

    VoodooJef My friends call me Captain Zen Greenie Member

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    I`ll just get to it. I`ve been using ClutchMasters products for 20ish years. Multiple platforms of vehicles, so when I built the engine in my mazdaspeed 3 it was an easy call to make. I first went with the FX400 because I knew I`d be making enough torque to be of concern with anything less than a stout clutch. It`s a ceramic button style disc with plenty of gripping power and mildly increased pedal effort. The downside is the ceramic disc. On a performance level it left nothing on the table. Held up to every run, every pull, every hard effort I put it through....what it didn`t handle was the daily stop and go Dallas traffic. I drive 30K+ miles a year. It gave me 32K before it tapped out. Out of a ceramic disc on a daily driver that`s not bad.

    I replaced it with the FX350. It`s a carbon fiber composite disc that uses the same pressure plate the 400 does. It is easily as grabby as the 400 ever was and will offer up triple the lifespan. It hit right off the floor and is instantly engaged, no having to sneak up on it. In fact, even with 28 years of driving a manual transmission I did stall the damn thing several times just getting to the end of my street the day I got the clutch in! It`s better now that I have grown used to it.

    The 350 may not react the same to a 7Krpm FFS that the ceramic 400 would, but I promise you it`ll take it. I don`t drag race and the track doesn`t call for that level of aggressiveness anyway.

    On top of all of the DFW area driving I do locally, I take regular road trips with my son, so reliability is a huge factor. Our big trip this year will be roughly 4,000 miles round trip. I HAD to feel comfortable with my hardware. I`m not concerned at all about the clutch, a confidence I am very glad to hold.

    I know there are preferred brands, and one or two people have expressed odd experiences with CM products. I have never had one fail unexpectedly or prematurely. They are made right in the USA, often built on site the day they are ordered. I loved the 400, I so far love the 350. I`m also using their braided clutch line and couldn`t be happier.
     
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  2. Eroler1

    Eroler1 NPC Greenie Member

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    Great write up, I have fx400 wth 4 puck, still doing break in and if you ride the clutch a little it smells really bad, dunno if that's normal. Pedal feel is same with my old ACT 6 puck, but I'm wondering what power level can fx400 handle
    Oh and side note, my flywheel was hitting the trans housing so we have to "trim" the housing castings
     
    Eroler1, via an iPhone, Jun 7, 2018
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  3. VoodooJef

    VoodooJef My friends call me Captain Zen Greenie Member

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    FWIW I put 546ft/lbs of torque into my FX400. It`ll hold pretty much anything a street driven car will put it through :)
     
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  4. Eroler1

    Eroler1 NPC Greenie Member

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    Damn 500 torque where's your build list man :)
     
    Eroler1, via an iPhone, Jun 9, 2018
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  5. VoodooJef

    VoodooJef My friends call me Captain Zen Greenie Member

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    Ah man, it`s not as fancy as it sounds. It was actually a really shitty curve that fell on it`s face at 5500rpm. I think peak HP at that point was barely 400. LOL. I brought in max boost just as early as the hardware could manage but airflow was the big problem and the top end suffered. Once I got the ST manifold on there and reworked the boost and load targets TQ fell to a more tolerable 425ish and brought HP up to right about 500 at 7K. Goliath torque numbers are easy but they usually mean a very narrow power band.
     
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  6. VoodooJef

    VoodooJef My friends call me Captain Zen Greenie Member

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    A week and 600 miles later, here is the "it`s broken in" update.

    I went and re-bled the system again and the clutch feels almost like a normal device now. No more "instant grab right off the floor oh my god it`s an on/off switch". It engages smoothly as I let the clutch out while maintaining the authoritative grab (just easier to reign in). Make no mistakes, the FX 350 is an aggressive bitch. Easily as stout engagement as any ceramic clutch I have ever driven. Gave it a nice 2>3>4 FFS earlier and it didn`t whimper one bit. Pedal feel is a little stiffer now that I`ve re-bled it, maybe I had some old fluid or a tiny bit of air in it before. Still love it, maybe even more than I did at first.
     
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