Centerforce clutch, short gears, R&P questions

[Viper Driver]

I'm in a position to require a clutch replacement in the very near future, and I really am liking the price of the SOS/Basch Centerforce clutch. Does anyone here have experience with the clutch and care to comment on it, such as the differences between it and stock, it's suitability for higher horsepower/more agressive driving, and it's longevity? My old clutch is an RM Racing clutch.

Also, my other questions refer to the possibility of having short gears/R&P installed. Will I save a good chunk of labor costs on having it done at the same time as a clutch change, or is the labor on the transmission pretty expensive by itself? Also, will I be hurting myself if I merely go with short gears and not change out the R&P? I don't have a ton of money to spend on this project, but I don't want to be regretting any decisions down the road as well.

Chuck

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'91 Black/Ivory NSX
'89 Gray/Gray F-16C

 

[nsxtasy]

Originally posted by Viper Driver:
Will I save a good chunk of labor costs on having it done at the same time as a clutch change

Yes, absolutely.

Originally posted by Viper Driver:
will I be hurting myself if I merely go with short gears and not change out the R&P?

I'm not sure what you mean by hurting yourself. You can go with short gears and not the R&P, sure. However, if you are planning to do the R&P at some point anyway, this is your chance to do it without spending the labor hours all over again. On the other hand, the actual performance gain of the R&P (and short gears, for that matter) are relatively small, on the order of a tenth of a second or at most two in the quarter mile, which is less than a mod that adds 15 hp.

[This message has been edited by nsxtasy (edited 10 January 2003).]

 

[grippgoat]

If you go with the short gears, but not the R&P, your first gear and 5th gear will be *exactly* the same, however, you *will* still get the benefits of a shorter 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. The overall difference won't be quite as dramatic. Whether it's a better choice for you, personally... I think only you can decide.

-Mike

 

[Viper Driver]

Thanks for the advice guys. I may just go with the short gears and not the R&P. Short gears aren't cheap, but the R&P prices seem outrageous.

Anybody out there who can comment on the Centerforce cluth?

 

[ChopsJazz]

When I bought my gears and R&P , I think from Mark, he wouldn't even sell me the gears without the R&P as a set. He told me that he strongly recommended against doing just the gears.
cost is certainly a factor, but so is performance.

IMO just go ahead and bite the financial bullet and do it a ll at once. I'm glad I did it that way, and I'm willing to bet that you won't regret it either.

 

[nsxtasy]

Originally posted by Viper Driver:
Short gears aren't cheap, but the R&P prices seem outrageous.

Only the Comptech 4.55 R&P, not the NSX-R 4.235 R&P. Per Science of Speed:

Short gears $639
NSX-R 4.235 R&P $792
Comptech 4.55 R&P $1743

 

[ScienceofSpeed]

Hi Chuck --

You may want to consider bringing your car in to Basch Acura to have Mark do the transmission. I've seen quite a few gears burn up from techs that did not have as much experience. The NSX tranny is so complex and compact, it's good to have someone do the work with experience.

We also offer transmission exchanges built by Mark Basch on our website.

BTW, my vote is for gears & R&P. The sportiness of the R&P is much more significant than the gears. Your acceleration is increased in all gears. The NSX-R gears are not much more compared to the Comptech gears as pointed out by Ken.

Cheers,
-- Chris



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