Clutch Masters

COMPANY PROFILE

Simply the Best High Technology Makes the Difference Historically, high performance clutches have been a compromise. While improving holding or clamping pressure, manufacturers nearly always increase pedal pressure to an uncomfortable point, especially for stop-and-go traffic. Besides drivability concerns, additional pedal pressure can adversely affect stock clutch linkage and cause premature thrust bearing wear, leading to missed shifts, damaged clutch components and even engine destruction. Today, thanks to Clutch Masters, increased holding pressure does not necessarily mean increased pedal pressure and the problems that can accompany it. By re-engineering the leverage or fulcrum point on the pressure plate through their Hi-Leveragetm ttechnique, Clutch Masters has increased clamping power, often without changing pedal pressure. Excessively increased pedal pressure, as found in many of today's traditional high performance clutches, places an unsafe amount of pressure on the delicate crankshaft thrust bearing found in most of today's sport compact automobiles. Placing undue stress on the thrust bearing typically causes the bearing to wear prematurely or fail altogether. This failure can lead to catastrophic internal engine damage. A clutch, simply put, is a friction device that disengages and engages the engine from the transmission to allow for transition from motionless to movement and for gear changes. For street applications a smooth transition of power is essential while still being able to transfer all the power of the engine to the transmission. As power output of engines increase and demands on clutches become greater - for example high performance street or racing cars - the holding and clamping capacity of a clutch also must increase. This is where Clutch Masters' innovative engineering comes into play. Clamping Force vs. Pedal Pressure Designing heavy duty and high performance clutches with a very high clamp load and incredible coefficient of friction is a fairly simple engineering task. To do so without increasing pedal pressure has not been so easy. Even the education process of changing opinions that an increase in pedal pressure must accompany a high performance clutch with increased clamping force has been difficult. Clutch Masters, after 28 years as a premier manufacturer of fine quality clutches, has taken this experience and a clean sheet of paper to re-engineer their line of performance clutches to address these problems. The proof of this success is now available from Clutch Masters as a complete line of clutch systems for high performance street and racing use. It is the first major breakthrough in performance clutches in over two decades. Following are ways of increasing clamp load. The methods vary in sophistication and effectiveness: Heat Treating The diaphragm, or spring, is heat treated to increase spring tension for 10-40% more clamping force. This typically makes the diaphragm more brittle and more subject to premature failure. Many high performance clutch manufacturers use this procedure. Clutch Masters has perfected a more precise method of heat-treating its diaphragms to maintain consistent clamping force without compromising structural integrity. Double Diaphragm. The double diaphragm is a method of increasing clamping force by stacking two diaphragms on top of each other. This will typically achieve the desired clamping force but will also increase the pedal pressure to a very high rate. For FX 500 and Multiple Disc set-ups, Clutch Masters uses two separate heat treating processes - one for each diaphragm - to ensure perfect compatibility between the two diaphragms. Additionally, there is a special friction-reducing material between the diaphragms to provide optimum clamping force while maintaining an ultra smooth operation.

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