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South Bend Stage 3 Endurance with APR Stage II Review

Ital

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Italian in CT
Update, the Dog bone did not help the situation.
It turned out the mount that hold the down pipe. The blots were lose and actually lost two out of the 3 bolts was causing the issue.
I mean there is a bit of vibration at take off but now you really have to be looking for it. Also it seems a part of my DP was installed back words and it could be hitting the frame, so I had that rectified as well while they were at it...

Overall I love this clutch, the car now has about 18k miles and the clutch grabs hard with no issues. Anyone is welcome to come and check it out in person if they need to make a decision.
 

Derushi

Go Kart Champion
Location
Rain
Car(s)
Long
Have you done this coding change yet? http://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showpost.php?p=524632&postcount=1155

Tried it out this morning (stock clutch) and really lessened the jerkiness in 1st gear low speeds, and much better 1st to 2nd shift.

Thanks for this thread btw. Planning to get the Southbend SMFW too and have been thinking of getting either the Stage 3 Daily or Stage 2 Endurance.
 

Qwerty978

Ready to race!
Location
Lowell, MA
I had Southbend endurance 3 Clutch for 15000 miles on GIAC 2+ and Cobb Freektune. Still no issues yet. As for chatter noise its never been a big deal for me but after installing HPA dogbone mount and reduced the noise significantly. Perhaps 70% of it is gone. I had 034 insert prior in combo with BFI Stage 2 engine and trans mount.
 

ExcelerateRep1

Go Kart Champion
Location
Branford, CT
I know the main difference between Endurance / Daily is the PP. Endurance will be a stiffer clutch pedal in accordance to a stronger pressure plate.

That information is not correct. The Stage 3 Daily uses a Full Faced organic disc and the endurance uses a kevlar disc. The pressure plate is the same. Pedal effort should be the same however the response and engagement will be slightly different. I love the Stage 3 Endurance, it is the only clutch I would use in my car just based off my driving experience.
 
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Ital

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Italian in CT
That information is not correct. The Stage 3 Daily uses a Full Faced organic disc and the endurance uses a kevlar disc. The pressure plate is the same. Pedal effort should be the same however the response and engagement will be slightly different. I love the Stage 3 Endurance only clutch I would use in my car just based off my driving experience.

+1, the info above is correct. I have the endurance and it is Kevlar disc
 

Ital

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Italian in CT
Have you done this coding change yet? http://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showpost.php?p=524632&postcount=1155

Tried it out this morning (stock clutch) and really lessened the jerkiness in 1st gear low speeds, and much better 1st to 2nd shift.

Thanks for this thread btw. Planning to get the Southbend SMFW too and have been thinking of getting either the Stage 3 Daily or Stage 2 Endurance.

Thanks for the tip, I will have to try the mod out. :)
Chatter is there but it really is not noticeable unless you are trying to hear it. No one has ever pointed out to me that they hear a chatter
 

Derushi

Go Kart Champion
Location
Rain
Car(s)
Long
That information is not correct. The Stage 3 Daily uses a Full Faced organic disc and the endurance uses a kevlar disc. The pressure plate is the same. Pedal effort should be the same however the response and engagement will be slightly different. I love the Stage 3 Endurance, it is the only clutch I would use in my car just based off my driving experience.

What do you recommend for daily/some track use? Stage 2 Endurance or Stage 3 Daily? I plan on an IS38 in the future and am weighing my options.

I considered Stage 2 daily but it seems that the TQ levels of a tuned IS38 is very close to the recommended tq of the Stage 2 daily.
 

Derushi

Go Kart Champion
Location
Rain
Car(s)
Long
just an fyi, from what I read, stage 3 seems to have less chatter than stage 2
so you might as well go with 3

I actually drove a Stage2 daily for maybe 15 mins or so at regular speeds and heard no chatter. Maybe the chatter wasn't loud enough to bother me, I'd say road noise and exhaust will probably drown it out? Only reason I'm not considering it is because the IS38 w/ tune and other mods are awfully close to the recommended tq for the clutch.

St. 2 endurance seems like the best for me at 450ft/lb but am worried about how it engages because my car will be mainly a daily with some track use.
 
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Ital

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Italian in CT
I actually drove a Stage2 daily for maybe 15 mins or so at regular speeds and heard no chatter. Maybe the chatter wasn't loud enough to bother me, I'd say road noise and exhaust will probably drown it out? Only reason I'm not considering it is because the IS38 w/ tune and other mods are awfully close to the recommended tq for the clutch.

St. 2 endurance seems like the best for me at 450ft/lb but am worried about how it engages because my car will be mainly a daily with some track use.

Great! that is good to know. Maybe things have change in the past couple of years then. I love my stage 3 endurance. I think my clutch a year ago was about $1700 and it was about $500 to get it installed. I actually had ordered the daily, but they sent me the endurance. I guess after a month + being out of stock of the daily they sent me the endurance so I lucked out.
 

ExcelerateRep1

Go Kart Champion
Location
Branford, CT
What do you recommend for daily/some track use? Stage 2 Endurance or Stage 3 Daily? I plan on an IS38 in the future and am weighing my options.

I considered Stage 2 daily but it seems that the TQ levels of a tuned IS38 is very close to the recommended tq of the Stage 2 daily.

In this instance I would recommend the Stage 2 endurance because of the disc material. But, if you are considering the Stage 3 Daily, I'd just go stage 3 endurance and call it a day and not wonder if the torque holding capacity is sufficient. Its more money, but worth every penny.


just an fyi, from what I read, stage 3 seems to have less chatter than stage 2
so you might as well go with 3

This is correct based off my experience.

I actually drove a Stage2 daily for maybe 15 mins or so at regular speeds and heard no chatter. Maybe the chatter wasn't loud enough to bother me, I'd say road noise and exhaust will probably drown it out? Only reason I'm not considering it is because the IS38 w/ tune and other mods are awfully close to the recommended tq for the clutch.

St. 2 endurance seems like the best for me at 450ft/lb but am worried about how it engages because my car will be mainly a daily with some track use.

Its not really noticeable unless you put the car in a position where there is a high amount of drive train vibration. Like coming to a stop in second gear for example. I'm a diesel guy so I don't even notice it.
 

Ital

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Italian in CT
Update - After 40+k miles it seem that a part on the clutch broke.
I am picking up the car tonight and I will post some pictures of the broken part
The good news is that the clutch was not burnt at all and would have lasted a lot longer if a it was not for a mechanical failure.
Again not sure what happened yet but it seems that a part attached to the disk came loose and started to spin freely.

I will updated SB the company as well so they know how this failed.

Since I had to get a new clutch I went with the SACHS SRE this time around which i got from FCP euro. I will give a review on which one I liked better in the coming weeks, so stay tuned :)

One thing I did not like with the SB was gear shuddering in reverse and when trying to take off without giving it gas, hopefully it wont be there with this set up.
 

Ital

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Italian in CT
Here is a screen shot of the part that failed. Basically the inner blue disk started to spin freely from what I was told. It cannot be spin by hand.
It failed all of the sudden, I had no signs and it always grab good and hard. I was cruising at around 80 MPH and all of the sudden my car revved freely.... so I costed in nutral and pulled over. I then tried to put in in first and as I let the clutch out the car would make a grinding noise, like when you miss a gear. those were the symptoms. The grinding noise was being made by the blue wheel spinning against the disk, but it is not supposed to be able to spin from what I was told.
 
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