When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I recently bought a 2011 V6 manual mustang coupe. The dealerships did warn us that there was an after market clutch installed and it was really hard to push down. We just assumed it was a performance clutch without looking further. About 2 weeks into driving the car I was having difficulties shifting into 1st and 2nd and was told it was my driving since I'm new at driving manual cars. I bought the car to race. My friend that races and drives manuals took the car out and said it was slipping and I should have a few more miles before it went bad. However, within a day of finding this out my clutch burnt up. My friend did some calling around to clutch companies and they said most likely someone installed a V8 clutch in my V6 without the spacers
So here is the question: if I buy a specific clutch for the V6 do I need spacers? I'm looking at a RAM powergrip stage 2 clutch. Any suggestions or thoughts about the spacers?
Spacers? never heard of such a thing on a clutch. A clutch setp is comprised of four main parts. Flywheel, throwout bearing, clutch disc and pressure plate (5 if you include the pilot bearing).
Anyways, a quick search reveals the flywheel is the same for GT/V6 of that year. The center spline of the Disc is the same for both (23T) and the thickness is the same 1". Only difference on paper is the diameter. 10.5 for V6, 11 for GT. That being said, I don't own a 2011 so if there are any differences, aside from what's mentioned, either the clutch company your friend talked to made some **** up or there's more to it than what shows up on paper.
There is no such thing as spacers in this application.
IF the diameter is .5 bigger in the V8, then the V8 clutch disc would have simply overlapped
the V6 flywheel. You'll know when you take it apart and look...
They probably didn't bleed the slave, or replace it. I had a stiff pedal on another
car, and once the kit was installed, with a new slave, it as nice and smooth, and
no where near as stiff.
Plus, 2011, that's a while ago, without knowing when and what miles where on
it when the clutch was replaced, there is no way to know if the wear was abnormal
or not. If you power shift every single day, you will wear the clutch much faster.
Last edited by 08'MustangDude; May 29, 2018 at 04:41 PM.
The car had 2 previous owners. The dealership said the last owner just recently changed the clutch but it was an after market clutch, not Ford's. The clutch was very hard to push and had a very high bite.
My mechanic friends have changed several clutches in other cars and one was a Ford tech. The one called RAM to see what they said, and they said all the symptoms led to no spacer for the slave cylinder. We ordered the parts from American muscle, but they didn't know about the spacer. We called RAM and again and they said their kits include the spacer now. We just had to buy different bolts.
I'm not putting a regular clutch in, I'm putting a racing clutch in. With the purchase of the clutche we also bought an aluminum flywheel. This is causing the headache, is the upgrades. We did get it fugured out though, thanks.
Only the earlier 2011 MT82s had the spacer, so, you must have gotten one of those.
The casing in the transmissions were changed later, and the spacer was no longer necessary.
The MT82 case in the earlier 2011 mustangs was too shallow for the 05+ slave cylinder that ford
uses. So, they included the spacer for the first run of the transmissions that were built, but they
had a new case machined afterwards, which had the proper spacing.
It's also not the same as the shims, those ere for the slave, the spacer is for the case.
Sorry, "clutch spacer" threw me off, I am very literal, and take people's words at face
value. The slave uses shims.. The spacer is for the case...
This is the Early case from inside:
This is the later case from inside:
Look at how the center was changed, you can see it's thicker than the top one.
Thanks that was super helpful! I'm just hoping RAM was right when they said they included the shim in the kit. Sorry you have to bare with me, I'm new to this car stuff. I just recently decided to start working on cars with the guys and racing. I don't nessicarily get the right terms or they use the wrong terms to me assuming I know what they're talking about.
Wrong clutch burned up now installing new one
