Tilton Twin Carbon Disc Clutches - The Miracle Clutch

One of the best features the clutch has to offer is its surface area coverage. A conventional clutch assembly has two sides of contact, one on the flywheel and one on the pressure plate with the disc in the middle. A twin-disc unit relies on two discs allowing for four areas of contact. This requires use of a floater plate to obtain the additional two surface areas. By bumping up on the surface area of the drive plates they are able to take on more horsepower and torque in the long run.

Streetability
Until now it has been a foregone conclusion that a hardcore race clutch cannot be tamed for the street. Excessive chatter, poor initial engagement and pedal pressures that require a pry bar for engagement combined with the threat of stop-and-go traffic have made the streetable race clutch a mirage of the mind. Until now. High horsepower street machines can harness their power more efficiently with the Tilton Carbon/Carbon clutch. The full-face configuration of the carbon discs, their lack of pads and the result reduction of spring pressure need for engagement take the chatter out of the Tilton clutch. The full face design and light weight of the disc also dispatch abrupt engagement of the clutch. Furthermore, Tilton has moved the fulcrum point on the pressure plate to reduce pedal pressure and enhance the streetability of the clutch. If you have a turbo Honda or other power packed turbo-enhanced street machine and go through clutches quicker than you change your oil, the Tilton unit may be an install it and forget it proposition.

If wining money is what drives you to import drag racing advancing through eliminations is more important than making power. With power levels in the mid to high 600 range it's obvious that driveline parts are going to need to hold up against a tremendous amount of abuse. A great many of the top racers have made their move to the Tilton twin-disc clutch and this tells us that staying on the top of the food chain requires this powerful puzzle piece. As racers experiment with 28-inch, 29-inch and soon 30-inch slicks clutches will be put to even more extremes of heat and torque. Tilton also offers similar triple-disc units for late-model Toyota Supras and will custom design a unit for practically any other type of car. Remember, this is one of the very few race clutches that can gracefully handle street duty.

Since the Tilton clutch has enhanced the moment of intertia by virtue of its lighter weight and improved center of velocity, technically it should not only hook up better but show a gain in horsepower output. Stay tuned for Part 2 of "The Miraacle Clutch" when we put the unit to the test on the dyno.