Exedy Clutches and Flywheels

EXEDY USA is a wholly owned subsidiary of the EXEDY Corporation of Japan. EXEDY was founded in 1923 and its clutch manufacturing business and brand name Daikin Clutch are known throughout the world for supplying quality powertrain products. EXEDY is also the undisputed world leader of performance sports and racing clutches. The US business was established in 1967 and every EXEDY flywheel and clutch has been manufactured in the US since 1988.

EXEDY is a major OEM supplier to the automotive and trucking industry worldwide. The original equipment manufacturers don’t design powertrain components anymore; they let the suppliers design and develop them to save money. That means the body of knowledge on what’s a properly-designed clutch resides in EXEDY’s several engineering headquarters, not at the vehicle manufacturers. The bottom line is that the best OEM-replacement clutch components come from EXEDY, who quite likely made them for the OEM in the first place.

If you’ve bumped up the power a bit, and partake of the occasional autocross or test and tune day at the strip (or, just maybe, a little clandestine street racing, you Bad Boy) you and your vehicle might benefit from a Stage 2 clutch. Equipped with a thick friction disc, it will have a little extra pedal pressure, but plenty of bite and less momentum for quicker spool-up and better speed shifting. Or, if you’re racing in a class that doesn’t permit much (or any) engine modification, install an EXEDY Stage 2 clutch with the thin disc and reduce momentum even more.

Building a dedicated race car? EXEDY has race-application clutch parts that are rated up to 800 lbs.-ft. of torque. They achieve this several ways. To start with, the pressure plate is an aluminum forging instead of a steel stamping. The extra stiffness of the aluminum allows better mechanical advantage, so pedal pressure is more reasonable. For serious racing, go to a two- or three-plate assembly. While a ceramic clutch lining might be grippy enough, serious racing applications use a carbon-fiber disc for the ultimate in grip.

Carbon fiber is different from most friction materials in that it gets a higher coefficient of friction the hotter the temperature. That’s the good news. The bad news is that at room temperature it has a fairly low Cf. That rules it out as a viable material for street use, because you couldn’t pull out of the drive without a couple of deliberate clutch slips to heat it up. It’s not a problem on the track, however, and carbon fiber will outlast an organic or ceramic disc several times in the severest service.