Project DC2 Integra- Fixing Old Clutch Woes With Centerforce

Project DC2 Integra- Fixing Old Clutch Woes With Centerforce

by Mike Kojima

Our DC2 Integra was a great find, in near unmolested close to stock condition despite being a GSR and being over 20 years old. Most DC2's of this era have either been mauled by a few generations of ricers, stolen several times or kept as treasured garage queens behind locked gates only to be driven to meets or other special occasions. 

Our car still had a decent amount of miles on it and our first articles have been not so much us modifying the car to improve its performance but more like us giving the car some much needed maintenance and TLC to make it a reliable driver. This is all stuff the previous owner neglected to do. 

Our first two articles were about rebuilding both the braking and cooling systems, replacing old and well-worn parts with quality aftermarket and high-performance stuff and this story is another one of those. 

The clutch on our car has been slipping since day one.  Not horribly but you could tell it would soon be gone. The car would shift very softly into the higher gears and the revs would not match the speed, a sure sign of slipping.  Also, oil was leaking onto the pristine floor of the palatial MotoIQ Megashop and we couldn't have that. 

In our opinion, the rear main seal had started to leak and was dripping oil onto our car's factory clutch causing it to slip, wear prematurely or both. So it was decided that we would drop the tranny and replace the clutch and flywheel with some street performance parts from Centerforce.  We would also replace the rear main seal at this time. 

Read More About Project DC2 Integra!

We opted for Centerforce's billet steel flywheel.  The billet steel flywheel is SFI certified and has a pressed on starter ring gear. It is designed to have higher inertia than a typical racing flywheel for more streetability. 
The Centerforce billet flywheel weighs 13.8 lbs as opposed to the stock 18.2 lbs.  This is 4.4 lbs lighter which produces a decent performance improvement over stock without sacrificing too much daily driveability. 
The Centerforce pressure plate has a clamp load of 2016 lbs, a 44% increase over stock. This is a decent gain and will greatly increase torque capacity. 
The Centerforce pressure plate uses a ball bearing fulcrum. Ball bearings are used for the diaphragm spring fulcrum point instead of wire rings or a point on the pressure plate stamping. This gives a light and smooth clutch pedal feel. 

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