Everything here is owners' experience from forum threads between 2007 and 2018. The power and torque ratings are the sellers' figures as quoted by owners, and the prices are from the year given. Check current details with the supplier.
Torque, not power, kills clutches
- Owners repeatedly make the point that clutches fail from torque, not bhp, so judge a clutch on its lb·ft rating. One owner pointed out that a Stage 2 remap can make about 290 lb·ft.
- Hard use (track days, standing starts) wears a clutch faster than the same power on the road.
- Fit a new slave cylinder whenever the gearbox is off. See Clutch master cylinder, slave cylinder and bleeding.
Do you need to change it at all?
- NA (2.2): owners say a standard NA rarely needs a new clutch. One owner who fitted a lightened flywheel at 38k miles found the 2.2 clutch almost as new. It is designed to move a heavy Vectra, so it does little work in a light VX220. Several fit an uprated clutch only when adding power, such as a supercharger, because the clam-off or gearbox-drop labour is the main cost.
- Turbo: the standard clutch is the weak point once power goes up. A factory clutch lasted 80k miles in one owner's hands and the one that came out could have done another 80k, but that depends on driving style.
- Supercharged NA (about 250 bhp): one owner says the standard Vauxhall clutch copes fine.
The options
| Clutch | What owners say |
|---|---|
| Standard Vauxhall | Fine on NA and mildly tuned cars. "Standard won't last" once a Turbo is tuned. |
| C20LET (Calibra Turbo) clutch | A cheap, popular upgrade. Said to be what Courtenay Sport supply as the "fast road" clutch, and the Helix catalogue shows the same plate. Reports: no slip at about 310 bhp and 360 lb·ft on a Z20 engine, hammered on track, and the clutch looked new after two years; fine to 350 bhp on another car; about 250 to 260 lb·ft on a 2.4 supercharged car, and feels like standard (about £130 for a LUK disc and cover in 2015). Fit a new slave cylinder with it. One owner suggests the Saab Viggen clutch for higher power, but fitment wasn't checked. |
| Courtenay Sport "fast road" clutch | Uprated organic plate with a standard cover, for cars up to about 270 bhp (seller's figure; £199.95 in 2013). Opinions differ widely. One owner says it slips on aggressive use at 280 bhp. Another says it fell apart within a few thousand miles at about 270 bhp. Another had a Courtenay fast road clutch break up and take the flywheel with it. A fourth ran one for years, including track days, at about 400 Nm without trouble. |
| Courtenay Sport "competition" clutch | Organic plate plus an uprated cover with more clamping force; rated by the seller for cars well beyond 300 bhp (one owner quotes 350 to 375 bhp; £429.95 in 2013). Feels like a heavier standard clutch. Good reports: 280 bhp and 305 lb·ft on track with no slip, 335 lb·ft with sticky rubber and hard launches, and 300 bhp and 320 lb·ft with lots of track abuse. One lasted a single lap on a high-power car, and another failed at 14 months (see below). |
| Helix paddle clutches (4 or 6 paddle, with uprated cover) | Handle more power but are "on/off" and heavy in traffic. The 6 paddle is more forgiving than the 4 paddle. The Helix 6 paddle is rated by Helix at 330 lb·ft (447 Nm) according to one owner who fitted it. Comments range from "excellent for putting the power down" to "I would never go back to a normal clutch" and "not overly keen on it" and "couldn't live with it" after a short drive. About £485 to £495 for plate and cover from Courtenay in 2013. |
| Sachs paddle clutch | Fitted to one car, which its owner found heavy in traffic. The garage called it fairly harsh on the gearbox. Nobody gave more detail. |
| Southbend and other multi-plate / sprung-hub clutches | One owner pointed to Southbend clutches, rated to about 500 lb·ft with a sprung hub. Fitment to the F23 should be confirmed before buying. Nobody in the thread had used one. |
Road use: what to look for
- For a road car with some track use, an owner suggested a sprung hub with a friction plate on Marcel springs, which improves engagement and usability. His view is that an over-specified paddle clutch ruins a road car.
- Pedal weight depends on the cover (the stiffness of its fingers, and so its clamping pressure), not on the type of plate.
- With a paddle clutch you have to avoid slipping the clutch, which wears it faster. One owner finds reverse more on/off than first gear.
- Buy new, not second hand, as one owner advised after a failure.
- New clutches can slip at first. Manufacturers differ on whether to drive normally straight away or bed in for about 500 miles. One owner still had slip after 400 miles, and after two bleeds, and then ordered a C20LET clutch.
Lightened flywheel
- Owners with one say the engine revs much more freely, and one was surprised by the difference. A lightweight flywheel from Courtenay was £255 in 2015 (a TTV Racing one was also fitted by others).
- Since the gearbox is off anyway, several owners say it makes sense to do the flywheel at the same time, because the labour is the big cost.
- Downside: older threads mention some owners disliked the drivability of a lightened flywheel on a Turbo. Search older threads for details. The thread doesn't say what they disliked.
Slipping clutch: check these first
- Air in the clutch hydraulics. Bleed the clutch (two people, per one owner), and check the pedal return spring. One owner's slip improved after bleeding but came back.
- Oil on the clutch from the flywheel bolts. The flywheel bolt holes go through the crank flange, so oil from the sump can reach the flywheel. Use oil-resistant thread lock or sealant on the flywheel bolts. A slipping clutch that had held fine before turned out to be this. An oil-contaminated flywheel or clutch will slip. One owner asked whether oil there points to a leaking crankshaft seal. The thread didn't answer.
- Flywheel face: check it for oil contamination and glazing before fitting a new clutch. The thread doesn't say whether to resurface it.
A failed competition clutch
One car lost drive when the friction plate of a competition clutch failed. The metal of the disc sheared through, with the rivets still in place and the damper springs loose, and the friction material itself was still fine. Owners argued whether the cause was a sudden shock load (a wheel lifting and then gripping), drag-strip use, or fatigue over time. An owner has seen an Elise S1 clutch fail the same way, by rivet failure. The failed clutch had been fitted about 14 months earlier and was said to have had little use.
Cost of the job
- Parts are modest (a standard-type clutch is under £200 in 2007 threads). Most of the cost is labour. In 2007 one Turbo owner paid about £1,300 (about £700 of it labour at a specialist). A newcomer was told £1,200 was the going rate, while other owners said fitting could be found for about £400. A Turbo clutch was said to cost just under £1,000 in 2018 (as a complete job or kit, the thread isn't clear).
- Courtenay quoted £505.55 for fitting in 2013 and 2015, and £119.95 for a slave cylinder when bought with a clutch.
- The dealer manual tells you to remove the engine, which is why dealers charge so much. Specialists drop just the gearbox. See Clutch replacement: dropping the gearbox.
Help wanted
There is no verified torque rating for any of these clutches, no test data, and nothing on the Sachs and Southbend options beyond opinions. If you have fitted one, please tell us the car, the power and torque, the mileage, and how it felt.