ORC (Orgura Racing Clutch) 409D Single Plate Clutch Installation and Review

ORC 409D 02N Dampened System for S13/14

Fitted it this morning at work. I renewed all seals that are situated between the engine and the gearbox. That includes the rear main and also the gearbox front cover gasket and input shaft seal.
Running this with a Nismo upgrade clutch fork pivot. Renew pilot bush:

Pilot bush is pushed all the way into its hole. There is a step in the pilot hole in the crankshaft to stop the pilot bush from completely bottoming out.

The ORC flywheel is very thick!!!

I recommend using ARP Ford flywheel bolts (Part number 254-2801) for these clutches as they have a longer shank than OEM flywheel bolts. The length of the bolts themselves is only 1mm longer than OEM but the longer shank (non-threaded area) will give it more strength and resistance to stretching which is important when the flywheel is so thick.

ARP recommend 86nm, Nissan recommend 127~137nm, and ORC recommend 88~93nm. So who do you listen to?
I chose to give the bolts a dab of 243 Loctite and torqued up to around 88nm since there is pretty much no Nissan part used in this application (except for the threads of the crankshaft I guess haha).

Slotted pressure plate. Flywheel is not slotted.

After installing the flywheel, I lined up the clutch disc and pressure plate to the flywheel and went away bolting it together. Approx 36nm for the pressure plate bolts as specified by ORC.

When bolted up, I noticed the diaphragm springs sit very close to the hub of the friction disc and that got me worried - thinking that the friction disc should go the other way around. So I dismantled it and tried the friction disc the other way around. Confusing thing is that the disc can theoretically work both ways!! The springs/hub of the friction disc clear all components no matter which way you put it! There's no indication on the clutch disc to tell you which way faces what direction and the photos in the installation manual are too blurry and tiny to see anything clearly.
So I consulted the exploded diagram to confirm...

The side of the friction disc with greater protrusion(thickness) faces away from the engine. Make sure you get this correct. It is nerve racking when you see how close the diaphragm springs are situated from the friction disc hub but that's the way its meant to be! Don't stress like I did....

The clutch kit comes with a new thrust bearing already pressed into its carrier. The thrust bearing is a smaller item to the Nissan OEM type to suit the diaphragm springs of the ORC clutch.
That's about it in terms of any issues you'd run into upon installation of this kit.

Driving Impression:

As with all floating plate clutch systems you will get a metallic rattle when the clutch is disengaged with the engine running. This is normal. You'll also get a 'zing' upon start up. Again, normal.
Pedal feel is pretty mild, not much harder to work than OEM, and engagement is firm. 

The clutch disengages very early compared to my Nismo Sports clutch. As in, I'd push the pedal half way and the clutch has already disengaged whereas with the Nismo I had reach 80% of the stroke to disengage the clutch. So I adjusted all my pedals to suit and shortened the stroke of the pedal. Take care when doing this to make sure you still have sufficient free play in the pedals. I plan to get a Nismo Big Operating Cylinder eventually to try to improve the engagement modulation.

Driveline vibrations are apparent but very good for something with such stiff torsion springs. Its no where near as harsh as a non-dampened clutch is. Which is what my previous clutch was (Nismo non-dampened).. so this felt smooth as silk in comparison. 

Now time will tell how well this clutch holds up to abuse but I'm pretty sure its going to be okay for a long time to come :)

Update: Fitted a Nismo Big Operating Cylinder - engagement feel is much improved! Write up HERE