Tilton clutch

[r lane]

I am tracking a 3.0 air cooled 911. A friend who has raced very successfully for many years, during a motor discussion said, ''the best thing you can do for that motor is a Tilton clutch.'' It being about the size of a small frizbee has a much reduced rotational mass. Faster up, faster down. A fairly expensive piece and apparently quite involved in setting it up and servicing it. Other than that, my only other thought was the loss of rotational stability. And maybe that is not an issue at all. Looking for thoughts and experience on this matter. Thanks, Bob

[Mahler9th]

WEVO makes or made a lightweight clutch kit that you may want to check out. Pretty sure it uses Tilton as part of the assembly. WEVO is local and I know the developer of the WEVO kit. Check out the WEVO site.

I have a PCA/racing friend that may have one for sale-- have not seen it advertised, so maybe he is just sitting on it.

In our local Norcal scene, with a lot of racers and history, adaptation of Tilton products has not been common in the ~30 years I have been around.

Now Sachs all alu RSR clutch covers... different story. I have one or two of those. Same with KEP.

JWE have a really, really nice 915 kit. Really spiffy.

All lighter than stock.

I have been using a Fidanza flywheel for a while for benefits on that side as well.

[Artfrombama]

My experience is with the 7.25" triple disc, works great on the track, lightning release and no slipping but with the decreased inertia, much harder to start off from an idle or low RPM. Clutch is more like an on/off switch than a street clutch than can be slipped/modulated. Think hard before you buy if the car is still used on the street.

[Cory M]

I've got one of those Wevo Tilton setups on the shelf, I believe Wevo stopped making them. We ran the Tilton for several years. These are pure race parts with very low inertia. They're great on the track but difficult everywhere else. If you slip the clutch you'll burn it up quickly. If this is for a street car forget it. If you don't have someone to push you in the pits you have to drop the clutch at a couple thousand RPMs or you will stall it. You need to have a winch in your trailer to load and unload the car. If you are racing in a highly competitive series where you need every advantage, and don't mind sending it back to Tilton on occasion to be rebuilt, go for it. But if not there are probably cheaper and longer lasting options with a small performance penalty.

[r lane]

Great input by all, thanks. Cory, I was told without a pit gear, you can fry it easily. My car is strictly a track car, has a pit gear, but I am not running with the front guys, don't think I

[r lane]

want to. Having said that, what would you be asking for the clutch you mentioned. Bob

[dannobee]

I ran them on circle track cars for years and years. It's like others have said, but you do get used to driving them from a start. Feathering the clutch without applying much power. Just enough so that it won't stall the engine, and don't buzz it up and slip the clutch. Big no-no. We had winches on the trailers but seldom used them. Just got a running start at the ramps. And if it was a green flag pit stop, the safest thing to do was rev it up, side step the clutch (let your foot fall off the left side of the pedal) and let the tires spin. Obviously not the most clandestine way to drive on the street though.

And talk about the "Porsche Tax." A circle track Tilton clutch setup can be had for under $1K. Put Porsche in front of it and it's at least $3K.

[KTL]

I too have one of the WEVO Tilton Superlite 915 clutch setups on the shelf. I had planned to use it in my racecar resurrection and that never happened.

Severely lightened flywheel, Tilton OT-III 5-1/2" clutch housing (man this thing is SMALL), clutch disc pack kit, ARP mounting bolts, WEVO hydraulic release bearing setup along with the Tilton bearing. You need a set of G50 pedals or a "custom" set of Tilton or OBP brand pedals to operate it. It's a very straightforward setup to install if you have an '87 to '89 G50 pedal assembly All you need to do is run a braided stainless hose from the pedal master cylinder to the transmission.

Here's the instructions (click on the 2nd link for the hydraulic setup)

https://www.wevo.com/Products/ClutchProducts/915Products/WevoClutch915Products-Superlite.htm

The beauty of this whole thing, aside from the super duper lightness, is that you also eliminate the annoying clutch cable feature of the 915. So you do away with all of the following factory parts:

>clutch cable and its periodic adjustment

>release lever under trans + weird omega helper spring

>vertical shaft and its fork inside the bellhousing. That fork is prone to splitting at the curve coming off the hub. It's becoming more of a possibility since these cars are getting up there in age.

So you save yourself considerable hassle when R&Ring the engine and trans on account of doing away with the cable setup. With the hydraulic setup, you can install an inline "dry-break" quick disconnect coupler in the hose near the back of the car before it goes into the trans bellhousing. The nice feature of the release bearing is that the slave/operation function is built-in. So there's no separate slave cylinder external to the trans like a G50 or the CMS setup. https://californiamotorsports.net/collections/porsche-915-transmission-parts/products/cms-porsche-915-hydraulic-slave-cylinder-conversion

Just know that like the other fellas indicated, this clutch is hard on the transmission on account of the solid clutch discs. They don't have spring dampening to soften the engagement of the clutch when you release the clutch pedal. So during fast shifting and heavy throttle, you're putting a lot of stress on the transmission internals. To protect your transmission a bit, i'd recommend NOT using solid engine and trans mounts with this clutch setup. Mounts like the WEVO style or the Stomski style with poly bushings in them would be my recommendation. Or just stick with the tried and true cabrio/club sport factory rubber mounts.

Here's some pictures of the parts

[Cory M]

Originally Posted by r lane

want to. Having said that, what would you be asking for the clutch you mentioned. Bob

Let me go through the parts and verify that i have everything, I'll let you know

[r lane]

Wonderful looking pieces. I am thinking far more potential that I would ever be able to tap into. To quote Brother Dave Gardner, ''she was educated way beyond her intellect''

[Cory M]

I've looked and found the flywheel but I can't find the clutch.