Ford Mustang Fidanza's Twin Disc Clutch Set

In addition to poor shifting and clutch engagement, Guida's car suffered from poor tuning, especially on cold starts. TunersInc's Tony Gonyon made quick work of the ECM calibration changes that were needed to improve the driveability and idle characteristics of the Mustang.

Maximum provided us with its aluminum firewall adjuster, clutch quadrant, and a slick new clutch cable. All three pieces have been engineered to provide the best performing clutch-engagement mechanism on the market, and the setup did not disappoint. In fact, we credit these components with making the clutch engagement even smoother than the Fidanza 2.1 single-disc clutch that we have in project Recession Special.

We also took the opportunity to put the Mustang on the dyno, base lining it with the five-speed transmission, and then returning with the six-speed and twin-disc installed. We would expect the five-speed to be fairly efficient, and the car produced 605 rwhp and 522 lb-ft of torque. With the twin's smaller profile, we wondered if the reduction in rotating mass would improve power.

A perfect A-B clutch test would have been ideal, but we ran the car with the T-56 and the twin-disc clutch due to time constraints just to see what would happen. With the new setup, the Mustang knocked down 634 rwhp and 581 lb-ft torque. We attribute the increase in peak power to the fact that the supercharger belt did not slip as it did on the baseline. Our baseline offered 15.2 psi of boost, while during our follow up, the Vortech was huffing some 17.8 psi. There was also a huge increase in horsepower and torque under the curve, and we believe much of this came from the better ECM tuning that Tony Gonyon at TunersInc supplied, along with the decrease in rotational mass that the smaller 8.75-inch Fidanza clutch system offers.

"With the old clutch, the pedal feel was dead on the top of the travel with a stiff pedal travel on the bottom half," noted Guida. "Engaging the clutch required a lot of revs before letting out the clutch, at which time it would instantly engage and you would either have to accelerate and drive away, most likely with some tire spin, or immediately depress the clutch and roll forward, at which point you would have to start the process all over again. This made parking-lot driving unbearable, and loading the car on a trailer was a very difficult task.

"The Fidanza twin-disc clutch is a completely different experience. The clutch pedal feel is linear with engagement taking up about a quarter of the way off the floor. Engagement is smooth, and you can slip the clutch if need be without it biting excessively. Parking-lot maneuvering, as well as leaving a traffic light, is the same as when the car was stock. There is no longer any bucking or on/off type of engagement. The clutch's grip is apparently very good as spinning the 285-series drag radials in Third gear is easily done by rolling into the throttle.

"The new MGW shifter has a very accurate, tight feel without being too notchy. One more inch of reach on the handle would be welcomed, but it's better than the unit I had prior, which had a lot of slop, even when in gear."

Dual-disc clutch systems are not inexpensive, though the Fidanza piece is competitively priced in the market at about $1,300. That said, if you're making enough horsepower to warrant the use of one, then you're no stranger to opening your wallet in the name of speed. There's no point in making a ton of horsepower if you just won't drive it as much as you could, just because it's a pain. Fidanza's twin-disc clutch will let you do that and bring back the pleasure of driving.