Old Clutches stronger?

Hello,
As many of you know I do not yet own a tdi but I will be purchasing a Jetta around February. So my question is, why did VW stop putting in the old clutches that were stronger? I heard that the 1999 clutch is stronger than the 2001 clutch (both A4's). I also heard that the 1999 clutch was the european clutch. So why did they put in the new weaker clutches? Does anyone know the torque ratings for the old/new clutches? I'm asking because if I was buying a Jetta and I had an option between 1999 or 2001 (or 2000) should I choose the 1999 for the stronger clutch? (I will be chipping to RC2 and pp520's). Or should I take the newer and replace it?

Thanks

They are all European clutches.

They used the newer one because it cost less money and held the torque of the stock engine. They did that about February 2000.

The older ones have held 300 foot-pounds. The newer ones can't hold 190 ft-lb. Stock of course is 155 ft-lb.

Some 2004s came with the old clutch.

An 04 has the newer Sachs clutch. Any mods that put you around 200 ft-lb put your stock clutch in peril. Some hold a bit more, some a bit less. You play you have to plan to pay.

MCA

I emailed Luk, their CR rep told me the clutch in the 2004 is the same as the 1999. There are many people on this board with a 2004 who've put a lot of mods on a stock clutch without slip.

I am not sure if it was a model year change, however, since I've heard of 2004s being replaced because they did slip.

My 1999.5 does not slip with RCII + Sprint 520s.

-Jason

je said:

I emailed Luk, their CR rep told me the clutch in the 2004 is the same as the 1999.

Click to expand...

I think you're getting bum information. Luks were only used midway through the 2000 model year, and everything after that has been Sachs.

At a GTG I met the guy with the screen name Vaxick. Both of us have 2000 Golfs from Germany. His was manufactured in 8/99, and his has the Luk clutch. He has some heavy mods and does not have any clutch slip.

My Golf was manufactured in 12/99, and had the Sachs. I know, because Marty(JETaah) pulled it after it started slipping with .205's and RC2. According to the Bentley, my car should have had the Luk.

The interesting thing is that both of us have the silver 'golf club' weight on the tranny, which was supposed to be the tell-tale sign of having a Sachs. But Vaxick has a silver weight and has a Luk clutch.

So it's hard to tell exactly when the changeover happened, but it was somewhere between 8/99 and 12/99.

They are all European clutches.

They used the newer one because it cost less money and held the torque of the stock engine. They did that about February 2000.

The older ones have held 300 foot-pounds. The newer ones can't hold 190 ft-lb. Stock of course is 155 ft-lb.

Some 2004s came with the old clutch.

Click to expand...

my car is a 2000, but was built in dec 99
does this mean that i has an older clutch in it?
the shifter is the sliver style (not the black one)

There's near or at the ends of these pages
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=98324&page=3
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=143339&page=2

I have a 2000 Jetta built November 99 and it had a sachs clutch.

which one is that?

i have a 2002 golf, dynoed at 149whp and 267torque on a mustang dyno at the wheels, add about 30% for crank.

no clutch slip for me. i really believe its how you drive that will depend if you clutch slips or not. (shifting properly that is without slipping the clutch, especially when starting from a stop). i can floor it in 5th gear at 2000rpm and no problems...

the only other explanation is that i have some magical clutch lol.

and with 170hp..how many torque has the clutch? will fit the VR6 clutch and G60 Flywheel without slipping?