Definitely common for manufacturers to do this and it certainly seems like Honda did so w/ the Si. Exedy even said that the torque that Honda spec'd for the clutch wasn't what the car was putting out, which is why our clutches are failing w/ just a stage 1 tune.
Chevy might not anymore, because I rented a 2019 V6 Camro rated at 335hp/284tq, 3448lbs, and it felt pretty accurate by butt dyno standards lol. And there's plenty of gap between the V8's 455hp/455tq numbers.
At the time I was shopping for a Civic I picked the Si over the Civic Sports hatch because 1) they didn't have a MT available in that model at the dealership and 2) the 205 hp rating. What steered me away from the Type R was 1) the over-styling and 2) the $35K plus price tag LOL. I think most people buy the Civic Si because it comes in a Sedan and Coupe and has a MT, and most people don't buy the Type R because of the styling. Even if they were closely priced I think the Type R market would still be a niche market
Then why didn’t they make a change and start putting a stronger clutch in the new ones?
Probably because Honda deemed it good enough for stock and didn't want to spend the engineering money.
Because the stock clutch works perfectly on a factory car. Increasing the price of an Si in order to add an overkill clutch would not be feasible for the majority of Si owners as most do not modify their car.
What he is saying is that even with OEM "upgraded" sourced parts, it would increase the price of the car, because you also have to factor in the engineering. Here is my take. The current clutch, intercooler, brakes etc are completely adequate with a factory stock Civic Si if you drive it normally as Honda intended. Let's talk about the clutch for a second. I believe if you drive this car normally with the occasional spirited driving, (boost under 23 PSI), the stock clutch will last you a long time. If Honda were to add a stage 1 clutch with a SMF, not only would it increase the price of the car and the cost of parts, but most drivers would hate it. They would hate the chatter, they would hate the feel. They would hate that they have to pay $500 more for the car. And it would be unnecessary for 99 percent of Civic Si drivers in my opinion.
Agreed, although I think Exedy could have built an OEM clutch that is pretty much just as driveable as the one we got. We'll leave the DMF vs SMF piece out of this since that's a different discussion and assume that for the average driver, a DMF is better. From the conversations I've seen with them, their stage 1 clutch is what we should have received from the factory. And here's what Exedy's acct executive said in regards to Honda under spec'ing (taken from one of the original posts about Exedy's staged clutches):
They definitely detuned the car, there is no doubt it. Toyota pretty much detunes all their engines. A good example is my IS350, the stock engine produces 306 hp and redlines at 6500 rpm, but you can safely get 455 whp out of this engine. A tune from RR Racing safely changes the redline to 7200 RPM unlocking an additional 20 hp! It's all about keeping costs down, and keeping reliability to the maximum for those 98 or 99 percent of buyers. For those 1 or 2 percent who want to push things, that's what the aftermarket is for!Agreed, although I think Exedy could have built an OEM clutch that is pretty much just as driveable as the one we got. We'll leave the DMF vs SMF piece out of this since that's a different discussion and assume that for the average driver, a DMF is better. From the conversations I've seen with them, their stage 1 clutch is what we should have received from the factory. And here's what Exedy's acct executive said in regards to Honda under spec'ing (taken from one of the original posts about Exedy's staged clutches):
I also agree that the stock clutch is probably perfectly fine on the OEM tune, but it always makes me wonder if Honda de-tuned things once they realized the stock clutch couldn't hold the torque the engine is capable of. The reason I say that is due to the artificial boost ramp. If you get rid of that w/ a tune and still run near-stock boost, there's still a decent chance of getting slip. Maybe it was done to protect the rods too, but I haven't seen any evidence yet of people bending rods w/ ~20 PSI and the boost ramp removed.
Every manufacturer pretty much does this like you said, but I guess I was more so referring to the fact that they really restricted the onset of boost. Engineers: "hey, we have this great little engine that we can get tons of power out of reliably and with great gas mileage" bean counters: "yeah, but you need to restrict the onset of torque delivery because we don't want to pay $50 more for a clutch"
