Dark ice clutch kit for the 180

[ZSONE80]

Anybody bought and fitted the dark ice replacement clutch hydrulic kit? Seen it on ebay for £175 not cheep but if it does the business.... Would like opinions please.

[talkingcars]

Apparently it is good match for the Sheddist.

[Ian Donkin]

I fitted one two weeks back and it does make a big difference (as in I now have an operable clutch). The only thing I would have liked to be different is the size of the fluid reservoir; it's tiny and you are forever topping it up whilst bleeding the system.

They now include a syringe to pull the fluid through and purge the air - it works, but make sure that you grease the bleed nipple threads before you start otherwise you will be forever drawing air through these during the bleed process.

Also, whilst the slave mounting bracket is exceedingly substantial, mine still flexes somewhat however from what I can feel through the pedal I'm pretty confident that all is not entirely well with something in the clutch mechanism (be it arm, release bearing or pressure plate).

[glane85]

Bought and fitted one a few months ago. My slave was leaking. Initially had a replacement slave, fitted that along with a new mounting bracket and the slave broke straight away. So fed up that I just forked out for the kit. It is very good, as you will see if you search the various forums for opinions. Some say it is pricey. You pay for the DID guys to source and assemble the kit plus the bespoke mounting bracket. I did start to price individual parts but the mounting bracket isn't an off the shelf solution. Realistically you'd probably be able to sort the same kind of kit for around a ton, give or take,, but there are times when you just want something done for you and pay the extra for the privilege.

[caled]

I fitted one of the DID kits, not had any problems so far. Worth the money imho.

[ZSONE80]

Thanks for the info guys, i think i shall purchase said kit.

[rover_ed]

Well worth it

[sneekyparrot]

kits ok.

res to small
tygon pipe sweats fluid after a while, which lets the pipe slide around the joints.

you can make one up cheaper yourself :-))

[top_man_eldo]

Originally Posted by sneekyparrot

kits ok.

res to small
tygon pipe sweats fluid after a while, which lets the pipe slide around the joints.

you can make one up cheaper yourself :-))

+1 on that.

I've gone through 2 slave cylinders, 2 master cylinders, I'm on my 3rd tygon tube and 3rd reservoir as well. In fact the only parts that haven't been replaced are the slave cylinder bracket, master cylinder clevis pin and the braided pipe from the master to slave cylinder! The kit is only 18 months old, but fair play to DID - they did replace some components under warranty.

I bought a bigger, metal master cylinder and replaced the plastic Brembo one. Also done away with the tygon tube and replaced that with an equivalent Brembo tube and so far no problems at all.

[Mark S]

one day someone will do a perfect kit, if there's any zs's left on the road needing one.

the sheddist had a copper pipe between the master and chassis leg bracket which never looked that good no matter how hard you tried. But it had a rubber link from chassis to slave which could be handy.

The sheddist bracket IS the most SUPERIOR DESIGN of all. the res was large enough but not 'pretty' for those who bling up engine bays, an oem honda one looked the part tho.

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The DID dark ice bracket by nature of its design will always flex more than the sheddist bracket, but the did bracket is more stylish yet functionality compromised by flex.

The idea of one braided hose is a good idea, but let down by banjo bolts on a non-machine finished slave/master, using a hose with correct fittings would be a better idea.

The res is tiny, but you can buy fluid reservoirs from demon tweaks or use a honda oem one.

.......................................

So for the 'perfect' kit you need to find a sheddist bracket, a decent fluid res and get a hose made up with the correct ends on, the rest is honda master and slave which comes in the dark ice kit or elsewhere.

Any used sheddist kit - you would be wise to replace the slave for the sake of 20quid simply because they fail - they will fail on the dark ice too in time, its the same part!
Replacing a used sheddist copper line would be wise, you can do the ends up so many times before the copper weakens and fractures, so getting a braided hose with the correct ends would be the way to go.

Anything is an improvement on the stock system, even going down the breakers and getting a complete used honda system would be a massive improvement, but you will always need a bracket and correct length hose.