Here's my angle--------------once you have the Toploader in place, you're DONE WITH IT, FOR GOOD !!!!! With the C-4, there WILL be a time when you'll need to pull it and go thru it again. I'm running both, a toploader in my 89 Ranger that's 41 YEARS OLD and never been rebuilt and a C-4 in the Comet that's been in and out of the car 3 times in the last 3 years I've owned the car. The Toploader just recently lost the 3rd and 4th gear blocker rings.
The Toploader won't give you much trouble unless you abuse it but the clutches can be a pain in the A$$. I go through clutches fast - no, I don't rde the pedal, I just shift a lot - up and down. I replace clutches yearly but C4s last a very long time with just normal maintenance. (fluid change and band adjustments every two years) The C4 that was originally in my car lasted 100000 miles. The one that is in it now will last longer. If you are going through C4s then there is a problem with your builder or the way you are using (abusing) it.
If you go thru clutches that fast, there's one or more things going on there. One is you're using the cheap auto parts store discs and pressure plates (the setup in mine is a Centerforce dual friction set, going on 6 years now in use) or you need more practice in using the clutch. Toploaders will take far more abuse than any C-4 ever will. 41 years vs 3 times in 3 years says it all. Does my C-4 get abused? Yea. But no more abuse than the Toploader gets. It all has to do with how you drive it, I've had 35 years & 3 million plus miles with a stick to hone my skills.
Like I said - there is something wrong with the rebuild if the C4 breaks that fast. Unless you are running over (well over) 600 HP there are few reasons why a C4 won't last a lifetime. As for the parts I am using with my clutches - No bargain store parts but no dual friction twin disc either. Single plate, Ford part numbers from Ford. Other people run the same clutches for years - I shift a lot - using the clutch to accelerate and to brake. I also live in Seattle - the city built on seven very steep hills. Stop lights are conveniently place in several places going up the hills so that you have to be good with a clutch or you roll down the hill backwards or get tickets for spinning your tires. Been driving a clutch for 43 years.... I don't think I need more practice. I could change my driving habits and make them last longer or I could use the harder friction materials and buy new flywheels or go to a twin disc multi-plate and multiple materials to make it last longer. I prefer to use a single plate with soft friction material on it for now. I may at some point switch to a kevlar/glass plate but not until they are safe on a cast iron flywheel.
The dual friction plates aren't dual discs. Takeoffs on up hill grades are murder on a clutch discs. About the only thing worse for one is stump pulling. Both shoul dbe avoided at all costs. As for the stock Ford materials in discs, they may be good now, but in the past, they didn't stand wear like the aftermarket stuff. I went thru a couple of Ford clutch discs in my Ranger after the initial V8 swap (94-95 Stang HD discs) before biting the bullet for the Centerforce Dual Friction set, that was one time I've never regretted shelling out $350 for a Clutch/PP set. That set is being run with the stock O.E. iron flywheel. Zero problems. The stock V6 setup was as well not up to the task, wore the first out in 50K miles, the second was subjected to a stump pulling episode (Holly bushes had to go in front of the house) so three discs in 115K miles before the V8 swap. As for C-4's lasting a lifetime in stock form, that'll never happen. I've been thru too many of their failures in 3 vehicles. One of these was a 69 E330 van with the HD C-4, that one alone went thru 5 rebuilds in ten years with a stock motor.
I wish you were a bit closer to me - I could change your mind about those C4s - in the stock fom they can do a lot but with a little reworking they are bullet-proof in most applications. I would add a plate to each clutch pack, modify the valve body, add lube and cooling capacity and tell you to mount a big cooler and you would have a 100000 mile C4 on any stock application at a cost of about $750. You can get about the same C4 from Jay at Broader Performance for the same money and he ships world-wide.
That C-4 in the E330 had all that done to it. It still didn't hold up to moving a 6000 lb van with a stock 302 turning it. The one in the Comet now might last a while, but time will tell. It was done by someone in your skill level. I haven't had any problems with it for over a year now, but it doesn't get driven everyday either. More like at most once a week.
