orig944

As I transition from "fixing every little thing" with the 85-1 944 (I'm a windshield washer reservoir away from perfection now,) to "what should I do to prevent future issues," I've been reading about the original clutch failing by having the rubber disintegrating. As it is a total PITA to replace, I'm asking the community if the car can be driven home if the rubber disintegrates on a drive. If it can, then it is pretty much no harm no foul to let it ride for my use case. The car has been garaged since new, and the rest of the rubber on the car seems fine.

944Time

>if the car can be driven home if the rubber disintegrates on a drive.

Unless you are unlucky, the answer is yes.

Does your 85 have the original clutch?

orig944

Thanks! And yes, it does have the original. Only 33K miles though.

elgy

You can drive it a lot further than home... unless home is a long way off. My clutch plate was broken when I bought the car and neither the seller nor I realised it. I drove it for most of a year before coming to the conclusion that the clutch was not supposed to clunk when engaged.

Aivar88

I wasnt that lucky, years ago when that rubber **** went, i had to call a tow truck.

orig944

Thanks all for the comments. We've had the car since new, so I'm just trying to prioritize the expenditures for the next few years. I had a full fluid change & belt change done this year. And even though the local independent shop guy didn't want to change out the belts (since they only had maybe 3K miles on them and looked great) they were roughly 20 years old (the same shop replaced them back then.) I just didn't feel I could risk it anymore. It took a bit of convincing, but I had it done, along with the waterpump/shield/pulley upgrade that needed to be done. I simply asked "Where could I find a car like this, for this little money, and in this shape." All that, plus changing the weeping valve cover gasket (they spend 24 shop hours carefully scraping gaskets) cost about 3.5K, but it was well worth it in my opinion. It was the right shop to do it, as they still had the template to make the modifications to the block. I also changed out the 20 y ear old RE71 tires this year as well, for Michelin Pilot Super Sports (we have them on other cars) for another K or so., I'm now fixing the niggling things to bring it up to like new.condition. Can I say I'm loving this car?

It's probably a lesson to those that think they can pick up a cheap 944. This car had absolutely no issues. It drove and looked perfectly fine. No, make make that great. But I just spend 4.5 K$ on a refresh (and BTW, I'm not complaining.) Not fix it mind you, as there was nothing wrong. with the car. This was just doing what should have been done earlier to keep it in the best shape possible.

Now that I'm willing to let the clutch slide a while, I think the next safety project is fuel lines, even though they are still supple and appear undamaged (It's an early car, so they are not on exhaust side.) Following that, fan relays (taking the fan current out of the factory wiring harness.) And then on to headlight upgrades, though I need to research LED vs. Halogen and harness upgrade.

Thanks again all, and if i have to call a tow truck... Well, that's why I have triple A.

Happy miles, and smiles for all.

BeerBurner

FWIW, when my clutch disk broke, the car could still drive but it was pretty "clanky" and it didn't want to shift that well.

BB.