happyfelthappy

Hello everybody,

Warning: This is my first post on Rennlist. I really like how useful the info on this site is. This is more of a supplement to the WSM and the various writeups that are mentioned below. I did not writeup step by step what to do since there are other posts online that do a great job of that.

A bit about me: I am a newbie to the world of Porsche. I am a twenty year old guy living in the SF Bay area. I have owned a couple of cars in the last couple of years, the first being a '95 240SX, then a '91 Camaro RS, lately I have had a '99 BMW E46, a E36 BMW 328i, and just bought a '83 Porsche 944 a couple of weeks ago.

Soon after driving the car, I realized the clutch seemed to have problems. The whole car would shake when I pushed the gas or let off the gas pedal. Felt like I was on a seesaw. Some research indicated that the rubber center on my clutch has most likely sheared and the "stops" which are like a limp mode for the clutch were getting brutally abused. I tried letting off of the clutch and playing with the gas for about a week but I soon started looking for a clutch kit.

Parts List:
Pilot bearing
Sachs Spring Centered Clutch Kit w/ release bearing & pressure plate
9 Flywheel bolts
Front Transmission shaft seal
Rear Main Seal
Needle Bearings for Clutch Fork
Swepco 201 Transmission Fluid
Clutch Alignment tool is Ford #03 I believe it is used in various Ford Clutch Kits. The Sachs kit did not include this but a friend from the local Pep Boys Parts counter let me borrow one.

I bought all of the seals from Parts Heaven a local Porsche used and new Parts place.
I luckily found a upgraded Sachs Spring Clutch kit on Ebay for about $460.

Tools:
10 MM Cheesehead (Triple Square) for the half shafts
19 MM Wrenches
Metric Socket Set: 8 MM to 19 MM
Metric Wrench Set: 8 MM to 19 MM (Ratcheting Set is a plus)
Standard Socket set sometimes comes in handy
1/2 inch socket for triple square bits
3/8 inch ratchet
1/2 inch ratchet
3/8 inch extensions of various lengths
3/4 inch ratchet
Various Pry Bars
3/8 Breaker Bar
Torque Wrench


Tips:
-Remove battery connections.
-Get a good set of Triple square. I did not want to strip my bolt heads so I placed the bit into the head and hit it with a block of wood before using the ratchet on them.
-Cover Half Shafts with plastic baggies
-Clean Transmission while it is out (I should have)
-Use Pry bar gently pushing coupling towards transmission away from engine and driveshaft.
-Put block or something to hold clutch pedal down in order to move shaft spline. Shaft will not move even with parking brake off and transmission in Neutral!
-Make room above clutch housing bolts in the engine bay in order to remove top bolt without breaking anything. (I damaged a plug in the back of engine bay)

I used many sources to read up on this before starting the clutch job. Many thanks to Rennlist and these sites here:
These writeups are much more thorough than mine is however do not have pictures.

https://rennlist.com/forums/924-931-...ml#post6847868

http://connact.com/~kgross/FAQ/944faqcu.html
Torque Specs here^
http://www.mikepellegrini.com/porsche_manual.php

http://www-public.tu-bs.de:8080/~y00...944clutch.html
Torque Specs are here also^

http://www.clarks-garage.com/pdf-manual/clutch-01.pdf

http://www.mademan.com/mm/how-change...rsche-944.html

Now for some pics and various comments: This is my first time trying to post pics and sort of a DIY on here, so sorry for the errors I will make =]



A Lift and transmission jacks make this job a bit easier.



















It was kind of difficult to seperate this coupling. I read over the tip for putting a block of wood to hold down clutch pedal in order to turn shaft and open bolts on the coupling easily.








The Spring Clutch looks pretty nice.


Good Luck, please make improvements or add anything that I may have missed. I will add it to the original post!

EDIT: Here is a link to a great CLUTCH and torque tube bearing post with pictures and more explanations on 944online: http://www.944online.com/cgi-bin/for...num=1294429473

Butters944

Thanks for this thread, will probably need to reference it in the future!

happyfelthappy

Sure, Let me know if you have any questions. I tried to take pictures from many angles to see how it looks after disassembly.

dirtyTurbo

Nice work! I know what you mean about cleaning everything, I made the same mistake. The engine was out and rebuilt in my car and you can hardly tell!

happyfelthappy

Thanks, did you rebuild it? That is one huge feat. I am worried about doing the timing belt though. I have not much experience with that.

Butters944

Timing belt job is so easy a 15 year old can do it in his driveway with clarks-garage and no special tools!!!

happyfelthappy

Really? I thought I need to buy a tension tool like the 920x and a tool to hold the balance shaft cogs and a big wrench that is bent.

Butters944

You do not need the tool (as much as everybody will try to convince you it's needed), use the 90° finger turn method. Unless you have a friend to borrow the tool from

happyfelthappy

Are there location specific listings of members? Maybe I could find someone in the area who has the tools. I don't have any porsche friends just yet haha

GTSilver944

There are other options: krinket (sp?), Arnnworx, etc. You can also make a BS cog tool and wrench. Search for more info...

happyfelthappy

My belt seems to whine, maybe the PO replaced them? Do they stop whining as many have said?

I have checked out the other tools. I was thinking of getting the Arnnworx tool kit with the flywheel lock, wrenches and the 920x tool, all of the front seal kit, and perhaps getting the contitech TB kit with a Laso pump.

Butters944

If you've got all the money laying around, go for it. But remember if you don't, you don't need to

happyfelthappy

I certainly do not have that much money laying around at the moment. Do you think I should at least get the flywheel lock? I think that is around 30 something bucks.

Butters944

Up to you, i guess. My dad made one himself out of some random metal and jammed it in there.

happyfelthappy

haha that is awesome. All it looks like is a bracket with two holes to fit into the starter holes.