Giantviper

So while driving to work this morning I think the rubber center on my clutch let go about 3 miles from my office. I was stopped in traffic and it bucked and vibrated when I tried to put it into gear and made a almost banging type noise. I limped along for another mile or so by going into gear kind of ( no real great grab) and then it just would not engage at all.

When the flat bed came to get me there was also a bunch of Trans fluid leaking as well (normally the car engine and trend does not drip at all).

I think the rubber clutch center let go finally (original clutch in the car) and the vibration loosened a seal maybe on the cv joint or somthing which lead to the tansaxel fluid leak.

Do you guys think my assessment makes sense or do you think it is something else? The car is a 1988 N/A with 63,000 miles on it.

Also to make lemonade out of lemons I was thinking while in there putting a lightweight flywheel. Do you thing a flywheel upgrade will make a difference (I jave read some differing opinions when i did a search)? Does anyone have recommendations on a lightweight flywheel to get for this car? I use the car for fun spirited driving in the summer.

Thanks you.

V2Rocket

That sucks about the clutch.
You can save a buck by finding a used spring-type clutch setup and get the disk re-lined with new friction material, and surface the PP/FW.

JMO, but I wouldn't spend any money on a LWFW - there are too many other things to "fix" (upgrade) about the 944's performance before getting into rotating mass calculations.

Re-surface the stock FW and put the savings into a jar until you can buy a MAF kit...

thomasmryan

Could just be your slave cylinder or flex line

StoogeMoe

Not the clutch. Sounds like you blew the ring and pinion and somehow punched a hole in the tranny.

FRporscheman

I've never heard anyone say that their LWFW was totally worth the effort and money. The catch is, if you go too light, you can get stalling problems coming back to idle. If you get not light enough, what's the point...

Where is it leaking from, the rear end of the car? How much fluid? If it's a lot, there might be something seriously wrong with the tranny like Moe said. Or maybe a CV joint got all munched up, finally broke, and ripped open a boot a spilled oil out. I've seen oil separate from grease.

Clutch test: Jack up rear of car, remove the big square rubber plug from the tranny bellhousing, grab the driveshaft and spin it. If it spins at all, the clutch is blown!

Giantviper

Gear oil was under the rear of the car. It was a decent amount. I could not tell exactly where it was coming from as the drip was from the bottom of the tyranny case but looked like it was moving from another area before it was coming out.

MistaX

Where in NNJ are you?
I've got a non-LSD trans out of an '87 924S with 54k miles if you'll need it.

Also my car has an aluminum flywheel/Centerforce clutch and have no problem letting you drive it to see if you like what it feels like.

Giantviper

OK so I ended up taking it to Preciscon Motor Sports in Long Valley NJ. It turns out the rubber center on the clutch let go and then the pinion gear was ground down to nothing. (It seems I should have done the clutch a while ago)

He had a used Transmission with about 50K miles on it. Put in a new spring center clutch with the new trans and put my shorter 5th gear in the new trans.

Willie did a great job and did some other little fixes while he was at it (found a leaking vacuum line). The car runs smoother than ever and the clutch feels great!

He had a bunch of track cars and some nice street cars there as well (993s, 996s, 964s, 928s and 924s). He also seems to have a reason passion for our 944s.

I recommend him to anyone in the area who needs work done.

Giantviper

Picture of old clutch with rubber center or should I say what rubber center?

Tiger03447

Whoa! looks like it's seen better days, alright..Glad to hear that you are back on the road again. Sounds like a serious lick in the hip pocket, though..

Jfrahm

Yes it seems if you ignore the blown rubber clutch center the pounding from the driveline lash can take out the ring and pinion.

Giantviper

You are correct. The blown rubber center did exactly that. I have learned my lesson. When a clutch is blown do not try to limp anywhere stay where you are and have the tow truck come and get you. 😉

It is nice to have it running again.

As for the cost yes it was a nice chunk of change. When my wife saw the amount she wanted to cancel our vacation in August or sell it. But after some discussion we decided to do neither. Whew...😀

VirginiaF1

Viper,
Glad your repairs worked out!
Roughly how much should we budget for a new clutch /tranny from an indy like Precision?

With an '88 also, I'm impressed with your low miles.
Your clutch rubber not having died from mileage but from 30 years of oxidation?

How long/miles have you owned? Any AutoX or lapping on the orig clutch?

As I posted 4 years ago:
My '88 now has 306k and despite 26 years of meticulous maintenance records, I found NO clutch replacement paperwork.

And I even called all 7 dealers and indy shops to run the VIN for a clutch replacement; to no avail.

To all: How would we tell if we now have a spring-centered clutch?
(Paperwork be damned..)

Thx, mikey

Jfrahm

The rubber clutch windup is obvious if you try to drive off with the handbrake on.

Giantviper

So my cat has about 63,000 miles on it. I have owned it since 2006 (28,000 miles at the time) and never tracked it or any auto X (always wanted to though). Just spirited street driving. I have also added a short throw shifter kit and Konica yellows all around as well as 17" sport classics off of a 996.

Correct the clutch center died from oxidation and age. As you can see from the pics the pads on it are not worn. After seeing how smooth the car runs now I probably should have done the clutch 1 or 2 years ago and would have prevented needing the transmission work.

As for cost the clutch alone would have been between $2,100 and 2,500 with the transmission it was a little under 4K.

As for the spring center clutch it has a bit more drive train noise then the rubber one and is slightly more sensitive to more accurate shifting but if the rubber center is on its way out then the spring center will feEl much better (which is the case for me).

-Phil