jdogporsche

Hello all. My car suddenly would not shift into any gear while the car is running. If I push the clutch in I just keep moving forward. I think it may be a broken clutch cable. Not sure though. My friend James (SeattlePorsche) has advised me to take it in to John Walker, but as it is winter time, I am thinking of doing the work myself. I know this would be a simple and affordable job to have John do it, but I would love an excuse to spend some time in the garage and get to know my car a bit more intimately! If it is the clutch cable, what else should I look for/replace? How hard is it to do this job (scale of 1 to 10)? I understand that removing the helper spring from the shaft on the lever arm is rather difficult. Any tips? Looks like some have used a Dremmel tool. Is that the best choice?

Thanks everyone!

Peter Zimmermann

Jeremy: No dremel needed to work on a 911! On a '77 the first step is to remove the floorboard at the pedals. With it out of the way push in the clutch pedal with your hand while you watch the arm, where the front end of the cable is attached, move. Do the pedal and arm seem to be in synch? If no, you might have a broken roll pin where the pedal attaches to the cross shaft in the pedal cluster. For that you will have to remove the pedal assembly. But first, if all looks OK at the pedals, raise and safely support the back of the car. Below the differential housing locate a short (about 3") metal arm that attaches at a shaft that disappears up into the bell housing. That arm should have a spring on it, remove that using a pliers. Locate and remove the circlip where the arm fits on the shaft, then pull the arm off. Place a large screwdriver/pry bar behind the large arm with the omega spring on the left end. As you overcome pressure the arm will forcefully spring toward the front of the car. Now use two 15mm open end wrenches to loosen the two nuts that secure the cable to an aluminum anchor attaced to the diff side cover. Release the hook on the end of the cable, on the large arm, and free the cable from the car.

Go back inside, push the clutch pedal to the floor, loosen the jamb nut on the cable, next to the clevis fork. Free the clevis pin from the fork and push it out (toward the inside of the tunnel) of the fork and pedal cross shaft arm (don't worry, you can't lose it and can always find it with a magnet). Unscrew the clevis fork and jamb nut completely from the cable.

Back under the car, follow the bowden tube (black cable housing that rides alongside the transmission) to the firewall. You will probably have to use a medium/large flat-bladed screwdriver to work the push on connection loose, but once the bowden tube is loose at the firewall the cable can be pulled out of the car. When the cable is on the bench see if you can pull the cable through the bowden tube to what would be the rear. The most common failure point is where the bowden tube connects at the firewall, but look for snapped cable strands elsewhere. Be careful, if the cable is broken those strands can be sharp.

If you get this far let us know what you find, but please keep the thread current - much more to know!

jdogporsche

Awesome! Thanks for this info Pete. I shall follow it to the "T" and let everyone know how it is going (with some pictures too)! I cannot wait to do this work, I will be starting this weekend :-)

theiceman

Jeremy where have you been hiding .. !! I can't belive James would tell you to take it to a mechanic after what he did to his car.

This was the first job I did on my car and thought it was a piece of cake. The adjustment is a bit finicky as the cable can stretch for the first couple of pumps but after that it was fine.

heres hoping that it is just the cable..

SeattlePorsche

Hi guys,
At the time of the car breaking, Jeremy made it sound like it was the clutch that broke. I can't remember what the symptoms were anymore. Anyways, I am glad Jeremy is gonna try to fix this himself. I'll be going over to his house this weekend to lend a hand.

theiceman

James good to hear from you again , hows the car doing ? Even if the clutch is broke its a great DIY thing unless the car is a dd.

SeattlePorsche

Hi Ice,
My car was doing great until my alternator broke. It is just sitting there right now on my driveway. I don't know, I lost my mojo there for a while. My mind is on this girl right now. You know how that goes...
Anyways, yeah the clutch is a great DIY project, but you would have to drop the engine at least, or I would prefer to drop both the engine and tranny and at the time it sounded more than Jeremy was up for. It is his primary driver (although it has been out of comission for so long I don't know if he has a spare).
How about you? How is your car coming along? I bought this 1969 911 a while ago and that will be my next project. Steve Weiner is helping me with the necessary parts to keep it sleeper looking but tighter and safer.

James

theiceman

The car is doing okay .. still spewing oil onto the excahngers ay high RPM but it keeps theose shiny vettes backed off considerably ..

The car other than that is running very strong, I just can't seam to justify pulling the engine out when nothing else is wrong ... I guess I will wait until the clutch goes ..

you should post some pics of the 69 , is it an S a T Targa or Coupe ?