Brads911sc

Ok... I was driving my 83 SC, 94k miles. And it felt like the clutch cable broke.. babied it home. Sounded like a dragging brake disk while driving it home.
Bought the new cable from Pelican... start to take the old one out.. and it doesnt appear broke. when i push pull the cable from the transactual, it moves the petal on the inside of the car... what other things could this be? do I have a dreaded engine drop? should i go ahead and change the cable now and see what that does? another odd thing.. when i push pull the cable from the trans it moves the petal. but when i push pull the petal inside the car it doesnt seem to do anything to the trans. thanks in advance...

Peter Zimmermann

Brad: Pull the cable out and check it on the bench, it might still be able to do "light duty" because it only has a few broken strands. Michael recently went through a clutch cable replacement, I'll try to find the info for you...

Peter Zimmermann

https://rennlist.com/forums/911-forum/444690-as-promised.html

Brads911sc

Thanks Pete. I plan to pull it out tomorrow.

Peter Zimmermann

https://rennlist.com/forums/911-forum/444032-a-recent-thread.html

butzip

I'm just throwing out some thoughts here..... Perhaps you broke the throwout fork. The fingers that sit in the groove of the TO bearing are some what dainty. That said, I can't say I've ever heard of one breaking. The helper spring does commonly break, however the clutch should still operate just with alot more effort. I would put the car up on jack stands and watch the helper spring and arm while someone steps on the clutch pedal. See what happens or doesn't happen. Keep us posted.

Peter Zimmermann

I've seen a number of broken forks, but you have to isolate/eliminate the easy stuff first. We really don't have records here, so we can only do what we can do!

Brad: Like my posts mention, make sure that the front anchor point, at the clevis pin, is in good condition!

flatsixnut

My biggest concern would be he said he heard a dragging sound while driving home.
That does not sound like cable. The cable that I replaced did not have any broken strands but it was well worn out.So make sure you give it a good look once its out. Mine did not move freely within the cable housing and it was mashed in a few places. The new cables will move very freely inside the housing.
I hope you get off easy with your problem.

Peter Zimmermann

Michael: I know, but I've heard that "dragging" sound explanation before, and more often than not it's the feel imparted by the transmission as the engine is lugging and everything is struggling to keep up. Hopefully it won't be internal and all will work out well!

Brads911sc

Thanks ALL for all the support. Ill keep you posted. Im hoping it doesnt turn into a clutch job.

Brads911sc

Update -- I pulled the old cable. It wasnt broken, crushed, frayed, in any way. It looked just like the new one. Put in the new cable. Didnt fix anything (except I have a know new cable now).
So now what?
The round spring at the cable... Used to be pressed tight against my heat exchanger (in fact i had to push it over about a 1/4 inch to get the SSI's on. It is now about two inches from the exchanger... its obviously NOT holding onto whatever its supposed to hold onto...
Dont think I could actually break that spring could i?
sound like the fork to you?
anything else i can check before dropping the engine and buying 1000 worth of parts?
Id also add that the pedal is all the way to the floor with the new cable in place.
Ive been very nervous about dropping the engine... i put SSI's/Dansk Sport on the car, new AC system, new ignition switch, new brakes... do you think I can do this job?
Thanks for the advice in advance.

Brad
83 SC
Houston, TX

Peter Zimmermann

Do you have any mileage-related clutch repair records?

Brads911sc

Full Records back to 99... Nothing clutch related... Mileage was 69,300 in 1999.

Peter Zimmermann

Really good cars, I guess it's possible that it's the original clutch. If so, the fork might have broken, but usually you can adjust the clutch to deal with that, at least for a few miles. It's also possible that the throw out bearing pulled out of the pressure plate, which is probably the most likely scenario.

FYI: The omega spring should have three leaves, any less and it's broken.

Brads911sc

would changing the flywheel be advised with the mileage?
is this a fairly straightforward job?
is it worth the extra money for the aluminum pressure plate? (not looking for weight savings here... )
anything else you would change like the TOB Guide Tube?
Just dont want to go in again because i missed something... Thanks Pete...