86 951 Driver

Now my clutch has gone out. I am not a happy right now. The car sounds so good, but it doesn't matter because the clutch just completely went out. It was slipping it just makes a grinding noise. Here is what i need to know. How difficult is it really to replace the clutch? What is all involved? I thought about doing it myself, or maybe taking it to a mechanic. How much would I be looking at paying to either do it myself or take it somewhere? Its the 87 924S by the way

aeronautica86

well my '87 944 cost $1700 at a porsche specialist for a clutch replacement....I know it's not an easy procedure; some people will suggest taking the engine out as that apparently speeds up the procedure quite a bit; seems a clutch kit could be had for ~$500 so if you have the time/know how/tools I would recommend doing it yourself

Serge944

Expect to pay 1500 to have a mechanic do it. The clutch kit itself costs around 500. Doing it requires removing the tranny or dropping the engine. Heres a detailed procedure: www.clarks-garage.com

aeronautica86

Forgot to mention; if you have the work done by a porsche shop, definately supply them with the parts. You can get a better aftermarket clutch kit for around $500, but they will mostly likely order an OEM clutch kit which costs damn near $1000.

86 951 Driver

What I found weird was that the clutch never slipped it just would have the jerking back and forth when getting on the gas and letting off.

aeronautica86

My clutch didn't slip before it went out. One day it was hard to shift gears, then the next morning when I started up the car all the old rubber center of the clutch spit out all over my garage floor! And then I had to drive it ~25 miles to the shop....good times

NeedPorscheSpeed

I'm sorry to hear about your misfortune! I had my mechanic check the Mitchell 1 estimator recently for the number of hours labor it would require for a 1989 944 Turbo. He told me that it would take 16 hours for the Turbo, and mentioned casually that the n/a only required 9 hours. So, at least it's not a Turbo!

I'm thinking that if you could find a reputable shop that charges $70/hr, and get yourself a $500 aftermarket clutch, you are looking at around $1200 for the bottom line. Of course, if you have the dealer do it, it would probably be every bit of $2000!

Good luck!

aeronautica86

He's right - the dealer quoted me $2200 for the job. The shop I took it too charged $60/hr as opposed to the dealers $100/hr. Ended up charging 10 hours labor for my car.

daniel951

i just got done with my clutch job and boy it was hard but i didn't want to pay that kind of money out for a dam clutch. Also the place i took my car to does ****ty work and figured i would do it myself. My best advice is make sure u have another car to drive because the clutch job can take lots of time because of other problems encountered then u have to wait for parts to be shipped

Dilberto

Oh man, I'd stop running the car now. To hear the deep, throaty, grumbling of an airtight water-cooler, and NOT drive it- is a complete travesty. Roll the tools out, recruit a faithfully curious assistant, and invest the time necessary to get rolling again. Your investment is now costing you the more you fret about the clutch job. Whenever I feel "not up to the job" about my car- I go to Brian Perry's website, and read about his incredible 951 ordeal. Suddenly, my problems are really not that bad!

Zach

86 951 Driver

I really have been thinking about changing the clutch myself, but I don't know if I can do it. I can rebuild a motorcycle top end and a clutch but its a little different. I was going over the clutch job in the Haynes manaul and it says you have to drop the tranny!!!! Anyone in the STL that would be up to helping with the clutch job?

daniel951

the tranny actually isn't very hard at all. go to clarks garage and just go step by step and if u run into any problems just come on rennlist and we can help u out right of way. U are probably going to need more then one person for this job because things can get tough hold things up and screwing them in at the same time.

PorscheDoc

If the 924 is like then 944, then the job is a pain in the butt that takes awhile, but is not rocket science by any means. There is nothing overly difficult. I have 2 done clutch jobs on 951s which involves removing the 1 piece cross over. Only special tools you need is an 8mm cheese head and 8mm allen socket. The only pain in the butt is that you may strip out a PP or Flywheel bolt, but if you take your time and make sure the tool is on straight and alot of pressure pushing inward, you shouldnt strip many. Both jobs i ended up stripping two bolts. sometimes you get lucky and the ones that strip are the ones that you can see the shaft on and can cut in half with a dremel. You will know what i mean when you get under there. Plan on what the book says for labor. BTW i did both jobs by myself, only part that requires 2 people is undoing the torque tube coupler shaft (you need someone to push in the clutch pedal so you can turn the shaft, as the 2 bolts are 180 degrees apart)....other wise you can just turn the front crank bolt, but that requires lots of pacients to get the bolts lined up correctly. I recommend completely removing the CV axles (adds all of 20 minutes) to get them out of the way, and drop the tranny attached to the crossmember, instead of trying to undo the tranny from the crossmember. Clark has you try and undo the 2 13mm bolts mounting the crossmember to the tranny and then drop the tranny down. Instead just remove the 2 17mm long bolts that attach the crossmember to the frame. This will save you mucho time. Again not sure if this is all the same on the 924. Take your time and replace EVERYTHING while you are in there. Do not skimp on anything.

Matt H

It is not hard, it is time consuming. It is also usually very dirty. If you dont like that kind of work pay someone the 12-1500 bucks t get it done. As to taking your parts to a dealer there is about ZERO chance they will install them for you. Taking your parts to a specialist is more like it but to be honest if they are worth a damn even they wont install your parts.
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pearldrum944

Like they said, it just takes time. You had the infamous "944 shutter". The rubber center has gone out and was making the car jerk back and forth. I got the updated spring centered sachs clutch kit from Vertexauto.com for about $389 and am completely satisfied with it.