sammy-r

I think my clutch went, but I don’t know for sure. This is what happened.

I was on an expressway when I got caught in an 8 mile traffic jam from an accident. It probably took me close to an hour to get through it, constantly on and off the clutch. Once though, the car seemed to run fine. When I got off the expressway, I couldn’t get the car out of gear. Once I finally got it out, I couldn’t get it back in. While I was coasting, I was playing with the gas and clutch and it finally dropped into third gear. I drove in third until I got to a traffic light. When I pushed the clutch in, everything seemed fine. I drove a couple of miles and everything seemed fine except for a vibration around 3000 rpm. When I got close to home, I had the same problem getting it in and out of gear again. I thought maybe the clutch overheated so I let it cool down for several hours. When I drove it again, it did the same thing. When I pulled it back in the garage, there was a pile of rubber on the floor right below where the clutch was.

I’m not sure if I’m going to do it myself or take it to the shop, but I’d like to know what the problem is first. Anybody have any ideas?

Zero10

Hmm, pile of rubber ---> rubber center in clutch is toast

That's at least how it sounds, sounds rather like it over-heated or something, given the intermittent nature of the failure.
Save a few hundred bucks, do the job yourself =)

If you want to know for sure, pull the starter, gives you a good look inside the bellhousing. Was able to diagnose a friend's failed rubber center that way, pulled the starter, and it was covered in little bits of rubber, and we dug a ton of little bits out from around the starter.

Macfreak007

I agree, pull the starter that is just 2 19mm bolts on the bottom of the bellhousing, if the clutch is blown there should probably be quite a bit of rubber down there around the pressure plate. Definately do the job yourself if you have the tools and the time, its really not as hard as its made out to be, in my opinion, but it takes quite a bit of time.

sammy-r

If it is the clutch and I do it myself, where's the best place to buy a replacement?

KuHL 951

If Performance Products has any left, they were running a special on genuine Porsche/Sachs PP, SC disc, and TO bearing for $435...These are not the stamped metal PP frames, solid machined part. I grabbed one and am waiting to install on the 83. That's a major saving on any I've seen lately. My rubber centered clutch is in limp home mode at 160K.

Strike-Force

Centerforce...www.centerforce.com

peterjcb

I know that my clutch is on "borrowed" time. I'm preparing to do a clutch job myself in the near future. What kind of tools will I need?

nine-44

Look around and go for the spring centered clutch to eliminate this problem from the future...

Here's what happened, the rubber took a crap allowing the disc to wobble, they get off center or drag on the flywheel causing all hell to get in and out of gear. sometimes they free up and get running true, sometimes they don't , clutch rubber is gone and I'd bet you still have half life on the disc too. I had to do a few like this whern I worked at a dealer a few years ago.

Tools, standard metric set of wrenches and sockets, metric allen sockets along with the 12 pt allen sockets too. Oh yeah, and about a 12inch punch or extension to drive the clutch fork pivot rod out of the bell housing. Also a small pinch for the dowel pin on the bellhousing for the pivot rod. Maybe a half inch drillbit for rounded out pressure plate bolts, if they round out, just drill the head off, they'll come out by hand after that. Good luck guys.

Campeck

ah! the joys of clutchless shifting!
hope it goes well.

Zero10

Best of luck getting this fixed, $435 doesn't sound too bad, I have a friend looking for a clutch, I'll point him in that direction.

tifosiman

Did the S2 have a rubber centered clutch?

Campeck

yessiree bob..er..tifo!

sammy-r

Well, it looks like I'll be doing a clutch job. Performance Products isn't running the sale anymore. I was thinking about ordering one of the clutch "super-kits" from Pelican Parts, although it might be a bit excessive since the car only has 38k on it. Does anybody have any experience with one of these kits?

I know I also need new motor mounts. Mine are sagging. Would this be a good time to replace them? If so, at what pont in the cluch installation would be good to install them or should I just wait until I'm done with the clutch?

Tony K

All of the national parts vendors are pretty competitive when it comes to price. Figure $450 give or take for everything in the Pelican super kit minus the master and slave cylinder. I prefer Gabe at Strasse, but we are lucky to have numerous good vendors. The master and slave cylinder that come in that "super kit" are really irrelevant - they can be changed just as easily by themselves as during the clutch replacement job. If yours are original, though, they might be due for replacement soon anyway...

83na944

I bought one of the Pelican kits. It was priced right and very complete, but IIRC I also bought flywheel bolts. You'll need the clutch hydraulics eventually if you keep the car long enough.

You can remove the fork pivot rod by threading a long (8mm ?) bolt into the end, attaching a set of vice grips, and then driving it out by hammering on the vice grips.

A pilot bearing puller makes the job a lot easier.