AndyK

I'm having the new clutch installed on Tuesday-Wednesday. My old clutch isn't totally dead, but it's on the way out.

When the new clutch is installed (and maybe new master and slave), what should I expect as far as feel, performance, etc? This wont be an invisible fix, where it will feel just like my old clutch, will it?

When I spend $$ on a repair or improvement, I like to pull the car out of the driveway, and smile as I notice the difference, you know?

tifosiman

You will notice that it will be less forgiving on downshifts if you don't match revs properly......more chatter............

Luis de Prat

On the 8V NA perhaps.

On my '90 944S2 it made a huge improvement and is probably the smoothest 944 clutch I've ever had, upshifting and downshifting, at any rpm (and I've had 4 new ones -3 in the NA, 1 in the S2). No chatter whatsoever, either. YMMV.

Jason-85944

You will notice more noise in the drivetrain...kind of a whirling sound if you reve the car in nuetral. I did not notice any performance gains to speak of with my spring center clutch. I also did not notice problems with downshifts, but have heard this complaint from others.

-J

tifosiman

My comment was based on my own experience in an N/A. It may be different in an S2. I apologize for any confusion that my comment may have caused.

hacker-pschorr

Going to a spring center - centerforce clutch was a 100% improvement on my S. I did not notice any chatter (so I guess that means I must be an awesome drive then??). Actually, having a duel clutch 928 as a 2nd P-car, the chatter on a 944 would have to be horrible to catch my attention.

Luis de Prat

No need to apologize! Just that the man does have an S2.

I know what you mean, though. My mechanic warned me about it when I got my first spring centered for the 83. After a short lived rubber-centered SACHS replacement, the greater longevity of the spring-centered clutch was well worth the tradeoff.

Plus, when it finally wore out, it just began to slip but didn't fail catastrophically like the rubber-centered do.

Just be very careful of what clutch you put in the S2. I remember Tom Pultz had a hard time getting his to work in his car and it ended up being the wrong SACHS spring-centered clutch.

IMB951

Well, seeing as to how I just got my car back from my mechanic on tuesday with a newly installed Sachs spring center, I'll chime in. The previous clutch in my car was a Centerforce spring center. There is a major difference between these two in my opinion. The centerforce would grab and disengage at the flick of a foot on the pedal. The friction point was at the top of the pedal and downshifts needed to be perfect in order to execute quickly. The Sachs has a much smoother feel, and the friction point has changed to almost half of the pedal travel. It took some getting used to at first, but I think for now the Sachs will be much nicer to my tranny (and my whole drivetrain for that matter) because it doesn't require such dramatic rev matching as the Centerforce did. However if my car were on the track often, I'd definitely choose a Centerforce with no hesitation.

With newly installed short shift linkage (which I know you also have IIRC) my shifting takes just as long as with stock linkage and a centerforce.

Here is what happens to a centerforce when you don't rev match enough on a 5th to 3rd downshift. (yes, I am an idiot, and I've learned an expensive lesson)

IceShark

YIKES, I thought my clutch was bad when I replaced. That is a total disaster!

Be aware that there are different Sachs spring centered discs that will fit our cars. You have a menu to pick from. I'd steer clear of the turbo spring centered that has the 6 little inner springs. They like to jump out and ruin everything. Go with the Cup/HD disc. I love mine.

AndyK

Are the Cup discs more expensive? Do they have 4 springs vs. the Turbo's 6?

Luis de Prat

Andy, check out Tom's SACHS clutch info under "engine" at his website:

http://www.944S2.com

AndyK

Tom's vibration was coming from the new flywheel, not the clutch disc. He says the standard 6-spring works better...??

Do the 6-spring discs lose their springs at random, or do you need to kill it to have a spring pop out and destroy everything??

Edit: Just got off the phone with my mechanic. He's using original Porsche parts, including the Turbo Cup disc with the 4 larger springs!

IceShark

Good, Andy, I think you will like the Cup disc.

There are acutally smaller springs inside the 4 big ones if you look close. In any event, that is the one I'm talking about. It is a little more expensive than the turbo disc with the 6 little inner circle of springs on a square chunk of metal, but not much. Considering what it takes in labor to pull things apart that minimal extra expense is forgotten with yesterday's garbage.

Hope your mechanic sends the flywheel out to be resurfaced. That only costs 20 or 30 bucks. My flywheel was so chewed up by failure of the old disc that 0.025" had to be shaved off. Normal resurfacing is usually 0.005 to 0.010". I was pretty bad.

On the stock turbo disc with the 6 littel inner springs, I'm not sure why they jump out but there is no question they do. On my original disc with only 42,000 miles, 17 years old though, one of the 6 inner springs was totally gone. No sign of where that went other than chewing up the flywheel and PP. Another was bulged out and chewed half way through.

As far as shifting smooth I think the Cup disc is just wonderful, but I have been driving sticks almost everyday since around 1967.

AndyK

Yeah, I'm glad it's the better disc, included in his $650 for all parts quote. Not bad.

And he's having the flywheel resurfaced...that's included in the total estimate, along with doing the rear main seal. This guy knows his stuff (thankfully)!

Mongo

Tarheel, I'll never downshift that aggressively again! only 5th to 4th at like 60 mph up to 80..