I am pleased to report that I successfully changed the clutch in my 1986 na 944!

I began the process on Labor Day weekend. I worked Friday afternoon, much of Saturday, and Sunday evening. By Monday morning I had everything apart. The biggest PITA was having to grind off the nuts/bolts holding the downpipe to the exhaust manifold. I'm quite sure these bolts have never been removed in the car's 20 year/234,000 mile history.

This past weekend I began reassembly on Friday evening, then I worked Saturday morning until early afternoon, and Sunday afternoon. I had a couple of details that I finished off on Tuesday evening, and I drove the car back and forth to work yesterday and today!

I'm guessing that I worked a total of just over 20 hours on the car. About three of those hours went into dealing with rusty nuts on the exhaust system. By the way, that doesn't include runs to Advance Auto and Home Depot for new tools.

Now, I'd like to thank some folks, without whom I may not have gotten the job done:

First and foremost, George B. at 944 Ecology for much technical advice and moral support. George, you are the man. Everyone at Rennlist should buy their used 944 parts from you!

Second, David Erickson and various other Rennlisters, who were also willing to lend moral support and technical advice.

Third, my father-in-law, Lee Mende, and my friends, Chris Phipps and Marty Morani, for lending extra hands to lower/raise the tranny and twist the torque tube around.

Now, there is one loose item to wrap up (literally). After reinstalling the tranny I found a small metal bushing on the floor of my garage, near the back of the car. It's about 1 cm diameter and 1 cm long. Anybody have a clue???

Cheers,

Mark

P.S. If anyone in the Baltimore/DC area ever wants to tackle a clutch job, I'm willing to try to lend my advice and tools. (I hope that I never again need to use the clutch alignment tool on my car!)