dualblade

ok tom, thanks for the advice. i'm not quite there yet but i'll keep that in mind.


update:
got the tranny off this morning. it's now sitting on the ground and i'm happy cause it didn't fall on me or break anything. once turnable, the collar was very easy to get off. great idea on just pushing the clutch in to get it to turn easily. i just used the top of my jack handle and jammed it up against the front of the seat while pushing the seat forwards. holds the clutch down pretty easily.

dualblade

alright, here's some pics for the more visually oriented:

my workplace (the garage)


the tranny that's going in. still to be degreased (more) and painted. more pics when that's finished


my shifter, somewhat different than the way porsche made it. i didn't like the lock washer cause i felt it was still too loose and kept popping off for me after doing the pipe sleeve mod to tighten it up. i cut off some of the post that comes out of the shift lever so it was just shorter than the linkage. then i drilled a hole in the center of the post and tapped it so i could put a bolt in and hold on the linkage nice and tight. well, nice and tight actually means that the shifter can't move cause the linkage was too tight. i added the rollerblade bearing in there so that the linkage could still slide forwards and backwards but still be tight in place. yes i know, i'm a wierd guy for reengineering a shifter but it sure is alot tighter than stock


my jackhandle pushing the clutch system(yes i know it's not exactly complex)


the top of my old tranny (the reason engine degreaser was invented)


and lastly, the bellhousing for the torque tube (just in case you've never seen one)

Dare

Small word of advice: I read somewhere that the small **** on the top middle section of the tranny case is a vent, and that you should not let any cleaning fluids seep in there for fear of them damaging the internals of the transmission. When I took my tranny out, I carefully cleaned around the vent by hand and then taped it off before going to town on the surrounding gunk.

dualblade

yes, i figured it was a vent since you can pull it up and down so easily. does that mean entering liquids would mix with the tranny fluid? cause i already degreased the new tranny with quite a bit of engine degreaser (it looked like the one that came out does) and sprayed it pretty good with a hose. i still have to drain the fluid in the new one tho so anything that got in there would hopefully come out with that

dualblade

opinions on steam cleaning vs. engine degreaser? i was thinking that maybe i could acquire a steam cleaner to do the underbody of the car while i was in there so maybe i could do the tranny with the same thing

Dan Gallagher

new car... gonna be trailored there.

dualblade

what do you have??

dualblade

ok question, i have the torque tube pushed back and the bellhousing for the clutch is ready to come off. all the bolts and the reference sensor and the main ground are off so the bellhousing is loose. i can move it about 1/4 of an inch off but then it hits against the arm that the slave cylinder would push on (if it were still in place). does that arm have to come out before the bellhousing comes off?

also, how far is the torque tube supposed to slide back? mine didn't move a whole bunch and now i'm wondering if i should try to turn it sideways or something

also, i've heard of replacing the rear main seal as long as i'm this far in. is this expensive? is it the kind of thing that i really should do cause i'll be kicking myself later if i don't? what other things should i do while i'm in here. i'd like to get the car back on the road soon but i dont' want to have to do this all over again so everything that i should be doing i want to do now.

Mike Murcia

Yes, the release lever fork has to come loose to remove the bellhousing. There is a pin on which it pivots that you must pull out in order to get the bellhousing free. There should be a 10mm bolt sticking out of the bellhousing at about 6:00 on the dial. This bolt holds the pin in place. Take it completely out. Next can be a tricky part. You have to thread a bolt onto the end of the release lever pin and try to pull it out. I've had some that slide right out, while others require much...persuasion.

The torque tube can slide back far enough to be completely removed from the bellhousing.

I've never done the rear main seal, so I can't help you there, but I'd imagine that you'd have to remove the flywheel. This can be difficult to do without stripping the bolts when the ingine is removed, let alone when you're lying on your back in a confined space. I don't think the seal itself is expensive, but a leaking rear main can get pretty messy. It's probably smart to replace it if you don't like to have the car apart like this often.

Best of luck!

dualblade

thanks for the advice, mike. yes it was the release lever i was talking about and i do know the 10mm bolt in question. i removed it but then partially screwed it back in because i wasn't sure what it did. as far as the flywheel goes, i'm removing it because that's part of this job. i have a lightened fidanza one that's going in to replace the stocker. perhaps it would be a good idea to replace the seal and not have to think about it afterwards

iloveporsches

definitely replace the seal, especially if you're going to have the flywheel off anyway. Wouldn't it suck to have it start leaking a week later?

I had some trouble working the bellhousing off, and ended up having to disconnect the coolant hose above it. Just make sure you have the torque tube all the way back, the release pin out, and all that other stuff disconnected. then it's just a matter of wriggling it off.

dualblade

yes, and i know that's exactly what would happen.

yeah, it's the release pin that i don't have out yet i guess. the bellhousing's definately loose, it's just the release lever that's keeping it from coming all the way off. the coolant hose above is the one leading from the block to the heater core but it doesn't seem to be in the way. the one that's in there is just a generic hose and not the official porsche part so maybe the porsche one is longer or has different bends to get in the way

MN_944S

Hey Andrew,
Good luck on the big project! I applaud your self confidence. I have done a few minor repairs on my VW's and now my 944S.Do you think doing clutch work myself would be out of the question? I have a little noise coming from my clutch and after reading your threads I am feeling maybe with a little guidance might want try?Thoughts anyone?
Thanks

dualblade

to be honest, i think most wrench work requires a few things:

common sense
a little mechanical sense
patience
good tools

whenever i go in to the job, i like to bring one other thing with me. i personally need to know how the system that i'm working on is supposed to work. most of the times i do work based on assumptions of how i would put things together if it was me who designed the system. this may seem silly but if you know how the system works, you often end up right. for help on how parts of cars work, one of my favorite sites is www.howstuffworks.com. they have animated diagrams with great explanations. before i ever turned a wrench, i was reading and re-reading this site. i always believe that you should conquer the conceptual before starting on the physical.

take the transmission for example. a transmission is a somewhat scary intimidating thing for people who haven't worked on cars before because it's such an important part of the car. it was for me when i first started wrenching. one thing i learned fairly quickly was that my fear was unfounded: systems are complicated but individual pieces are simple and it helps to break down things in your mind. also, removing a transmission is far different than building one.

when i first started, i wanted to have an exact procedure for every little thing that i would do. now a procedure is not a bad thing, but now to me it's more of a reference and a way to check my work. my advice to you if you don't feel this confident is to stop and just look at what you're working on from a few different angles. take the transmission for example. if you need to take anything out, first you need to take out the stuff that connects to it. so look at the tranny. you see the linkage going in to it, you see axles coming out of the side and you see it connected to the torque tube bellhousing. now pick one of these systems and attack it. usually the support systems (the ones that actually hold it in place) will go last. take off the wires first. this is my personal advice because harnesses are so easy to forget about and it's a pain in the *** when one snaps cause you forgot to remove it. then, take the linkage off. then move on to the axles next. just look at the axle and see what bolts or screws go in and out of it. if it looks reasonable that these bolts or screws are holding it into place then take them out. so now it should occur to you that there must be something above the transmission holding it into place. you don't actually have to see this, just use a combination of mechanical and common sense. it would be silly for the torque tube to be the only thing supporting the transmission. that would put alot of stress on the tube and things that hang down usually have something from above that hold them in place. you can tackle whatever's above the transmission after the tube comes off the tranny. just look at where the tranny bellhousing meets up to the torque tube bellhousing. look for bolts around the edges that seem to go through both things and remove them.

this is only part of the tranny removal but in my opinion, you really can approach every job like this. as it ends up, it makes more sense to unmount the tranny from the top before doing the torque tube bolts, but if you realize that, you can just put the bolts back in.

i hope you do attempt the job and i hope the experience makes you feel proud of being able to do such a large job and more confident along the way.

Mike Murcia

Andrew-
Good luck getting the pin out. Let me know if you have a lot of trouble with it. I fashioned a little tool to make it easier and can take a pic of it if you'd like.

BTW- Love the bearing on the shifter!