edward951

I recently had a clutch replacement done on my '88 951S, this last weekend while doing an oil change I noticed that there is nothing covering the flywheel facing the oil pan. I've never noticed this before, so am I missing something? It doesn't seem right, all other cars I've ever have had the flywheel completely covered.

special tool

Supposed to be a thin black steel shield there.

Ahmet

Although there's supposed to be a cover there, I've seen many many 944s and 944 turbos where the shield was left out with no adverse effects in thousands of miles.

Sounds like the shop that changed the clutch left it out. You could mention it to them, but it's not really likely to cause much of a problem. Then again a rock could break off one of your crank speed/position triggers tomorrow!
Ahmet

Matthew West

If you have oil leaks you may find that your clutch life is reduced. On the other hand like Ahmet say many of our cars are missing the piece and have run fine for years.

When I did my clutch job I noticed that I was missing the same part. I picked one up from a salvage yard for $10 and replaced it.

Having just put the cross pipe back on after doing rod bearings I learned why so many of our cars are missing this part... It must be installed prior to the cross pipe.

Not wanting to drop the cross pipe again (See other post on Exhaust hardware) I slotted the mounting holes on the passenger side with an angle grinder so that it could be slipped in.

I would recommend adding it to your list of items that you are going to pick up the next time you are at the salvage yard; or search the board for a well loved / recommed yard that will ship the part.

Claus Groth

I've put 115,000 miles on my car since I purchased it at 72,000 and didn't know until recently that that plate was supposed to be there. It was missing when I purchased it. No problems due to it being missing.