gnosis

Thanks for your reply, Joseph. I don't know how light the SPEC flywheel is compared to the Fidanza one. I don't want to lighten things much. Just a little should help me to match revs on upshifts a little faster. I've always felt I had to wait around for the revs to drop enough when shifting quickly. I think I will go with the normal weight clutch kit (as opposed to the $75 lightened option) and leave the reduction in weight to the flywheel alone.

Raj, I agree with your comment about going with the one vendor. The only reason I was looking at Fidanza was the price difference. But since they've beaten the price for the Fidanza now I'm happy to go with SPEC. Also, I haven't heard any issues with vibrations occurring with the SPEC flywheel - only the Fidanza one - so maybe this is a safer way to go anyway. I've been offered the SPEC 2 clutch kit and flywheel together for $1340 plus international shipping. Does this sound reasonable?

I intend to have the flywheel and pressure plate balanced anyway, because for the minimal extra cost it seems like a sensible thing to do.

I'm keen to get the old parts out and take some photos of them and post here for others to see. It is almost impossible to drive the car when it's warmed up now, so whatever has failed (supposedly a failure by the mechanic to machine the flywheel at the last clutch change) has gotten much worse. So much so that I've had to put off other maintenance activities until the clutch issue is sorted out.

Clayton

9SIXTY8

What are the prices for the clutch alone? I need a new clutch and was debating between the stock or sport clutch. I believe the stock is about $675? and the Sport is about $850? Can I use the Spec clutch with the stock flywheel? Sorry I don't know anything about clutch's so i figured I'd ask.

Raf

BruceWard

The Spec clutch alone may be a little more than the sport clutch you are referencing. When I spoke to Specclutch.com I understood that I could use their clutch with my DMF and that if I wanted they could remove weight from the pressure plate to have a similar effect to a lightened flywheel.

The Spec clutch is not going to be the least expensive option. I bought a clutch kit from Zims for a little under $600 then a few other things. My total bill was about $850. But I stayed stock and $50 of that was a power bleeder.

NineMeister

I hope that I can shed some light on this.

Firstly the Porsche Motorsport flywheel was a direct replacement for the DMF and is totally compatible with the stock clutch/rpm sensor/starter. My guess is that it is half way between the weight of the DMF and Fidanza units. I did say that I could make a batch of these if I had enough orders, but I only got three enquiries so the programme was shelved whilst I got on with other things (like massive expansion of the business that would actually pay the rent). If there is a definite interest I am willing to get on with it, and as Bruce said I could do them for under $1000 apiece.

Incidentally the 944S2 kit will just not fit at all, I have tried it and there is no easy way to get everything to fit so do not waste your time looking. However the S2 does give us a clue to the vibration that folk are experiencing. On the earlier 3.0 litre engine Porsche fitted a vibration damper to the front pulley to reduce crankshaft flex of this longer stroke engine, maybe itis this that is causing the problem. As far as I know the crankshafts are the same, therefore a 944S2 front mass damper should fit the 968 front end and may help to reduce the problem with the Fidanza set up on the road.

Regards to all.

gnosis

Okay, I'm going with a SPEC Stage 2 clutch kit and SPEC lightweight aluminium flywheel, supplied by Lindsey Racing. I'll leave comments on how it goes once I put it in the car.

Thanks for all the opinions.

Clayton

RajDatta

Clayton, based on recent threads, it seems like you can save additional money by going directly to them. Might be worth a few $$.

gnosis

Lindsey Racing has matched SPEC's offer, so I'm happy.

What I'm less happy about is the 15% import duty and a further 10% Goods and Services Tax I have to pay to get the stuff into Australia. Add to that the weak value of my dollar against the US dollar. It's getting better all the time, but it's still only worth 77 cents! Do the math and you'll see it's one expensive clutch replacement. And that's just the start. Engine and suspension are to follow.

Oh well. That's what I get for living in the other half of the world.

Clayton

BruceWard

Clayton, please let us know how the SPEC parts work out for you. I just put mine back together with factory parts and plan to keep it that way while the wife is learning to drive stick. But once she is comfortable, I may go with a SPEC kit.

gnosis

Lindsey Racing had a generic SPEC flywheel picture on their website. It looked like a 944 part. But 968 dual mass flywheels are quite different in appearance to a 944 flywheel. I haven't had a dual mass flywheel in my hands yet, but looking at the pictures in a PET shows the 944 flywheel to have a separate starter ring gear, which bolts up with the same bolts that clamp the pressure plate to the flywheel. But the dual mass flywheel appears to have a ring gear and a sensor gear with missing teeth permanently attatched to it.

This caused me some concern because I didn't want to receive the wrong part and find I couldn't swap the ring gear and sensor gear onto it or worse find that it was the wrong size, but Dave at Lindsey Racing has since updated the picture of the 968 flywheel on their website. It sure looks like the replacement for the dual mass flywheel to me. It has two rings attached and appears to have the extra thickness of the dual mass unit. Weight, I believe, will be around 13lbs. I'll weigh it when I get it to find the exact figure.

Here's the link to the 968 parts on the Lindsey Racing site. Scroll down for the flywheel image:

http://www.lindseyracing.com/Merchan...=CLUTCHSPEC968

The image shows the friction surface side of the flywheel, and if you click on the image you can see a larger picture of the other side of it as well.

Looks pretty trick. Can't wait to get it in the car and cure my extremely bad shuddering, as well as get some benefits from the lighter weight. I'll give a full review of the exercise once I've driven on it. Expect it in about a month from now.

For what it's worth, Dave has been extremely patient with all my dumb questions, and has made ordering these items very straightforward. A good experience for me so far.

Clayton

mitch968

I'd like to wake up this thread, as I'm experiencing major vibration issues at 2300rpm with my newly installed Fidanza flywheel and a sport clutch package (stock solid center clutch and stronger pressure plate). It was sent out to be balanced, so unless something went wrong there, that's not the cause. The full story is here on 968.net: http://65.61.16.109/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11027

Regarding Ninemeister's suggestion of fitting a vibration damper to the front pulley. Can anyone confirm whether this is possible and if it would actually fix the issue?

gnosis, any update on your specclutch install? How'd it go? Any issues/resolutions?

gnosis

I haven't installed my new clutch and flywheel yet, as I've been busy with other things. I will get around in it in the next few months, though. When I do, I'll post my experience.