gjones1735

Hi nile13,

This should help. Also, if you take up your floorboard, it will be pretty obvious.

I think what is messing you up is that in the DIY picture the master cylinder has been removed. Because of that you don't have a good reference point to find the adjustment bolt. Sorry about that, I should have mentioned it earlier.




It's there just to the left of the base of the master cylinder




Here it is again in closeup from the DIY that Robin did


Good luck,

George

nile13

George, thanks!!

What was really messing me up was that the adjustment bolt is that far away from the actual clutch pedal I'll probably try to adjust later on today when I get to the car and will report the findings.

nile13

OK, I had a chance to play with the adjustment screw today.

Oddly enough, turning it all the way clockwise (in) seemed to produce the slightly lighter clutch. Turning it out stiffen the clutch a bit. hard to tell as the difference is fairly small, but it's there.

Now, I expected the result to be opposite. Am I really missing something?

gjones1735

Hi Nile13,


Tough to say exactly. Backing the allen bolt out takes a bit of tension out of the spring which reduces the force necessary to push the clutch in. Therefore, turning the bolt counterclockwise should lighten the clutch. Lots of other factors involved though...

Important question -- do you have the updated kinematic lever installed? Some of the smoothness you are looking for comes from that updated lever. You may also need to clean and lube the various moving parts of the pedal cluster. Check the boot on the master cylinder -- a torn boot lets dirt into the piston which can stiffen up the clutch. An old slave cylinder can gum up the works as well, even it it has been flushed. ( my car had a little less than 30K miles and it needed to be replaced )

Beyond the hydraulics, there can be problems with the actual clutch itself. Although from what I've read, "hanging" and "notchiness" are usually associated with the hydraulics.

This is why I replaced everything at once when I did my clutch hydraulics job -- eliminates a lot of the potential problems. Plus, you only have to go through the clutch bleeding process once.


Good luck with the job,

George

nile13

George, the slave on my car is new. Kinematic lever is not updated. The master boot is torn, I saw it yesterday.

My issue is not smoothness, it's acceptable. It's the actual effort - the pedal is pretty hard (jumping back in a Miata makes me put that clutch damn near through the floor). As i was rotating the allen screw next to the Master cylinder yesterday I was looking at the assembly and having really difficult time understanding how that screw affects the pedal spring. It seems to adjust a pair of small metal strips that might be going to horizontal spring sitting between the brake and clutch pedals. But I'm not sure how much adjustment is to be expected. Maybe it's as soft as it's going to get?

gjones1735

Hi Nile13,


Sorry I didn't get back sooner. I lost the motherboard on my computer system last Thursday. The new computer just arrived and I'm getting everything back up and running.

A torn boot on the master cylinder usually means gunk on the piston which may make it difficult to depress the clutch. An old and worn out master cylinder will also make it more difficult to depress the clutch even if the boot is not torn like yours is. The kinematic lever should be replaced as well -- Porsche re-engineered that part four times for a reason.

All these things need to be done before the tension adjustment screw means much.

Once again, I would replace the master cylinder as well as the kinematic lever -- you might as well do both as you need to bleed the clutch system anyway once you replace the master cylinder. It's not that expensive a DIY and it can't hurt to try -- as long as you don't mess anything up :-)


Good luck with everything,

George
Williamsburg, VA

ABCar

George, once again...great right up.
I called for pricing on parts at Suncoast and the total was about 40 more than what you paid. Can I ask where you got your parts from?

The parts you need and what I paid for them so you can get a feel for the costs…

Clutch Master Cylinder -- part # 993.423.171.00.M33 Price $78.00
Clutch Kinematic Lever -- part # 993.423.519.03 Price $86.50
Clutch Slave Cylinder -- part # 950.116.237.12.M33 Price $89.50
Clutch Slave Cylinder Hose -- part # 964.423.477.00.M33 Price $31.75
Two Liters of your favorite brake fluid Price $24.00

Total parts cost $309.75

Thanks!
Andy

gjones1735

Pelican Parts

George

Marco8

George,

Excellent write up! Thank you for sharing! Also interesting Pelican was cheaper than Suncoast. While Pelican has great secondary market part prices, I found their Original Porsche parts to be higher. Might need to take a second look....

Avenger6

None of the great write-ups so far talk about replacing the brass bushings that the pedal shafts sit in. Is there ever any need to replace these?

pchansen1

Nice write up. Thanks. I'll be ordering parts soon and have a few questions. My pedal fails to come up periodically when hard driving. It then "clunks" up on it's own after a few seconds. I doesn't affect shifting at this point- just really annoying. I assume the main culprit is the slave. Do most of you replace the master and slave together just to be sure or is it worth (in terms of my labor) to try flushing first, then order a slave, then a kinematic lever, then master until I receive the results I'm looking for? I'd hate to replace good parts and I'd hate to have to flush the system multiple times. Also, I contacted Sunset and had them price me out the after mentioned parts. Here are Sunset prices:
Clutch master $130.58
Kinematic lever $83.39
Slave cylinder $144.69
Slave cylinder hose $49.12

Total = $407.78

I contacted them via email and maybe because I didn't give them my PCA number, they didn't give their best price, but I thought these guys were supposed to be the best in terms of price.

ABCar

Original posting prices were from Pelican Parts...I dont know the answers to the rest but mine is really stiff and I am going to replace all of the parts soon as described.

nile13

You have to call them and mention "15% over cost" to the parts guy to get reasonable pricing. it also only applies to people outside of Oregon, I believe.

pchansen1

I thought so, I'll call them on Monday an see what they say.
Thanks

gjones1735

Hi Guys,


I've done this job both ways and my feeling now is just to replace everything at once. It's not that expensive and the real PITA work is all the bleeding that is required to get it perfect.

Be careful doing the pedal cluster work. You don't want to strip any hydraulic pipe connectors or break any fittings. Slow and careful is the way.

It's been a couple of months now and my clutch is still perfect. It was a pain, but I'm very happy I did this DIY.


Good luck,

George