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I've owned my 993 for more than ten years and get a great deal of satisfaction doing all of the maintenance myself. At minimum, I do an oil change and a brake & clutch circuit flush every year (~3,000 mile annual use).
But there is one item that has consistently irritated me - the location of the clutch slave bleed screw. I absolutely loathe that diminutive fastener. Getting to it, keeping a 7mm wrench centered on the flats, and hoping the bleed hose stays in place are all less than enjoyable.
Ever since I saw a remote bleeder located in the LR wheelwell of a 993, I've wondered about relocating my own. In the case of that car, the clutch is a Tilton setup that utilizes an annular bearing (hydraulic release bearing vs. our slave-actuated setup).
So a few months ago I started thinking about this again and wondered where the best location for the bleed screw would be. My 993 has been on stands for a few weeks for the usual maintenance, so I took the opportunity to forge ahead. When looking at the car from the side (on stands, wheels off), it's clear that the slave cylinder is quite a bit higher than the inner arch of the wheelwell (body structure). So locating a bracket there made no sense as the bleed nipple should theoretically be the highest point in the system.
I realized that mounting the bleed nipple above the intake manifold (old skool, non-Varioram) would afford both the height I wanted, as well as easy access. I'll let the pics explain the modification, but in short I purchased an M6 to AN-3 adaptor to replace the bleed screw, a 36" length of AN-3 braided line (one end straight, one end 90 degrees), a bulkhead fitting, and a 3/8" x 24 bleed screw. I fabricated the bracket from a short section of 1-1/2" x 3/16" steel and mounted it to the four existing threaded inserts on the manifold.
Result: it works perfectly! The modification is completely reversible should I wish to ever put myself through the misery of bleeding from the stock location. Something tells me that won't happen.
For reference, I found the M6 to AN-3 adaptor on Ebay UK, while the line, bulkhead fitting and bleed screw came from Pegasus Racing.
Good work on the fabrication! My concern though is what might happen with
any mishaps with the bleed screw. Brake fluid coming down onto your engine
would make a real mess.
I've wanted a similar remote bleeder myself since I first bleed the clutch.
Another idea, which was tossed around in this thread:
was to install an access panel in the rear seats location.
Doesn't appear that anyone has every done this that I could find.
It would allow access to the starter, the clutch slave and the bleed nipple.
I once owned a boxster and they have an access panel shown here:
I may be doing a starter replacement soon and through searching, I had
located the thread mentioned above.
A starter might be serviced once every 200K miles. A clutch slave might
be serviced two or three times in 200K miles. But that clutch bleed nipple
would need to be access more than a dozen times in 200k miles.
Depending on the size of the panel, other hard to get at items could be
serviced as well.
Just tossing out some thoughts since I see that you had thought about it
once before.
Beautiful work! Simple elegant solution to a miserable job.
It is indeed a miserable job!
Originally Posted by vincer77
Having just done this. Brilliant!
Thanks Vince.
Originally Posted by bruce7
Andreas,
Good work on the fabrication! My concern though is what might happen with any mishaps with the bleed screw. Brake fluid coming down onto your engine would make a real mess.
Bruce,
Thanks. I spent a great deal of time thinking about the location and felt my reasoning was sound. The bleeder nipple is securely seated and the other items are robust enough that I have no concern about a disaster. I think.
05-07-2016, 02:12 PM
My 993 remote clutch bleed setup
