Please humor me with this long-winded "exploratory" thread.

Background: In 2004 PO of my 97 Targa had some kind of hip injury. A shop gutted the usual clutch circuit in the 993 and put in the turbo goodies to make the clutch easier to press. Car has the turbo power steering pump, reservoirs (front and rear), clutch master and slave, and all the plumbing. Car still has the NA brake fluid container with one of the outputs plugged up. Unfortunately I do not have the original parts from the car.

Current situation: The car drives a little strange (guessing it's the super-boosted hydraulics on a standard NA clutch?). I've been driving manuals for 20 years and this thing is tricky to get rolling. Everyone that drives it stalls it out the first few tries. Then again, I'm very new to 993s, so perhaps this is just part of the "character." Car is on it's 2nd clutch and this one has about 20k miles on it.

Still here? Good. Questions are coming up...
When it comes time to replace the turbo slave cylinder, I'm considering reverting back to the simpler NA system in two phases:

Phase 1: Revert back to the simpler master and slave. Looks like this is as simple as purchasing the master, slave, and a bit of plumbing. Even if the plumbing is expensive, this still must be cheaper than buying a new turbo slave. I plan to leave the rest of the hydraulic system as is. I have to think I can just cap off the high pressure hydraulic line running to the old turbo slave somewhere. Big assumption is that the rest of the system shouldn't care if there is no more turbo slave utilizing some of that pressurized pentosin. I'm curious if anyone can verify my assumption.

Phase 2: When my power steering pump dies, or while I'm in there for some other reason, I could finish removing the turbo parts. I could also just ignore the frankenstein hydraulic setup and consider it a "feature" should I ever want to go back to the super-crazy-boosted clutch pedal. This phase looks to be painfully expensive and scary for a DIY.

Now on to the questions. In my situation would you:

1) Stop worrying about it and just keep the turbo goodies
2) Go back to the way Porsche intended the 993 NA to be using the phased approach
3) Rip the bandaid off and get rid of the turbo stuff all at once
4) Other - (Matt, you're crazy and have no idea what you're talking about.)

Of course, anyone that votes for 2 or 3 also has to volunteer to buy my turbo hydraulic goodies once they're out of the car ;-)

Appreciate the patience on the long thread and any wisdom you all can share on this strange topic.

-Matt

 

3. Bone stock NA! Stiffer clutch that is the spirit of the car. I tend to love the things the way they were back then… and it is why you probably bought an 18 years old car… my opinion… Good luck with the DIY

 

I far prefer my turbo hydraulic clutches. All the joy of a nicely setup manual transmission with basically none of the downside in traffic/around town. I would never consider reverting to the NA style.

That said if you don't like it, you don't like it.

I'd probably put an NA slave back in ala GT2 conversion (do a search and you should find instructions). Then, if you drop the motor or whatever, you can fully revert at some point.

there will likely always be some demand for the used parts as well.

 

Quad - Thanks for the hint on searching for "GT2 conversion." Looks like many have been down a similar path but with aftermarket parts... especially the 996 folks. Good news is that none of them seem to be removing the clutch master cylinder and frunk pentosin reservoir, and instead just filling the existing setup with brake fluid. I can't find any real detail on where to plug up the pressurized lines going to the turbo slave, but it can't be that hard (famous last words) The turbo and NA cars have different master cylinders. Unsure how they are different or if it really matters.

Also, how would you describe the turbo clutch feel with that of a NA 993? Is "vague and hard to modulate on hills and in traffic" just part of the fun or a sign of impending doom on the slave cylinder?

 

Honestly, i find the clutch to be very progressive and easy to modulate. I've only stalled my car once in 4+ years and that was when a flip flop slipped off my foot.

The NA cars seem to be heavier, thats all. I haven't noticed much of a difference in ease of use and i've spent plenty of time driving NA cars.

Not sure if the somewhat hybrid setup you have is causing your issues.

 

+1, suspect there's something not quite right with your set up.
ie, do you have the turbo servo spring in the pedal cluster or the much larger NA servo spring?
Do you have any info on exactly what po did?

 

Nice catch! I don't have exactly what was done, but pretty darn close. I have a dealer parts quote with 2 pages of parts + a bill $3224 in labor at an indy shop.

The turbo spring (993 423 551 51) is NOT on the parts quote. I think it's safe to assume it's the NA version. Does anyone know if there is a part number or some way to identify it? Otherwise, it's worth the $30 cost of the turbo spring if it will help.

-Matt

 

the servo spring on the NA is huge compared to the spring on the turbo. I have pics on a previous thread (I did the hydraulic delete...) but it may be hard to tell by just looking at it without the other to compare. Seem to remember ? different color. Give me a sec to find the tread.

 

here it is, yellow vs green spring...https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...ferrerid=28499

 

Thanks! That thread is solid gold. I need to hangout on this turbo board more often. Will take a look at my spring later tonight and report back.

Assuming the spring needs to be swapped, it looks like a bit of a project to get that spring out. This gets me 90% of the way there and I need to remove the knematic lever before I can get to the spring. There are a couple more steps in the service manual, but it aligns pretty closely to the p-car instructions. Any pointers? What did you use to preload the servo spring? Manual mentions some Hazet tool which ain't gunna happen.

 

You nailed it. Found the smoking gun. A big, fat spring with yellow paint.

I'm going to attempt to check out the slave cylinder this weekend for any moisture. If it's dry, I'll order the spring, pressure bleeder, and some pentosin. Should give me everything I need to swap the spring and flush the slave since I'll need to bleed it anyway. Still planning to go back to the standard NA setup, but don't want to rush it while my slave cylinder is still in good shape.

If it's wet... well, then I have bigger problems or is it bigger projects? Either way, I can't lose