Gus B.

I had a brand new clutch (stock OEM) put in 11 months ago and 4K miles ago by the dealership. Not sure if they bled the clutch or not, but will call and find out (doubt they will admit to any wrongdoing). Mine is a 98 RoW model.

Please walk me on the re install process. Do you first put the canister on the gold bracket? Clutch in or out when doing this? Do you instead clip the canister onto the pedal first and then try to get it into the gold brackets? (doubt it, that is how I nearly lost my eye and now have a small hole cut in my forehead that I need a shot for....). I noticed that there are two black receptacles on the gold brackets that are designed to receive the pivot points from the canister, but getting them (pivot points) into these receptacles is proving to be a lot harder than originally imagined.

1999Porsche911

You just need to press the pedal doward slightly, insert boost assembly pivot nipples in the bracket and let the pedal come back into position while tilting boost spring properly to meet pedal connection. Make sure boost spring braket is loose.

Gus B.

Will give it another shot later this afternoon (after I get this nausea under control). I called the dealer and they just laughed as to what I was doing. $70 (1 hour of labor) to undo this for me. I am tempted to do so, silly as that may sound, I know....

1999Porsche911

The first time I did it, I had trouble too. Just make sure you DO NOT pull the nail out until you are SURE the spring is secure, otherwsie, you could LOSE an eye rather than just cut it.

Also, do you have the new pedal that was specified in a TSB for the early cars?

RamVA

I am having the cruise control problem on my '01 as well.

1999Porsche911

If your pedal is not coming in contact with the cruise control switch, (which you should not have) you can simply extend the nipple on the pedal that contacts the switch. Not a big problem. Or you can extend the length of the switch' plunger.

Gus B.

Well, I finally did it. Amazing how a set of "fresh eyes" can get this done very quickly. Went in, pushed the pedal halfway down, first got the driver side of the nipple into the bracket, all of the sudden the passenger side also got into the bracket. I slowly let the clutch back out and it quickly pressed into the pedal as well as the canister into the pivot points on the brackets. I unfortunately did not notice that I put the canister with the nail head pointing to the top, so I had to fiddle around with it for a minute to twist it around at which point the nail slipped my fingers and landed on my lip (sharp tip first). Yeap, another cut. This has been the most nauseating and painful mod yet! HA!

jasper

Andy - you have to drive it stock first for a baseline. I personally would not consider this mod until I understood the "problem".

So you're that close are you. My car will be under my *** on Monday morning.....then it's a week of certification, then it's a week long business trip to Germany (with a side trip to the Nurburgring) then FINALLY I'll be licensing the car for real.

Good luck with yours and let me be the first to tell you to *POST SOME DAMNED PICS*

Doug Donsbach

I located a spring which is about half the rate of the stock spring (32 lb/in vs 61 lb/in), and feel that it provides the perfect balance for my car. I bought two of them to offset the $20 service charge for low-quantity orders, so if somebody else would like to try the half-rate spring, PM me.

wdonovan

I have a question about a possible serious issue with this modification.
I did this procedure last week to my '02 C4. Yes, the clutch feels tighter, more sure. But.... I read somewhere (possibly in the factory service manual) that this spring has two functions. 1) To aid in depressing the clutch against the pressure plate springs and 2) to return the pedal to the fully up position. I noticed when removing the assembly, that the spring was in fact an overcenter arrangement, extending on both ends of the stroke. I have a small amount of free play in the pedal (maybe 1/4 inch?) and the pdeal is not held fully up without this booster spring inplace. While driving, if I put my foot against the side of the pedal, I can feel a vibration. If I pull the pedal up with my foot, the vibration disappears as the pedal comes up to the top of its stroke. My diagnosis of this situation is that possibly the pedal weight is keeping the pedal down at the end of its free play so that the throwout bearing is supporting the clutch pedal, not a return spring. If true,this would mean that the throwout bearing is alway spinning. Not sure if I like this arrangement. On the basis of having to pull the motor to prematurely replace a throwout bearing, I've decided to undo this modification, no matter how much it hurts to lay in the floor of the cockpit, upside down. I had no objections to the way the pedal fealt before the removal, just did it to see if it was better. I will oil the spring before reinstallation, although it did not cure the low pedal squeak as claimed earlier in this thread. Thoughts?

AndyK

Hey, how would you get the assembly back into the car if the spring is un-compressed (after swapping the 61 for the 32)?

Doug Donsbach

You compress the cartridge and put the pin back in before you attempt to put the cartridge back in the pedal assembly.

nick49

I don't think the free play you refer to is engaging the throwout bearing as this is a hydraulic clutch. The weight of the plastic pedal is not enough to overcome the spring in the clutch master cylinder and activate the slave.

I would like to eliminate the excess pedal play as well and I think I will use a press or vice to disassemble the spring and canister and relpace with a much lighter spring to return the pedal to the fully up position. This will also allow the cruise control switch to function normally.

Now that I've driven without the booster spring for a couple of weeks, I don't think I could go back. There are a lot of hills in my neighborhood as I live near the mountains and the original design masks the friction point and lacks feel.

stanm5

PM sent

AndyK

Interesting! I guess your extra spring is already spoken for?