Jon H

Question to GT3 owners who have converted their cars from DMF to SMF -

How does the car drive & engine respond after the change?
Would you do it over again?
Which conversion kit did you use?

LateBraking

Revs up a bit quicker than stock at the cost of noticeable increase in NVH.

It's all basically OEM parts, although I would look into Jaime/Dundon's harmonic dampener unless you have lockwired your variocam bolts or have had TPC's procedure done to it (I believe Tom's thread may have some information on that.)

Whether I'd do it again or not depends on the intended use of the car. In my case, I've shunted my GT3 to primarily grand touring duties and taking things further with my track rat E46 M3 instead, and got rid of the built motor 8,000 RPM (quite unusual for those cars) daily driver Subaru STi in favor of a Jeep. I'm very clearly delineating daily driven, weekend use, and track use. Since the GT3 is just a weekend cruiser now, the NVH wasn't something I wanted to deal with and I paid to have the flywheel and clutch removed after around only 1,000 miles of use (along with the CAE shifter that recently sold and the OEM GT2 bucket seats). All collecting dust in a corner of the garage now, lessons learned. The real question I'd ask first is what the car is going to be doing, and just make it a honest discussion with yourself.

Pucker

LateBraking... thanks for the candor. You might be the first I've heard say they didn't like (or love) their LWFW, but I appreciate you suggesting the first question to ask is 'what is your intent?'. I like the idea of quicker-revving, but not sure how much additional NVH would be the 'too much' level.

Can you try to quantify how it was annoying? (I know, I need to spend a couple minutes in a car that has LWFW...but haven't had that luxury yet.)

boostedt0y

FLT6SPD

^^^ That sounds like ****, neither of my RS make that noise inside the cabin, you do hear a loose bag of marbles when idling but no where near that. My exhaust is louder so..., its all part of the character and could not have it any other way. You want comfort go for 991, extra spaciousness to boot.

boostedt0y

John D II

Did the same thing - removed a brand new LWF after approx. 1000 miles. Loved the way the car revved, but hated the noise....just be aware/prepared if you choose to go LWF.

Jon H

Thanks for all the reply's -
I'm going to use mine for weekends, occasional out to dinner, etc.

I'll stick with the DMF

HarmonyJim

One thing not mentioned is that the car tends to stall easier with the LWFW. It can be very sensitive to how the clutch is fed out - especially if the radio is blaring (hard to hear the engine). Personally, I like the rattle - reminds me of the dry clutches in my TZ250s and my Ducati 1198SP. The Cup/Numeric cables definitely increase the noise - it now sounds like a new speaker has been installed in the cab playing a somewhat hi-pitched racket. All part of the RS experience, as I see it.

D-Uber Cars

- Noise and chatter of single mass just adds to the character.
- Depending on your use, would recommend OEM parts conversion.
- One point not previously mentioned is the difference in compression braking. Dual mass = You'll feel more engine braking effect. Single mass = Noticeably less engine braking effect. The difference in compression/engine braking reminds me of riding a 4 stroke (Dual mass) vs. 2 stroke (Single mass) motorcycle.

Pucker

Reminds me of a day (~15 years ago) my wife came into the garage to see what the commotion was. I had just installed an open clutch cover on my 996S. She said "that sounds like a fork in a blender"... I thought it was awesome. GT3 has too much 'character' for her as well...same reasons I love it.

WantA997

Yes, at idle the car sounds like a bag of marbles being thrashed around. But I can't imagine how anyone would find the noise so intrusive to the point they would go through the trouble of reverting the car back to stock. This is a GT3 we're talking about, not a Rolls Royce Phantom--NVH comes with the territory.

gt2-josh

I'm a bit surprised by all the recos to stick with a dual mass setup. A LWFW is an awesome thing. It just takes a few miles to adjust your muscle memory. Fifteen years ago people were destroying CGT ceramic clutch assemblies and threatening to sue Porsche over this issue. I've never driven a lighter flywheel, faster spooling setup since but it was pure magic. Four of us drove the press car and none of us stalled it except me once and that was because I forgot to release the parking brake. I put plenty of miles on my own CGT and rarely stalled it and I live in SF. Oh yeah the noise from the cables and the flywheel were transferred loud and clear through the carbon tunnel. Thought it was awesome. I just did radio delete in my GT3 so I can hear more mechanical noise in addition to exhaust noise. We always complain we don't get the good stuff in the US. When it came time to spec our 997.1 GT3 RS I was the only person I knew that deleted A/C the radio and the Xenon headlamps. Porsche really does listen to what we say but they pay more attention to what we buy. Argh.

milazzo_997tt

I just picked up my 07 GT3 today after having the coolant pipes pinned and conversion to RS 4.0 LWFW. I think the change in feel (needed new clutch anyways) and quicker revs are far better than the DMFW. I think the added noise at idle just adds to the GT3 experience. I would do it again if given the chance.

WantA997

Agreed. It took me less than 5 minutes to get used to the LWFW. I live in the city and the car is perfectly street-able.