jakeflyer

I am interested in a 2000 with 99,500 miles with a blown clutch. I can do a clutch in a 911 S or SC on the floor of my garage in a day(looong day). How much time should I expect with a first time Boxster clutch job, and is it as tough as it looks? What else should I do while it is out? Any rough ideas about the cost of the clutch and “while it is out” parts?

judd944

I have not done it, but I will when the time comes. I have heard it is not difficult.

Macster

Roughly budget a day to get the tranny out, a day to clean things up and make sure you have all you need, then another day to assemble clutch and reinstall transmission. Why rush if you don't have to? And you should avoid getting into a situation where you have to rush.

If you find you have to get more parts, then you have to factor in a day or two just for the missing parts to arrive. You need to be able to evaluate the flywheel's condition and have it resurfaced or replace it if the dual mass portion broken or out of spec.

When I work on my cars I avoid the hurry up method and work slow and deliberate. I'd rather take a bit of extra time to make sure the work's right rather than have to do the job all over again.

I believe the exhaust system is removed in one piece with the exhaust system being disconnected from the engine at the exhaust manifold joint just after the pre-converters which are part of the exhaust headers that bolt to the heads.

That is the exhaust manifold that is bolted to the engine stays connected to the engine but the exhaust system after the headers is removed. Word from Porsche techs is this exhaust removal requires two people to hold and steady the exhaust system and walk it out from under the car and sit in on a cart out of the way.

Generally working with exhaust hardware is going be a bit of a problem cause the fasteners are corroded and sometimes do not want to come loose. Used to when I could would just take a cutting torch and burn the fasteners away sometimes even the brackets/hangers cause they were so old, rusty, and in need of replacement that it was cheaper and resulted in a faster and better job just to remove the old replaceable hardware as quick as I could and replace with new.

Once you have the transmission out and the clutch hardware all out generally anything worn or that has a wear point on it is replaced. Pressure plate, clutch disc, release/throwout bearing (and pilot if there is one), clutch lever arm and any other hardware linkage that can or is worn.

Of course everything wants to be clean and a small dab of heavy high temperature grease wants to be applied to every pivot point so the mechanical motion is smooth and friction free as possible. Done right this can make the new clutch's feel much better than "normal" and really prolong the clutch's life.

(When I had my Boxster in for a RMS years ago I had the tech apply some grease to the clutch pivot points and afterwards the clutch action better and the clutch and clutch hardware has given me superior service. Car is on its original clutch and I have put over 225K miles on the car.)

Somewhere in my Boxster files I have a DIY Boxster clutch article I cut out of a UK published Porsche mag to have when the time came to replace the clutch. PM me and I'll look for it and if I can find it send you a copy in PDF format. I also have the factory clutch R&R instructions and the Bentley Boxster manual's clutch chapter as well.

Sincerely,

Macster.

wzlc

ooooh ,i haven't do this work .

AlpharettaRK

It's way easier than a 944 - that's for sure, probably an 8 hour job realistically. I would read up on the IMS threads - use search and read the discussions and see if your motor is eligible for an upgrade to the intermediate shaft bearing while the clutch is out, at least replace the bolts. If you are doing the IMS bolts drain the engine oil first

Here's some observations and rants of mine from another board when the job was fresh on my mind. This is from my 1999 with a 3.4 in it.

Is there a "department of obscure fasteners" at Porsche? How on earth could they use 4, count 'em 4, different bolts to hold the trans to the engine. By wrench size there is 1-19mm, 5 that are I guess 16mm (I don't own a 16mm socket, 5/8 worked fine) ,1- 15mm and one 10mm cheesehead that was innacessible by any means other than cutting down a perfectly good socket and using it with a 1/2 in wrench. (not to mention the goofy "security XZN" socket on the drain of the 5 spd)

The car really wasn't all that noisy with no muffler at all, just the headers and sport cats. Before buttoning it back up I started it on the lift and ran it through the gears. Remembering how loud it was with the GHL "mufflers" I ditched long ago they must be nothing but empty cans.

You definitely don't need the $150 tool to install a new main seal. A rubber mallet and the old seal worked just fine. The ridges on the old seal are perfect guides for having the new one in straight.

And why didn't anybody warn me that oil would pour out of the IMS bolt holes? (OK I didn't ask). The Bently manual said to replace the bolts (one at a time) when you replace the main seal and to make sure you get all the oil out of the threads. It said nothing about the fact that a good amount of oil is going to come out first (and I hate to get my floor dirty!). And it is a PITA to get all that old oil out without being able to shoot it with carb cleaner or something. As low as the torque spec is for those bolts (10ft/lbs) and as important as they are I think it is critical that the threads are very clean.

I've been critical of the Bentley manual in the past for lacking any more info than you get in a Haynes (even though it is bigger and far more expensive) but it was really complete for this job.

With these caveats it's not really that hard of a job. It did give the toolset a good workout using most of the extensions, u-joints, wobbles and ratchet wrenches in my pretty considerable collection. Hope all this helps one of you one day!

Macster

Just a caution. The IMS end plate can be replaced with one that offers a better seal. A 3-ribbed seal vs. the single o-ring. The new IMS end plate comes with 3 new micro-encapsulated bolts.

These bolts are treated with a special coating that when the bolt is threaded into the hole and torqued down squeezes this coating out to form a barrier to any oil that wants to seep past the threads. If oil could seep past it would appear at the IMS and to the outside world appear an RMS leak.

The threads in the block want to be clean but do not remove the coating that should be on the IMS end plate bolts.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Ruby13

I just had the RMS and IMS replaced and as expected needed a clutch and flywheel (make sure you check the play). The labor and seals were covered under a warranty and the billing was for 10 hours at a specialty shop.

As mentioned if your going that far change the seals also the kit is cheap.

Burt

blinkwatt

Novice....2 days(3 days w/ errors). Shouldn't take a qualified shop longer than 8 hours,heck a cat on 986forum can swap them in 4 hours if I remember correctly and he helps fellow board members do theirs as well.

PorscheDoc

Boxster clutch is butter, even on a garage floor. One thing that is helpful is to have a second set of hands when mating the tranny back up to the motor (if you are just using a floor jack to raise the tranny back up). I've some pictures of doing one in my blog somewhere.

flintworks

As stated before one part that can stump an average DIY person is rusty exhaust hardware. If nuts snap the studs in half you have to cut out the old studs and replace them with regular bolts. Also to remove the exhaust in one piece you have to remove the rear bumper which means pulling off the spoiler. You can remove the exhaust without removing the bumper but it's still not easy. You remove the muffler by itself first by only loosening the lower part of the bumper but it does take some force. The rest of the job is pretty straight forward. IIRC on the early boxsters the intake tube that goes to the trottle body gets in the way a little bit when reinstalling the tranny.

Macster

Snapped off studs are drilled out -- very carefully to drill into the center of the bolt and to avoid snapping off a drill bit in the bolt once the bit gets a hole started that is -- then once the old broken stud removed the hole cleaned up some to make sure no metal bits remain from the drillign the hole is then drilled oversized then new threads cut with a tap and thread insert installed. Used to use Heli-coil but who knows what's in favor now.

I'd make a drill guide to help me keep the drill bit perpendicular to the exhaust flange mounting plane and to help me keep the drill bit located in center of the hole and bolt. Too easy if one is not careful to drill off to one side.

Used to be the thread insert package included a proper tap and IIRC even the right size drill bit.

Do not use bolts to hold exhaust manifold to head. The tightening of the bolt can gall/tear the threads in the hole in the head and damage the head.

Best to use thread inserts cause these are of harder metal then source new studs (and nuts/washers/etc) from dealer or good fastener supply store.

Sincerely,

Macster.