no clutch - victory blvd hell

[porcupine911]

i just got home from a hellacious drive across "the valley" on victory blvd. the plastic piece that pushes on the clutch release fork broke in the typical fashion, so i had no clutch for maybe 8 miles of rush hour traffic.

here's an example of how absolutely stupid some people here in l.a. are... some ********* yelled at me for driving with my hazard lights on. he actually pulled up next to me when i got caught at a light and was talking sh1+ about me looking down at my shifter and such and how i didn't know how to drive. my girlfriend gave him an earfull. i love you marisa!

poor 911 tranny... she was angry at me! this was by far the most difficult car to shift without the clutch that i have ever experienced.

marisa and i were just returning from a fantastic drive through the mulholland highway area canyons when this happened. ugh. at least she gave me kudos for getting the car home.

also, thanks to the random guy on the sport bike who asked if i needed help... at least there are a few cool people here.

anyway, the van nuys "pp" has the aluminum replacement for my broken part. they call it a "clutch pin". i haven't been able to find it in my quick search of our host's offerings. can anyone help there?

[Bob's Flat-Six]

Chris,
I was just working a job were we were going Vanowen all the way across the Valley Topanga to Tujunga in a heavy truck, So I now the turf.
And If you did it with out a clutch in your 911 you deserve a medal

I use the clutch in my diesel truck to get rolling and then all shifting is done without a clutch, But it's a big transmission (13 speed Roadranger) and low RPM's.
I've try it in the SC and it can be done but but it's much harder to time the RPM's.
Good luck

[Jim Sims]

PEL-423-212-99. If might want to consider investing in towing insurance and have the car flatbedded home next time. It costs me $5 per year per car for no deductable towing insurance. Check out the cost of just a single synchro ring. Your synchros and other motorists will appreciate the flatbed ride home. Cheers, Jim

[84porsche]

Nice Driving Chris - It must of been hell without a clutch - well think of the positives you were still in a Porsche and people always complain about what they don't understand. My personal favorite is tailgaters - I hate it when they come even within 5 feet of my cars but they are all over Southern California.

[Jeremy Cottrell]

Originally posted by Jim Sims
If might want to consider investing in towing insurance and have the car flatbedded home next time. It costs me $5 per year per car for no deductable towing insurance. Check out the cost of just a single synchro ring. Your synchros and other motorists will appreciate the flatbed ride home. Cheers, Jim

WOW thats great. What is the name of that company? AAA premier is about $75 a year. You get one 200 mile tow, and 3 100 mile tows.

[Zeke]

Originally posted by 84porsche
..... My personal favorite is tailgaters - I hate it when they come even within 5 feet of my cars but they are all over Southern California.

People don't seem to want to get too close to the "Ragamuffin." You suppose the sport muffler growling from under a multicolored primered beast has anything to do with it?

[john walker's workshop]

if you can't find the long aluminum replacement, get the 911/914 metal trunnion, and trim the plastic piece back just the thickness of the metal trunnion, and use the remaining plastic sleeve behind it as a spacer. works just as well as the long piece.

[Sonic dB]

Tough luck on your clutch. Maybe it would have been better to just shut it down and call for a tow.

You are correct, LA has a ton of aszholes. I drive the valley all the time, and have never seen such an array of fukin idiots.

[porcupine911]

i figured i could get her home without too much trouble, plus i didn't want to spend who knows how long on the side of victory blvd. i wasn't holding up traffic at all after i got moving after the initial failure. amazingly, i only had to come to a complete stop about 5 times.

btw, it took me about 10 seconds of looking under the car to figure out what had happened.

thanks all, i've located sources for the upgraded replacement parts. thanks also to john for the workaround suggestion in case for some reason i can't get the parts.

[KevinP73]

Good driving Chris and extra cudos for having a girlfriend thats cool about the occasional problems we have with the cars we love too much.
*****ed out an a**hole !! Buy that women a beer or a new pair of shoe's whichever she wants.

[Jim Sims]

State Farm, $3 per car every six months, no deductible, multiple driver and mutiple vechicle policy. Tow to the nearest repair facility but with the 911's this always seems to be a 100 plus miles (dealership as older 911's frighten many mechanics) away so they will usually let you flatbed them anywhere within reason. When we broke down south of Pocatello, ID we flatbedded to a relative's home in Blackfoot. Cheers, Jim