To Superman the clutchmeister

I was sitting in my 70-911E at traffic lights last Friday in first gear with my foot on the clutch. Suddenly there is a bang and everything stops. The clutch pedal was on the floor so I figured with a bit of luck it was a busted cable. The engine restarted OK, so I turned it off started it in first gear and got to a nearby plaza. Got triple A to carry me home.

Right now the engine is on the garage floor and I have separated the transmission and found the pivot bolt for the clutch fork has sheared off. A $50 fix - fantastic.

My question is, Superman, I remember you had problems putting the clutch fork back in the wrong way. When you did it the second time how did you manage to get the fork behind the release bearing - I haven't tried yet as I have just ordered the parts. I'd like to learn from your experiemce as I'd really like to get it right first time.

I've never dropped a Porsche 911 engine before. I followed the Pelican article on engine removal which says you can leave the transmission in the car. I was concerned about getting the engine aligned with the gear box drive shaft when trying to put it back in. So, I decided to drop the engine and tranny and separate them afterward. I think it was the right thing to do. It doesn't require much more work to remove and should be a lot easier to reinstall - but ask me next weekend about that one.

I must admit that I feel really good about dropping the engine, feels like a real achievement, a sort of "rite of passage" in Porsche ownership.

Regards to all for tolerating my postings.

Alan

Maybe I can save Superman some time. He helped me get my engine and tranny back together, and I saved all the e-mail correspondence. Here is the part about the TOB and fork. I'll e-mail you the rest.

Quote from Superman
"I believe there are two holes in the tranny bell housing near the engine.
It is through these holes that you can see whether the fork is engaged
properly into the release bearing. The forks go into a wide groove in the
outer edge of the release bearing. Not in front of the bearing and not in
back, but rather they engage onto the outer edge. I think you know this
but.....

With the tranny in the car you will probably have a hard time seeing
through at least one of the holes. You might use a stong light (my eyes
are getting older now) and one of those little telescoping mirror things.
They are cheap if you don't have one and very useful.

If the proper engagement of these two parts is verified, you should be able
to just bolt it all together and go from there. If the cable cannot be
adjusted at the back, then yes, it will need to be adjusted at the front,
near the pedals. But before you do that, hear this:

Here's a big secret I had to teach myself...Detach the clutch cable in the
back. Use a big screwdriver to pry the lever taht is operated by the cable
all the way in the opposite direction in which the cable moves it (I forget
whether this is forward or back). It seems to me that this caused the arm
to snap back against the exhaust cross-piece. At this point, the horseshoe
spring is pushing the arm the wrong way.

This is the time to adjust the little locking bolt to achieve the 1.2 mm
clearance. Then, you put the clutch cable on, and tighten it until the
1.0mm clearance is acheved. Done. Drive the car.

I have had a hard time explaining this. The best I can say is to look at
the horseshoe spring. It will help the "arm" pull on the release bearing
to release pressure on the cluthc plate when the pedal is pushed. When the
pedal is released, the arm returns and the two pins held by the horseshoe
spring get closer together. They should actually get so close together
that the spring just begins to push the arm the the OTHER direction.

Anyway, use the procedure above and your clutch should be in adjustment.
Please do this before you make changes near the pedal.

and by the way, the reason my clutch was not returning properly is because
it was forcing the fork against the back of the bell housing. One of the
forks was hitting the housing and one was not. As a consequence, one fork
bent and the other did not. That fork will never fit again. If your fork
is engaged properly into the release bearing, this is not your worry.

Good luck. If you don't pry the "arm" until the horseshoe makes it 'snap'
in the wrong direction before you begin the adjustments, your clutch will
not operate properly."

Enjoy .. Ted


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'80 911-SC Targa

Allan,

I congradulate you on your successful engine and trans pulling!

First of all, the throwout fork on your 911 transaxle is quite a bit different than the design of the one on his 915 transaxle! If I remember correctly, Big S didn't actually get the fork behind the throwout bearing ... it was in front, which created difficulty in getting the transaxle to properly 'close up' in the normal manner, since there was an extra 3/8" to 1/2" or so of 'springiness' against the fork which was due to it pressing against the bearing rather than being engaged in the groove. The result of a bent fork and no clutch 'resistance when the pedal was pushed is understandable, since the pressure plate has to be pulled to operate.

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Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa

Thanks Warren.

My understanding is that when you put your foot on the clutch the fork pulls the bearing which lifts the the clutch fingers away from the flywheel releasing the clutch disk.

The bearing has two ears on it which engage with the fork. The bearing is attached to the clutch while the fork is attached to the transmission bell housing. The problem I see is that when I put the transmission and engine back together it is necessary to get the clutch fork past the bearing and engaged behind the ears on the bearing.

I couldn't have said it better myself. You're certainly welcome to e-mail me and we can get on the phone if necessary. I won't restate what I so eloquently said before, but Warren is no doubt correct in that the 901 and 915 trannies are quite different. But I suspect the 901 trannies may also have the two inspection holes. Don't hesitate to ask more.

And congratulations on the engine/tranny pull. I agree they should come out together. And I also know that my car and I could not have become 'one' wihtout me taking the engine out. And partly apart. And you know, this is the time to replace very rubber thing you can see, aond some you cannot. Particularly the oil cooler thermostat o-ring.

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'83 SC

I'm not sure if the set up on your transmission is the same as mine (915), but I found the easiest way to get the fork engaged where it belongs is to remove the horseshoe ring to free up the movement of the fork. By doing that, the fork moves feely and you can set it where you need it as you mate the trans with the engine. Once the trans is installed, you can reinstall the horseshoe ring and all is done.

Steve

I think I have it figure out. This is not a 915 transmission.

The bearing has two flat spots opposite one another which just fit throught the clutch fork. I think the thing to do is align these with the clutch fork when putting it together allowing the clutch fork to slip over the bearing. Then when the engine and tranny are together I shoud be able to use a steel rod or something similar to rotate the bearing so the ears are over the lifting points on the fork.

Wish me luck.

Allan

I just e-mailed you. I hop eyou're not scared by my mistake several months ago. These forks are easy to align (with the horseshoe spring removed), I just didn't know what I was doing. I assumed the forks go onto the back of the gearing, to push the pressure plate. Like a normal car. Apparently, these are not normal cars! The fork PULLS the release bearing in the 915 tranny.

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'83 SC

I have the 901 tranny in my '70 911 and the fork lifts the clutch. I have to admit if I hadn't seen your thread I could easily have made the same mistake. I'm in the measure twice and cut once mode - double checking everything to make sure I understand how things work before making any moves.

I'm the local attraction when I'm working with the garage door open - the neighbors come over, look at the car, look at the engine, look at the tranny, look at me then shake their heads. However, they'll all want to be there on Saturday to help put it back in. I guess they want to be able to say to their friends "Hell yes I know what a Porsche engine looks like. I helped a guy put one back in his car!"