Help!! Installing Clutch Slave
 

I'm in the middle of changing the clutch slave cylinder on my '87 Carrera. The old one's out but I can't get the new one in. I can't overcome the spring pressure on the new one to get the bolts on the studs. I'm doing this with everything mounted in the car. Is there a trick? Or am I just getting too old and weak to be doing this kind of thing? Help!!!

You're getting weak......... :D You do indeed have to push with some good effort to force the slave rod to retract into the cylinder housing so you can get the studs to poke out of the mounting tabs and get the nuts started.

If you can't get it, just disconnect the fluid supply flex line under the trans. Then you won't be fighting the resistance of the fluid pressure. But with all that air in the line, might take a while to bleed it all out. That's one more reason to pressure bleed. I've found bleeding via the clutch pedal to be very unreliable on this car. Did you bleed the fluid already? I think it's easier to bleed the system with the slave disconnected from atop the trans. You should only bleed it this way with a pressure bleeder @ 10-15 psi. DO NOT bleed this way via pushing the pedal or you'll blow the pushrod from the slave body!

Follow Kevin's advice. More reading for you.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/474084-slave-cylinder-question.html

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/474226-clutch-bleeding-question.html

Thanks, guys.
I did get it in. The solution was to have lunch. It's taken a long time to learn to walk away from the problem for a while, but it worked again. And I'm getting old. Needed the rest. I'm hoping it didn't get easier because I missed the throw out fork :confused: I haven't been able to test it yet because I have the rare "working boot light option" and left my front hood open for several days while I worked up to this project.
I did scan those threads before I started but I didn't expect the slave to have a spring preload--and a much stronger one that the 23 year old cylinder it's replacing.
Thanks for the quick responses.