944 Clutch/torque tube replacement in a day.

[cchyper]

Now all you wankers who think that it is impossible to do a clutch or think a torque tube issue is too much pain than its worth. YOU ARE WRONG. Saturday morning i wake up a little later than i wanted 8:00 am and headed down i5 to longview Wa. After I arrived at the unofficial Washington 944 heaven, we started the project. With a sachs clutch kit, bearings, blots, pinout shaft, and freshly turned flywheel we set off, and expected a simple clutch job. First we jack it up, position the jack stands, then on to exhaust, transmission mounts, and torque tube bolts. Then drop the tranny, push the torque tube back intern removing it from the bell housing. All successful in just a few hours. Everything is looking great, got some aqua, a few other substances, a lunch and smiling faces. Until, we spin the shaft in the torque tube. OH SHIZZA! My not so German, Porsche buddy/guru cries. As we spin the torque tube it yells at us I AM BROKEN! And then the profanities really kick in. We all know what is next: discussion on how the heck we are going to complete this mission. So since we just happened to have another torque tube just lying around. We decide to replace it. Yet, as most people probably know one can’t just pull it out the back, one must first drop the whole rear suspension. With a mission in mind we set out, unbolting the rear suspension as one big bit. Finally that’s out and get set out to be degreased and pressure washed. Remove the heat shields and crossmemebers and the Torque Tube drops right out. Sitting pretty with daylight to spare we are happy with our progression. Next up is the cleaning, after the cleaning of the rear end I find that my rear driver-side caliper is cracked in half ... (AH, so that’s what that noise was... and how the heck have I not seen that before?) Anyways, I didn’t have a spare one of those so she went back on and will be replaced shortly. Talk about opening Pandora’s box. About this time it 7:00 and we need to get gear oil for the trans and some grub. After returning from a brisk ride in the grocery getter/transporter the Bullitt (265hp/305lb torque) We get back to wrenchin, align the clutch bolt everything back up....(I wished it was is fast as it would be to say it) Time to bleed the breaks. Ah yes the easy task of bleeding the air out the breaks. After bleeding the breaks for a damn long time, we still can’t get all the air out of them. One of our helpers whose only job was to check the brake fluid level "couldn’t see determine the fluid level" and successfully caused permanent mushiness. SO now the breaks go to the floor. It is now 2:00 am and I still have a 2.5 hour drive home. We had a spare master cylinder so I took it and said I’ll drive home and in install it later this week. I hit the road, everything is great except for some slightly mushy breaks, keep on truckin start dosing off on the road, pull over some 45min-1 hour in to the trip at a rest stop catch 2 hours of zzzz and headed back home and arrived at 7:00 am.

Damn good project for a day and my rear suspension looks brand spankin new


I forgot the part when we went to lunch in a 88 Silver Rose, 944 turbo S MINT! with exhaust, chip, and it pulled so oo damn hard.

[Brando]

Can you send your friends my way when I have to do my clutch?

[IanS]

Agreed, I need friends like that in SoCal.

Actually, I wouldn't mind helping other people, knowing that I'll have to do a clutch someday.

-Ian

[Brando]

IanS... maybe we can work something out... I got some hand tools and pneumatic tools I can borrow... Two people tackling a clutch job would be better than one (especially when it comes time to lift and carry the exhaust and transmission).

[pokey]

I'm up for some wrenchin'.
"My dad's a TV repairman, he's got this awesome set of tools, I can fix it."
-Spicoli
I've got tools, floor jacks, stands, a compressor, and some ability, but no workspace...

[Moneyguy1]

Sounds like you had three things a lot of us don't

1. Access to additional muscle

2. Access to lots of tools

3. Youth (I remember being ten feet tall and bulletproof!!)

The REAL champs are the ones who tackle such a job on their own with a set of Harbor Freight metric sockets, a set of vise grips and a couple of screwdrivers!!

Kudos on a big job done!!

I echo some of the others..Send your friends and I will supply the beer and brats

[IanS]

My neighbor has a lift, but I've never borrowed it. Its a cruel joke. I know its over there, but I know anything I need a lift for is going to take too long to use his lift for

Brando, I don't need a new clutch yet, but if you need help installing one, I'm willing to help. I do have lots of hand tools, including an air compressor and an impact wrench.

I also have driveway space for relatively short jobs. So if you guys need help, I'm up for it.

-Ian

[cchyper]

Thanks for the kudos... You should get a friend to help, even if they are not a pro just some one to help hold and postion things is necessary. But a weekend could have had the clutch done with 2 guys working on it about 5-6 hours a day.


In reply to the tools needed, all that we used were the following:

3/8 and 1/2 drive: 8, 11, 13, 17, 19, 21, 22, 23 mm sockets and socket wrenches, and a breaker bar, a wobblie, short and long extensions. not one air tool used the whole day.

Open end wrenches: 8, 11, 13, 17, 19, 21 mm

11mm brake line wrench (not necessary)

Hex drivers for the: cv joint, clutch pressure plate bolts, and tranny.

a clutch alignment tool (looks like the end of the shaft in the torque tube)

Be careful with those air tools, impact wrenches may seem like your friend but they can bite you and your car hard. Be weary of striping and tightening toooo tight.

Also you need a minimum of of one 3.5 ton jack, 4 jack stands, and some 4x4 wood slabs for the jack stands to get the car up high enough, we had threejack so we were golden. You just need one jack available for the tranny drop.

None the less it saves you over $1500 in labor to do your own clutch and it would have been even more for me. Imagine if fordahl, achers, or any other porsche shop would have found that $$ $$ $$! CHA CHING! Think about that call: "Hello, Sir, we have found that your torque tube you know the one that connects your tranny to your bell housing. YEAH.... its broken so that will be 1500 for the tube and another 20 hours of work. Sorry, thanks good bye" "AHHHHHH!"

[WaA420]

Too bad that you didn't get some pictures of it all. Oh well maybe next time?

[cchyper]

ya man the dumbass that helped me forgot his camera. You sound a lot like him tho.

[WaA420]

Ok well who forgot the beer? Thats what I thought. I think that ordeal would have been alot funner if we would have been $hit faced?