Causes of super-heavy 964 clutch?

[adamnitti]

Hey folks-

Currently in the search for my next car and checked out a '94 964 today. Car was very tight and was a great drive with the exception of the clutch... It was the heaviest clutch I had ever experienced in a Porsche. Required MUCH effort to depress and also almost felt as if there was a binding of sorts... The owner said the car had an RS light weight clutch assembly and a RS lightweight flywheel assembly installed. However, I'm not sure how long ago that was. Any ideas as to what could be making the feel so heavy? I realize this is only speculation at this point, but if there was a problem that required clutch/pressure plate replacement, etc, what kind of $$$ might I be looking at to correct? Thanks in advance-

[crg53]

Maybe do a search here and on Rennlist, I have heard of several other cars (964) with the same issue, and a common is either the clutch pedal pivot pin needs to be replaced or the clutch release fork needs the upgraded bearings installed, which means the the tranny has to come out.
PS. My car 1991 C2 has RS LFW and pressure plate and is smooth as silk with upgraded release fork bearings.

[Shamus911]

I have the RS cup car setup and it's not heavy at all - so I'd assume there is an issue. There are SEVERAL pressure plates that can be installed in a 964 though, so perhaps he got a more agressive PP than the RS (like a turbo or some such)

Good luck!

[tbennett017]

Could simply be a worn clutch.

[bazar01]

Usually the clutch fork needle bearings dry up and seize up causing a heavy clutch pedal effort. If you wait too long, the needle bearings will dig in to the cross shaft and will put up a fight to get it out. Transmission has to come out.

[FRED/LI]

Had a '90 C2 that had an extremely heavy pedal...wore out the pivot pin. Finally took out the clutch and it had been fitted with a turbo pressure plate....no good as the turbos are power assisted. Could be your problem.

[lucittm]

I replaced the original Luk dual mass flywheel with a RS LWT flywheel myself. Expect to pay $1000 to $2000 if you need a new pressure plate, flywheel, and disc. You certainly need a new throw out bearing and the related fork, shaft, bearings, and seals. This assumes there is no damage to the transmission housing and you don't go crazy with upgrades, "while you're in there."

Mark