Hello Aowolf. I am replacing the damper in my son's "88" 944 NA with a manual flywheel, pressure plate, clutch, and starting gear. This has been done before, but it is not a common practice. If you do the work and use the manual parts, your cost could be under $600.00. I'll send you a PM with my contact information. Give me a call and I'll explain the reasoning behind what we are doing.
In his 944, he started hearing a vibration centered near the middle of the dash. From the time he first started hearing it until the damper went out, he was able to drive about 250 miles. Luckily he was only about a mile away from my home when it happened. He started smelling a burnt rubber smell and heard a loud pop.
If your damper goes out, the car will not move. There is no damage to the transmission. The damper acts as a buffer between the flywheel and central tube / transmission. If you plan to continue driving it until it is fixed, make sure that you have a tow truck driver available 24/7.
We have done a lot of research and found there are few choices available when it comes to an automatic transmission. Just to get to the damper, the transmission has to be dropped, the central tube pulled back and dropped, and some other major parts. The cost for a mechanic for labor plus the cost of the damper is a major expense. An average estimate is $2,800.00 plus.
Do not let the mechanic weld anything as mentioned, especially if he is not a Porsche mechanic. The average life span of a new damper is 3-5 years. They tend to dry rot, so if you plan on getting a used damper, take that into consideration. I have a lot of information available for you about this job, just give me a call.
