Ambitious DIY attempt with backup plan(s). Sound good?

[Jimbop90]

My car needs a clutch. The pedal is heavy and I have a bearing noise when it's pressed. Video below.

This is a second car and it's not particularly valuable (120k, no service history or paperwork), so I'm happy to have a go at projects I'd never normally consider. I want to have a go at replacing it myself. I've done a few sets of brakes and a bit of suspension work before, but no-one would describe me as a "handy" guy.

What I'm thinking of doing is getting a second hand clutch and flywheel (some on ebay for less than 100 quid), a new release bearing, and seeing if I can do it.

The first backup plan is to get so far, and then get a mobile mechanic to help me finish the job, or I can just fetch him tea and coffee & watch to see what I did wrong. Despite most mobile guys saying they do engine swaps and clutches I'm very aware that I might struggle to get someone out, so brings me to #2.

The second back up plan, I can use home-start breakdown cover to get towed to a local garage (there's a Porsche specialist within 5 miles of me) and they can put a new clutch in for me, maybe at a slightly reduced labour cost if I've got half the gubbins (braces, exhaust, gearbox) off already.

I don't want to order £1k's worth of clutch and flywheel in case I have to take it somewhere. I know a garage will be happier working on a car where they've made some margin on the parts not just the labour, plus of course I'll get some sort of guarantee from them that way. If I turn up with my parts they'll either turn me away or generally just be a bit fussier about the whole thing.

I've been an idiot during the majority of my Porsche foray so far. So reality checks, warning, advice, encouragement all welcome!

 

[½cwt]

Not sure about the recovery plan working if the car is part dismantled as it is not a 'breakdown'.  Most indy will fit supplied parts if they are new and of a known source but second hand, not so much.  Bear in mind whilst you are in there the rear main seal should be changed as preventative maintenance even if it is not weeping, which it could well be.  Also take a good look for any oil leaking or weeping from the IMS bearing, but to change this will take some kill and tools.  It is worth considering replacing if your car is from 2001 onwards.

From my perspective I'm quite handy as a DIYer but I wouldn't tackle a clutch at home.

[TROOPER88]

Where are you OP?

Yes, give it a go and yes, that's the release bearing making the noise.

The bit you may struggle with is getting the box back in.

 

Apart from that, it really is not a difficult job at all. It is simply nuts, bolts and screws.

 

You will need new exhaust furniture and most likely a grinder to remove the old ones. Also a new Sachs clutch kit is sub £300 so there is no point buying a second hand one.

[Jimbop90]

3 hours ago, ½cwt said:

Not sure about the recovery plan working if the car is part dismantled as it is not a 'breakdown'.  Most indy will fit supplied parts if they are new and of a known source but second hand, not so much.  Bear in mind whilst you are in there the rear main seal should be changed as preventative maintenance even if it is not weeping, which it could well be.  Also take a good look for any oil leaking or weeping from the IMS bearing, but to change this will take some kill and tools.  It is worth considering replacing if your car is from 2001 onwards.

From my perspective I'm quite handy as a DIYer but I wouldn't tackle a clutch at home.

Yea I've tried to look into smallprint on breakdowns but it's a bit vague, I'm not overly concerned if that backfires on me. There's a non-specialist down the road who's owner has a Boxster and has already said he's au fait with them so I could always roll it down there.

I'm going with the attitude of leaving the IMS alone, it's made it to 120k, and everywhere seems to offer only an upgrade costing 000's including the specialist tools. Can find a replacement engine with better history and lower miles than mine for <£3k. RMS I'll more likely have a go at, although I've read conflicting about this and it's not spotting my driveway at the moment.

 

 

3 hours ago, TROOPER88 said:

Where are you OP?

Yes, give it a go and yes, that's the release bearing making the noise.

The bit you may struggle with is getting the box back in.

 

Apart from that, it really is not a difficult job at all. It is simply nuts, bolts and screws.

 

You will need new exhaust furniture and most likely a grinder to remove the old ones. Also a new Sachs clutch kit is sub £300 so there is no point buying a second hand one.

 I'm in Cheshire. 

Yea I've seen some adapted trolley jacks to attach the gearbox to for single manning it, but I will probably end up recruiting some help for that part.

Not been under the car yet but I'm sure you'll be proved very right about the exhaust bits. I'm mostly worried about the 3 bolts on the triangular piece (I've seen the Road and Race YT video..)

Ok so maybe I would just get a new clutch. I'm still tempted by a used FW though. Looks like you can test them quite well out of the car, and it's £500+ saving for a part that realistically could be added to every clutch change and not add a fortune to the labour. So even if I got a clutch's worth of mileage out of a used one I'd be happy. Maybe I'll take a punt on one and have it ready in case mine is goosed. From brief bit of reading online they can last a lifetime or no time.

 

[½cwt]

If it is a single row IMSB you could just replace with an equivalent bearing (6204-ZZ or 6204-2RS for less than £5) with zero miles, not the expensive ceramic of oil fed solutions.  @TROOPER88 what is your view on this?  If it is an earlier car (approx. first 4 months of 2001 Model Year) with a double row, then they whilst not bullet proof, have many other things that are more likely to fail first but can also be done bearing only if you can find a double row bearing of the type (Deep Groove Ball Bearing - Double Rows BD20-17-A-DDUA17NX01-NSK NSK, Inner diam. 20 mm, Outer diam. 47 mm, Width 23.812 mm), they seem to be rare but are typically around £50.  What year is your car?

[TROOPER88]

11 minutes ago, ½cwt said:

If it is a single row IMSB you could just replace with an equivalent bearing (6204-ZZ or 6204-2RS for less than £5) with zero miles, not the expensive ceramic of oil fed solutions.  @TROOPER88 what is your view on this?  If it is an earlier car (approx. first 4 months of 2001 Model Year) with a double row, then they whilst not bullet proof, have many other things that are more likely to fail first but can also be done bearing only if you can find a double row bearing of the type (Deep Groove Ball Bearing - Double Rows BD20-17-A-DDUA17NX01-NSK NSK, Inner diam. 20 mm, Outer diam. 47 mm, Width 23.812 mm), they seem to be rare but are typically around £50.  What year is your car?

I think the OP needs to do more research.

The cats stay on the car!

RMS: If it is leaking change it but you need a tool. Please do not think you can just tap it in, it WILL leak and prob very badly. It has to be set precisely at 13mm in.

IMS: Leave alone as if not experienced, you can cause more harm than good.

 

The main thing is you need to be very strong and fit to this. The gearbox weighs circa 75kg and getting in back in is hard. 

 

[Jimbop90]

Bentley book is on it's way. I've got the later worse bearing.

Another reason to re-acquaint myself with the bench press!

[Codfanglers]

If you have somewhere dry, have a decent array of tools, stands, trolley jacks, enjoy working on the car and don't mind laying on your back and skinning you knuckles, I'd say go for it. It's a gearbox and clutch, a nut and bolt job. Bear in mind all the other stuff, taking a break when it isn't going well, the issues you may face along the way, your levels of perseverance and how much extra a garage will want to be persuaded to dig you out the **** if gets beyond you. 

Only you know your abilities, confidence and level of ar'sed.

I wouldn't trust anyone but a specialist with a good reputation to replace either the RMS or IMS bearing.

I've worked on my own cars for years and changed several clutches and gearboxes over the years but paid a local specialist to change my S3 clutch last February.

 

[Nobbie]

If you fancy having a tinker, there is a lot to be gained by doing a job like this as you see lots of bits of the car that you normally ignore and it gives you a chance to do additional work while you are there such as exhaust. Worth bearing in mind that Revolution Porche in Yorkshire will do a clutch change for £720 all in with £99 extra for the RMS.

You say you have a tool for attaching the gearbox to the jack to lower/lift which would be miry main concern. Do you also have a nice flat working area, preferably indoors at this time of year?

[dunks]

Advice.... Book it in a garage all day long. 

Doing it yourself , theres bound to be tools you'd need to buy, oils consumables etc  and 

2nd Hand you do not know

A. If its correct for the car

B. Condition

 

Go to a garage and let them supply the parts, Most garages will either refuse to fit your parts or not offer any warranty at all, bearing in mind this isnt a 2 minute job if it fails a few months down the line

[Freddie]

If it helps @Jimbop90 , I wouldn't describe myself as particularly good with the tools either, but also have done quite a lot of jobs on the boxsters I've had - if you can tackle suspension work then a clutch, with the right tools, should be OK for you to do. I did my 2.5 clutch this year in my garage, took my time over a 2-3 months when I had a spare hour here and there and with the help and advice here, particularly @TROOPER88 it was fine to do. 

Tools - the one thing I would recommend is a transmission jack which I got for 100 odd quid, you will be confident that the 'box won't fall off and kill you. And a 20 quid rms tool to tap it in to the right depth. Also handy to have a high torque impact gun to get the flywheel bolts out. Other than that just basic tools. And take your time.

On reflection, I am so glad I did it myself, yes I saved money but knowing you can do this particular job is a real confidence booster. I am now planning to do the clutch on my 986 S next year. 

Also, with the 'box out you can see and get a better understanding of how other bits are put together, and inspect and replace other things a lot easier with it out the way. You can also clean all the crud off everything; I polished and painted everything I could before it went back on, and new ARB bushes are inexpensive to buy. The other things is that you will be more careful than a garage mechanic has time to be. And, having done it yourself, if something needs attention you will get to it in half the time if you have to strip it back down to rectify.

I didn't do the IMS as it's a 2.5 dual row. I have also adopted the 'it would have gone by now' philosophy. 

There's a very helpful set of videos that Burner did, I followed these whilst I was doing mine. Handy to see someone else's trial and error beforehand.

 

As for if it all goes t!ts up, some garages will recover a car locally if you need it, but as you say a mobile mech could dig you out of a hole. But anyway it is not as bad as you think, as others have said, it's a nut and bolt job. And 100% buy new parts - good kits are available, renew everything in the bell housing and give it a cleanup. You may or may not need a new flywheel, there's a simple test you can do with it on the bench. Worth doing but they're not cheap.

As I have the hands of a typist, soft and not strong, good tools and gloves help.

Hope this helps you decide, don't pressure yourself, have a go and take your time is my advice. And buy gloves!

[Daboy3000]

I have never had a garage refuse to use parts I have bought. In fact this week my wife's car failed its MOT and the garage asked me to find the part as they couldn't.  Also the classic car specialist I use for the Boxster are also happy for me to supply parts.  I can understand they may have a problem if the parts are second hand or cheap rubbish but it doesn't hurt to ask the question.  I would be more hesitant to use them if they are making money on labour and parts.

[½cwt]

21 hours ago, ½cwt said:

....

From my perspective I'm quite handy as a DIYer but I wouldn't tackle a clutch at home.

Good work @Freddie.  Perhaps I just need to be more bold, I've done all the suspension after all, but I don' t have a garage so can only work outside!  Fortunately my 986S had a new clutch before I bought it about 30k miles ago.

[Boxstclever]

I'd say go for it.   I removed the gearbox to do the clutch and then ended removing the engine as well, completely stripped the engine, and rebuilt it.  Never done it before, but so satisfying when it all went back in a fired up.  

You've got time, so if something doesn't quite go to plan, you can research and do it.  I wouldn't go for used parts.  The last thing you'd want is to do it all and then have a noisy DMF after 1,000 miles.  RMS is easy as long as you have a tool to seat it correctly.  You shouldn't need any oils or fluids unless you want to change the gearbox oil.  Clutch master cylinder will unbolt from gearbox, so no need to crack the system for that.