Follow-up on this:-
I went with a new updated clutch fork and throw-out bearing - the needle bearings in mine were shot - the new version (weltmeister one?) puts brass bushes there instead.
I also bit the bullet and went for a lightweight flywheel from Patrick Motorsport
On the back of the crank was a hole with a small rolled steel pin inside it which appeared to have sheared off.
We had a bit of discussion on impact bumpers about this with some saying it was structural and should be replaced. I've eventually plumped for it being there to make sure you put the flywheel in the right way round - i.e. a guide pin. I've left it as it is - if the bolts give way then I don't see that any pin in there is going to stop the flywheel from living up to it's name...... And the part is NLA from the OPC.
One theory put forward was that this could have been what lead to the ring gear being chewedup. I thought about this a bit more. I re-examined the knackered ring gear. If the chewing had been caused by the flywheel assembly loosening off then the chewing would have been at the back (on the engine side); if it was caused by the starter motor coming loose then it would be at the front (gearbox side). After checking it, the damage was all on the front side so I'm still looking at the poorly fitted starter motor as the culprit. Another one to chalk up to your friendly neighbourhood porsche specialist.....
I ordered and fitted a new rear main seal. This was a bit of a pain to fit - a combination of oil, gentle taps, swearing, and eventually harder taps saw it go in.
The lightweight flywheel arrived from Patrick motorsport whilst I was on holiday and I collected it on Saturday morning. When I ordered it they added in a new 'special' pilot bearing. I didn't question this as I assumed it was needed. However when I went to fit it, there was no way it would fit - here it is sat on the top of the new flywheel
I wondered if it would go on the back but that was a non-starter. Eventually I realised that it just wasn't made for my car. I checked the pilot bearing on the original flywheel and it seemed in good nick so I put a suitable socket next to it and drove it out, and then pressed it into the new flywheel. I'll follow this through with Patrick - I don't know if they sent the wrong part by mistake or assumed my car was slightly different.
Anyhow, with that pressed in, on went the flywheel. Little hole aligned with the broken dowel hole (see earlier) and all 9 (brand new) bolts torqued up and loctited (incidentally when you type loctite into an iphone it changes it to lactate. Which was nice.)
To hold the flywheel in position while doing all this I got a piece of square tubing and drilled a hole in it and bend the end over so it made a tab that fits into the teeth on the flywheel. This isn't a great picture but you get the idea hopefully
Next stage was to assemble the clutch stuff. For this you have to use a clutch alignment tool. After consulting with Ian round the corner I used a ratchet spanner and duct tape. In progress:-
Finished
And in use
Then you bolt on the ring gear - the thing that caused me to take it all out in the first place. The newre version from the OPC are slightly thicker than the original, giving more area for the starter motor to connect with. Here you can see the new and old one. Not a massive difference but worthwhile
Before putting the gearbox back on you balance the clutch fork in place and hold it there with duct tape (useful stuff)
Then you can manhandle the gearbox on - I did this myself. It's quite heavy but do-able. Keep checking that clutch fork - mine had moved so I had to rach inside and jiggle it and eventually it all slipped on. A few knocks from my favourite hammer (shot-filled rubber jobbie) helped it on its' way. I'd also fitted the starter motor on byt eh time I took this one (excuse crap picture)
That was it for Saturday
