Purchased an '84 944 2 years ago ($2800) with intentions of restoring to factory original condition. Tried 3 seperate occasions to resolve this issue. Now after being told that it is definately the clutch, I have now spent another $2000 today for nothing. With a brand new clutch kit installed... I drove away finding the condition to be even more pronounced than before! My rear end shudders terribly when releasing the clutch in reverse, or when releasing during downshifting. The car performs flawlessly in all forward gears and now grabs even better with the new clutch... but now I can barely reverse at all (wouldn't dare downshift) because the rear end shakes so badly during the release of the clutch. Once engaged fully there is no shudder. I can't afford any more hit and miss diags, does anybody have an idea!!!????

 

Did they resurface the flywheel when they did the clutch? If they didn't............

 

No resurfaced flywheel. Now I know why he spent two hours tearing the rear end apart last night trying to find a reason for the shudder. He was desperately hoping to find a reason for the shudder in the back end as he doesn't want to pull out what he just installed. Am I right Doc???!!!

 

Possibly. I would look at the transaxle mounts as well. SOmetimes even a resurfaced flywheel won't solve it, but it will usually make it bettter. I am assuming he used a stock replacement disc/pressure plate.

 

Yes, he installed the Fuchs basic clutch kit. What makes me think you're correct in suggesting the flywheel as I now have a slight vibration in the clutch pedal. It feels like something is slightly out of round, certainly not smooth when depressing the pedal. Even the old clutch had a smooth press and release. With your second suggestion with regards to the possibility of worn mounts, I am going to bite the bullet and replace them this week as I work at a Porsche facility and can probably get a pretty good discount on them. Could you tell me what degree of difficulty they are to replace if I ask one of our service techs to install them? Thanks again Doc. The advice you are giving me makes me sound like I know what I'm talking about.

 

The transaxle mounts on an early car are a matter of minutes to replace. Do you know if they replaced the clutch fork, guide tube, clutch fork shaft and bearings, etc? Usually the sachs clutch kit is the disc, pressure plate, and throwout bearing. The other items can be severely worn though as well.

 

The mechanic who did the clutch mentioned all of the things that you have ...just before I gave him the go-ahead to do the install. Unfortunately although he performed a desperate search for a cause of the shutter at the rear-end that same night, he is now in Hawaii for a few weeks so I can't find out any details, or whether he did the fork/bearings etc. like he said he might have to do. Thanks alot for lettin' me vent Doc, I was furious with the results of the installation as I drove away that night with a funny clutch pedal, a new leak in my exhaust near the manifold (which is sapping the little bit of horse power these cars have to begin with) and of coarse the unrelenting ghost know as the "shudder" is now worse than before. Are there any mechanics out there anymore that do a great job at what they specialize in?... every mechanic I seem to use to fix either my wife's car or my cars just seem to wanna "get 'em in, and kick 'em out!" To bad you don't live in Toronto Doc. Thanks again.