Various 914 maintenance and repair questions Options

[914bub]

I have a few questions about the repair and maintaining of my 914. I got my car about three weeks ago and have it stored now about 2 hours from where I am. It took almost a year and a half to seal the deal so finally "having" it but not really having it here is driving me nuts! Here's my couple of questions, I know I'll have more, especially once I actually "have" the car.

Question #1. What's the logic behind replacing the flywheel when doing a clutch? I did auto repair for 20 years as a profession,(mostly Volvo, but some others as well), and all we ever did was resurface flywheels when we did clutch jobs. Unless of course the ring gear was toast. I read the Clymer manual, (Yeah I know Clymer and Haynes manuals are best used as toilet paper but the manual came with the car so I was perusing it one night), and the Clymer manual suggests inspecting and resurfacing the flywheel as needed. (I would always consider it "needed" when doing a clutch BTW).

Question #2 What's your prefered product for preserving an un-cracked dash pad? Long ago I heard armor all would eventually dry out dash pads. I usually use vynil-x on that sort of thing but was curious what you guys prefer. Back in the 80's I heard vasaline worked well and I did use it on my Mom's vw cabriolet way back then. It seemed to work well but made everything kinda sticky and "gummy". If you guys don't have a good suggestion I'll probably stick with Vynil-x.

Thanks in advance, Bub

[toolguy]

The dash is vinyl, anything conditioner you put on it sits on top because it can't absorb anything [ except something like lacquer thinner] . . things like the old days Armorall make it look OK but they evaporate off a cause a hazy fog on the inside of the glass windshield. . others stay oily and don't dry. . . best bet is to clean and leave it as is. . In these days of no more oe dash covers, I'd suggest a Dash Topper{ cloth carpet stuff} to protect it from the UV light and direct sunlight heat. . sooner or later, they will all crack if you don't. . .

Flywheels, you got it right. . resurface as needed but each time you do, the clutch pack sits a little lower and the throwout arm ball geometry changes until the arm can't pull the release bearing enough without hitting the trans case. . time then to shim the throwout arm ball. .