Oh shift, Cause of shifting woes is quite apparent Options

[vintage914racer]

This past weekend I took my 914-6 vintage racer to the Elkhart Lake Vintage Festival at Road America. My car ran great up to the final feature race on Sunday. Long story short, I was running up front in fourth behind a couple high-budget, blazing fast 911s when my clutch pedal went to the floor while downshifting in a heavy braking zone. I was able to pull it back and regain normal operation for a lap or two when it happened again and sidelined me for the rest of the race.



Well, tonight I pulled the tranny to assess the damage and the problem is clear -- a blown clutch. It now sits on my bench in three pieces.



I have a few questions for the wrenches wiser than me on these forums:

1) Should I be concerned about some underlying issue causing the failure?
2) Is it worth upgrading to a lightened flywheel and racing clutch kit? My understanding is these early flywheels are pretty light to begin with. For reference, the car is running a 2.5l six putting out somewhere around 250hp.
3) Given the state of the clutch and what was spinning around on the flywheel, is it reasonable to think the current can be resurfaced, or am I destined for a new flywheel?

Any and all input would be appreciated.

[vintage914racer]

I will investigate. Does Kennedy provide the pressure plate as well, or just the clutch?

Kennedy does have pressure plates...I'm pretty sure mine's a stock Sachs one though. The clutch disc was only about $160, not bad at all. My flywheel is AASCO aluminum with a steel starter ring gear & replaceable friction surface disc. That was $600 a couple of years ago.
FWIW if your flywheel is in spec I'd suggest just install a Kennedy clutch disc, scratch up the surface of the flywheel & pressure plate with 80 grit sandpaper & drive it..

Kennedy sounds like a winner, and a relatively cheap one at that.

The general consensus seems to be that my flywheel is probably fine. I’m thinking about having it lightened RSR style at Ollie’s. Any wisdom from folks on this approach?

I contacted Kennedy after i burnt up my previous clutch and they made me a special version (not listed on their website) that can take the torque from the 3.6L and still work with the 901.
That included the pressure plate and clutch.

So far, so good ...
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

I’m going to reach out and see what they recommend. Glad to hear they build to suit if you will