Directly from Pelican...is this a great photo or what...

Nice! You can see exactly what happens!

If I'm not mistaken, the cluth tube weld is broken in that picture. It should be attached to the side (right in the picture, left from the driver's perspective in the car) of the tunnel. You can see the weld attached to the tube and the spot on the side of the tunnel (just under the accelerator cable mount point) where it should be located.

Good call, that's definately right, the clutch tube has broken loose.

Uh huh...broken clutch tube BRACKET. This clutch tube has broken free, it should be against the right side of the tunnel in this view.

The photo is taken from the front access hole, looking back towards the rear of the car. The tube itself is not actually welded to the tunnel wall. There is a sheet metal strap 'bracket' that is originally welded to the side of the tunnel, with 2 spot welds...its this bracket that breaks. The clean repair approach is to drill hjoles in the side of the tunnel wall and plug weld the tube (temporarily held with a clamp to the tunnel wall) to the tunnel side wall.

Here is a shot of tube with attached bracket. John

Freakin awsome! This will make educating other sooo much easier when they come here with this problem

these pictures are very helpful to me.
On the outside of the tunnel, is it obvious where the spot welds are for drilling?

i want to fix mine this week


KT

If you look closely and carefully, you can find the spot welds from the outside.

So, the tricky part is: Drilling without damaging the tube. And putting something inside the tube before welding to make sure the weld doesn't penetrate the tube. Right?

So... What about doing the repair without removing the clutch cable? I'm thinking preventative here.

Maybe cut a piece of copper tubing that fits snugly inside the clutch tube... slot it lengthwise enough to get it over the cable and slide into the clutch tube, rotated so slot is opposite of weld.... Pull it back out after welding.

???

damn your a smart guy!
that should work. i would have pulled the cable

Well, more of a smart ass really. Hah.

Sometimes I wonder if I spend more time on a short cut, ya know?

I slide a no.2 phillips screw driver into the tube. It is nearly impossible to weld to the hard metal of the screw driver with the heat needed to weld the tube back to the wall at or below the original points.

The screw driver handle makes for a convienant way to hold the tube against the wall.

Depending on how long this tube has been broken at the front, I'm betting the middle holder is broken also.. then the rear breaks.


B

I have yet to figure out a method fixing point two in this pic. One and three are what I consider "easy" fixes.


B

Who designed this crap? The clutch cable is way out of alignment in the stock position. It would break free due to stress and it should be welded in a straighter line or arched with the cable not kinking it. Again

No it's not. The cluth cable in that picture is not installed at the pedal assembly and is pulled over towards the right side of the car (towards the left in the picture). With the clutch cable installed, it actually runs much closer to the left side of the tunnel (right side in the picture) and in alignment with the tube where it is attached to the side of the tunnel.

I just used a (I think 1/2") cable clamp. Drilled 2 holes in the side of the tunnel, jambed my hand up inside from the shifter hole and clamped the tube in place. BTW I only snugged up the bolts because if you crush the tube you will never be able to change a cable again.
When the bolts were snug, I ground them down to the thickness of the sound deadening material, and put a little tack weld to hold them on for ever and a day. Put the carpet back on and nobody knows but me and a few hundred others who read this post.

Here is another on the topic thats shows mine and other good repairs.
Clutch tube repair

The PO of my car used a single sided conduit clamp and a bolt (no worries abotu crushing the tube) and it has served me well. I only found it accidentally while doing something else. Never had a problem with it and it only requires one hole to be drileld where the spot weld was.

So many options


KT

Not that I've noticed... Remember, you're not trying to weld the tube itself! You're just trying to get that bracket back onto the side of the tunnel. You don't have to drill the bracket, either--just drill into the side of the tunnel in the right places.

If you're just welding the bracket, near the edges away from the tube, you're not going to heat up the tube or the cable.

--DD

Thanks Dave!

But my concern then shifts.....

Is the bracket really more stable than the tube? I'm thinking I could weld the bracket and later find the tube breaks away from the bracket....

I'm thinking I want to secure the tube to the wall.

So, Brad's screwdriver tip.... Earlier I was thinking that would only work if cable was out.... But now I'm realizing how simple..... Cable in or out... Shank in the hole, plug weld... git-r-done.

Simple.

Bottom line, protect the tube from the penetrating weld.... Whether with a screwdriver tip (If the handle allows clearance) or with my slotted tubing idea.... Just do what works.... The point being, protect the interior of the tube from weld penetration....

I drilled the holes today any with vice-grip c-clamp it is right in place to accept the new weld.
my first hole was very close to perfect. the spot welds were impossible for me to detect.

After I drilled the first "exploritory" hole, I drilled two more in the *right* places. So I have three 1/4" holes...Oh no!!!

I will take some pictures with a measuring tape in the shot to show *exactly* where to drill. ( tomorrow or later )


Time to weld it up


KT

From the look of things through the drilled holes it will be very easy to hit the weld on the existing bracket and then plug weld it on the way out.
It should be stronger than the original.


KT

How to find and drill a spotweld 101.

1. Spotwelds are dimples in the metal so simply block sand the paint off around the area of interest. The block sanding removes the paint from the flat surface and the remaining spots of paint should be your spotwelds.

2. Drill out the spots of paint.

I know how to find them...
these ones wouldn't come out of hiding

I used a flat razor and scraped all the paint away.
No could see... I could sort of feel a dimple so I drilled there.

KT

Sometimes when you spotweld and don't clamp tightly, you don't get the penetration, the dimple, and the weld fails.....

Hey, sound familar?

Ken

OK, I finished my clutch tube repair.
In the tunnel and at the firewall.

I tried the drill and tack method, but I didn't feel comfortable with the strength of it, so I did it "my way".

Click to view attachment

Here you can see the location of the area to be drilled/opened. It's 3.5" from the front shifter bolt hole.

Click to view attachment

Can you see the tube mounting tabs through the holes?


KT

I decided to open the side of the tunnel so I could weld the entire length of the lower tab to the tunnel.

Then I folded the upper tab up, over and down toward the floor. I built up weld from the lower until it reached the upper tab and then welded directly to it.

Click to view attachment

Then I made a simple sheet metal patch and closed it up.

Click to view attachment


KT

Here's the rear firewall repair.
I cut a fender washer into a "D" shape.
I put a piece of 3/8" copper tube into the tube to protect it from burn through.

Click to view attachment

Clutch cable is back in and readjusted.

Click to view attachment


I hope it holds for at least 15 years...



KT

[quote name='trekkor' date='Nov 27 2006, 05:57 PM' post='823900']
I drilled the holes today any with vice-grip c-clamp it is right in place to accept the new weld.
my first hole was very close to perfect. the spot welds were impossible for me to detect.

After I drilled the first "exploritory" hole, I drilled two more in the *right* places. So I have three 1/4" holes...Oh no!!!

Haha, Ury does that on purpose.

Good info guys ...

I'm basically new to 914s, although I did have a '71 with a 1.8 liter for a couple of weeks way back in '73. I needed something bigger to haul motorcycles around, so the car had to go ...

Just picked up a '75 2.0 project car this w/e and have been reading a lot of threads for the past two days. My hats off to you guys who are doing rust repairs ... not a fun job by any means. One of my friends always says: "Rust is no bargain, at any price"


Yesterday, I noticed that my clutch was engaging too close to the floorboard so I decided to adjust it.

When I got under the car, I found a 1" long aluminum spacer behind the release arm lever, then two 11mm nuts with another inch or more of thread exposed. I guess this was someone's fix because they didn't know about the tube problem?

Noticing several things didn't appear right, I stopped in to see Adrian at Edelweiss Porsche. He told me that clutch tubes breaking loose was a common problem. We also found an 'L' bracket securing the front of the tube bolted inside the tunnel

He'll MIG-weld the tube back in place and use a 2" hole-saw to gain access the middle bracket if needed.


It will all get repaired properly ... some day

Click to view attachment

The spacer is normal when someone uses the 911 clevis--the metal part the cable goes through where it hooks up to the throwout arm. The plastic 914 part is longer than the 911 part, so a spacer is required. And double-nutting is just a way to make sure it doesn't "self-adjust" while you're driving.

However, a 1" spacer and 1" worth of threads sounds like a little much.

BTW, this thread has just showed you pictures of why you don't need to take a hole-saw to the center tunnel.

--DD

Are "Terry" clutch cables a bit longer than stock?

I have a lot of adjustment on both ends. ( extra thread length )


KT