So in the country I live in, there are only three Porsche Dealers, and they aren't really what most Western people would consider a "service center" type of place, rather, they are local businesses who have bought the rights to import Porsches. The 997 was the first legally imported Porsche 911 here, but there are a lot of grey market imports, like mine, that came over on a boat from Japan.

Having owned BMWs, Audis and other imported vehicles, my experience across the board has been nothing but terrible when it comes to getting cars serviced at the dealer here.

I know one independent mechanic who is an idiot savant when it comes to BMWs and Audis, and I want to bring him my car to change out the clutch, RMS, and if he can, do an IMS upgrade.

Question is, having probably never seen a 996 before, what tools is this guy going to need specifically for the Porsche clutch job? Anything he wouldn't already have for working on other cars? I don't want the guy to get it half way apart and then realize that some special Porsche tool needs to be imported before further progress can be made.

 

I believe the mechanic should find out by himself. It sounds very strange to me that customer tells the mechanic what to do and what kind of tool he needs.
Or make it simple, dun bring your P-car to him.

 

Nothing wrong with trying to find out ahead of time, and saving everyone the hassle and time.

 

How is your indy's English? Download the service manual and give it to him (e-copy or printed):

http://www.cannell.co.uk/Manuals.htm

 

You really don't need any special tools to do the clutch swap. It is pretty straight forward. Basically:

remove drive shafts, slave cylinder, shift cables, reverse light switch
support engine
support transmisssion
unbolt transmission from bell housing and slide back from engine
there you have the clutch right before your eyes, which is pretty much like any ol' pressure plate and clutch assembly.

But yes if the mechanic doesn't have access to the shop manuals, then find a different shop that does, since they will be missing important things like torque specs.

The IMS retrofit DOES require special tools which you must purchase from LNE:

http://www.lnengineering.com/store/c...ool-p-133.html

The RMS swap DOES require a special insertion tool, which can be purchased or fabricated:

purchase: http://www.flat6innovations.com/shop...cat=268&page=1
fabricate: http://reutterwerk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18315

Removing the flywheel to access the IMS and RMS does require a flywheel lock which can be easily fabricated. Also new flywheel bolts should be purchased since they are single use only.

If doing the IMS and RMS, your mechanic should read through these threads completely:

IMS DIY:

Pelican parts: http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...ft_Bearing.htm

Rennlist: http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforum...t-bearing.html

Everything you need to know about IMS and more from the LNE bible: http://www.lnengineering.com/ims.html

You can also install along with the bearing or even instead of it the IMS Guardian which monitors ferro-magnetic material in your sump and alerts you once there is too much of it floating around (indicating the bearing is about to fail or other internal parts are about to fail), then you can have the retrofit performed: http://www.flat6innovations.com/ims-guardian-home

 

I'm not say your wrong.
If you can find out everything, why do you need a mechanic?
And don't forget you are spending the money.