Just got the car back from the shop - they changed the clutch (AWE/Sachs II.5 kit), put on the GT2RS intercoolers, changed and gapped down the spark plugs (to 0.025inches, same Porsche/Bosch plugs), changed oil and brake fluid.

Got a call a couple of days ago saying "there was good news and bad news". The good news was they were able to change the spark plugs with no problems (didn't charge me b/c they had the engine out anyway. They explained to me that you could change the clutch without dropping the engine but dropping the engine speeds it up a bit but the downside is the fluids need to be changed). I didn't complain b/c at least I didn't have to pay 800 bucks for spark plug change. My car only has 13k miles on it but since it wasn't costing me anything I went ahead. The old plugs looked fine and they told me that they would have lasted for a while longer, but that's what I expected.

The bad news was that "they must have sent the wrong clutch" b/c when it was assembled on the bench it would "bottom out" or something like that. A quick call to Mike at AWE and he calmly and patiently explained that he gets a call occasionally when someone is installing this kit for the first time. He was kind enough to call my shop and explain this to them (rep points for Mike!!) and things proceeded fine.

I picked up the car today. What a treat to get back in this baby! The clutch felt very close to stock and I agree with others that perhaps the engagement point is slightly closer to the floor which is fine. No funny noises/vibrations. So far so good. Gave it some welly on the highway and it really likes the cold (40s) air. I noticed that in regular mode it seems to peak at 13psi and in sport mode I briefly saw 16psi. This is with stock programming. It feels fine. I don't recall if I regularly saw 15 and 17psi with stock programming but certainly did with the Proto tune. Wonder if the new i/cs are responsible for this or if it was always this way? No biggie at this point, I'll do some pbox runs soon and then put the Proto tune back on it and repeat pbox runs.

I was going to put on the cat-delete pipes but I think I'll just wait till I upgrade the turbos.

 

Hey Boggster, Nice start to the new season! Any closer to a decision on what turbos you will be upgrading to?

 

I'm waiting for more info on the Proto 65mm vtg. Apparently TPC doesn't have it (according to Casey a few months ago) and I haven't seen much info on it other than the specs. I'd love to see some performance numbers with it. I know that the compressor side inducer size is almost as large as the one on the Champion 68mm vtgs so it should be impressive. I'll get it with clipped wheel and extrude and call it a day.

 

Do me a favor, take it easy on the clutch the first 100 miles or so. Just let it break in. Try to stay out of the boost.

Glad things worked out for and glad I was able to ease your installers concerns.

You rock! Thanks again for your business....

 

Thanks Mike. I've been taking it easy with gentle shifts etc... I'm glad you mentioned it b/c I was wondering if a new clutch needed to be "bedded in" or whatever.

 

Good.

Here is a little cheater method I figured out for breaking in a clutch.

Take the car out on the open highway. Get it up to about 70mph. Take your foot off the gas and let it coast. At that point start pumping the clutch. The act of engaging then disengaging will allow all the surfaces to get scuffed and seat.

Again, thanks for the business.

 

Thanks for the tip. And thanks for all the good deals - that's what keeps me coming back!

 

Agree with Mike totally. As tempting as it is stay well away from WOT.....leave the tune file out for a few hundred k's will help. Some regular stop start traffic is a good thing over this period as well. Keep the revs as low as poss and keep the slippage on take up as brief as possible off the line. You want it to bed in, not burn in.

And on the clutch instal drama...That also happened to me too. It seems all first timers of these Sachs units are bound to panic during the instal and cry foul. The exact same happened to me when my dealer installed the sachs unit. The panic seemed to start during the stage when the dummy input shaft is used to centralize the plate to the spigot bearing in the crank. Its here the pp bolts are left a bit loose and as they are partially tightened the throwout locks up against the fingers giving the installer the impression there is insufficient movement for the pressure plate to disengage the clutch plate during shifts. But once the c/plate is in central position, the dummy removed, and the pp bolts fully tightened and torqued down the clearance is then realized and it all unlocks and works as it should.