Call Mark at Gerber and tell him that I was raving about my LTWT flywheel and that I said you should call him to see if it can be done to your 996... if so how much etc... tell him your clutch is slipping and now would be a good time to replace it...

Gerber might not be the cheapest -- they will be in the ballpark, the work will be done quickly, and right the first time.

I have been working with these guys for a couple years -- they are straight shooters and I do not have any complaints.

I did clutch/flywheel, oil change, brake fluid flush etc and including tax out the door was $3300 or so... turn around time was 2 days...

 

perfect! I'll give Mark a call tomorrow!

thanks guys!

 

Jody on the flywheel going too light can have its negatives as well. As PJ stated the lightweight flywheel basically allows for less rotational mass. Basically your car will rev to redline faster. I think the 997 S I have seems to have not nearly a good throttle response as my e46 M3 I had (the M3 has a badass motor...much more advanced than the 3.8L in the 997 imho). I would most definitely replace the stock flywheel with a lightweight one when doing clutch...it could shave a few tenths off the acceleration times. I dunno who makes good ones for Porsches, but a great company is Fidanza! I had one on my turbo Prelude...stock flywheel was 22 lbs...Fidanza was 7 lbs! That car was ridiculously fast!

 

wow! good info jay! well, i'll just tell them that pj loves his and can they do the same for the 996. if not, i bet they'll have some good recommendations.

is that terrible?? i had never even HEARD of a flywheel before all of this! boy oh boy....i still have lots to learn. i'll be going to some of the PCA tech sessions this coming year so that i can try and educate myself on these things! i actually enjoy learing about what makes these pcars tick!

 

you are spot on... if they cannot do the same... ask him what he recommends and go with it...

they have never steered me wrong...

I will call him in the morning and tell him to expect your call.

Mark is the service manager

Walter Gerber is the owner.

 

I've recommended that Jody go to Cantrell Motorsport. I'm having my Bilstein Damptronics/H&R sways/Tarett droplinks installed by those guys this week. They come highly recommended by those in the Porsche community and even our friend, Mark uses them for his 997 Cup cars. They're much closer than Gerber too.

 

good point Jason... they certainly are closer...

 

i'll give both places a call. maybe one can get me in sooner than the other.

pj....thanks for the heads up to gerber. i'll certainly give them a call. i'll tell them that PJ sent me and he LOVES his flywheel! hehe!

jason....i hope cantrell can get me in sometime soon. i cant wait to see yours when you have the pss10's done!

 

Just to add my .02...

Two things at work with the flywheel change.

1) less rotational mass, ergo better acceleration. This is also true for the down shifting side on the track. Less mass means that revs also drop faster. This gives you a faster throttle blib and thus less time required to complete the downshifts.

2) Lower mass also means less drive train loss. In some cars it can be enought to actually measure. I am not sure about these cars. It does not change the amount of power you make at the crank. Just means less of the power is used to turn the flywheel and therefore more gets to the road. You can also gain more of this by reducing other rotational bits: Brake discs, wheels, tires, drive shafts (in other cars), etc.

The clutch plate(s) can also reduce this power loss. A twin plate clutch uses two plates to spread the friction surface over two smaller diameter plates rather than 1 larger diameter plate. This idea of smaller diameter also reduces the power (actually torque here) required to turn the rotating mass. But i am about to take this down the physics road, and I'd need to be goaded into doing that again.

HTH,

Bleu

BTW, Jay, do you have a brother or cousin w/ a son names Austin? If so, I'm his brother in law. I ask because your last name is uncommon, and matches his.

 

wow bleu! thank you!! i'm learning a TON of great info here! you guys are the best. i post a question/concern and you've all been so helpful! we really, really appreciate your advice and info!


k....i'm taking everyones advice! i'll have the gt3 996 flywheel (as pj suggested) put on! i think you're right about the chatter...i would prefer not to use a LWFW due to the noise.

thanks again JT...PJ...Mike....Jay...David...and Bleu!!!!! you guys are the best!

 

Jodie go with the LWFW and buy Todd an exhaust system for X-mas to compliment his naughty list & mast the chatter noise!
Once you start down the mod road, there's no turning back. Your are becoming a true UnFu*c*Withable

 

[quote=Bleu Omdurman;1485359]Just to add my .02...

Two things at work with the flywheel change.

1) less rotational mass, ergo better acceleration. This is also true for the down shifting side on the track. Less mass means that revs also drop faster. This gives you a faster throttle blib and thus less time required to complete the downshifts.

2) Lower mass also means less drive train loss. In some cars it can be enought to actually measure. I am not sure about these cars. It does not change the amount of power you make at the crank. Just means less of the power is used to turn the flywheel and therefore more gets to the road. You can also gain more of this by reducing other rotational bits: Brake discs, wheels, tires, drive shafts (in other cars), etc.

The clutch plate(s) can also reduce this power loss. A twin plate clutch uses two plates to spread the friction surface over two smaller diameter plates rather than 1 larger diameter plate. This idea of smaller diameter also reduces the power (actually torque here) required to turn the rotating mass.

Jodie Can I just add One small tidbit for your thoughts. lightweight means expensive but also means Wears Out Faster. When your engine rev's higher quicker it is a little harder on the engine as well. Some would say the Porsche engineers might have a reason for not going light on the clutch parts to begin with. most people will eat them alive. Just be prepared for an earlier clutch job then usual when you go the lighter way.
As stated earlier I would have my clutch done by Cantrell Motorsports.

 

mark,

that's true. very logical thinking. you have a very good point. honestly, i'm not sure why the clutch is shot already. they say its not unusual for it to happen between 40K and 60K. todd has only taken it to autoX one time and isn't a clutch rider. he doesn't really drive it hard. he's done a couple of 6speed drives, and that's it. he's put 7K on it. perhaps the previous owner.

his plans for the future would be to do a few autoX's and maybe one or two track days. other than that, it's a daily driver.

steve....lol! yes, he'd love an exhaust system. but, i don't think he wants to spend the money on this car. it's getting older w/miles. i think when it comes time to step up to a newer 996 or 997, he'll put some money in mods in it. for now, he knows he won't get much back out of it on this car, or any car for that matter. so, to him, he'll do it on the car he'll be keeping for awhile longer. but yes! it's horribly addictive! haha!

thanks for your kind words of advice. i'll pass the info on to him. i know he really appreciated everyones help when i showed him this thread. it's great having so many opinions of options.

thanks again!

 

How often do you both rev match when down shifting?

I've been doing that ever since I bought my car back in december of 2005 and my clutch has 50k miles (HARD earned miles!) and it still grips no problem.

 

mitchel,

as i'm learning a ton here....bare with me....but what/how do i rev match? i don't think i've been doing it. lol! and if i have....it must come naturally...hehe!