winter mini overhaul complete

[sam c.]

The list of tasks that I wanted to tackle during this mini make over is as follows:
1) ims bearing
2) clutch
3) flywheel (maybe)
4) under drive pulley and belt
5) aos
6) water pump
7) low temp thermostat
8) sparkplugs
9) transmission fluid flush
10) repair a seam on the top (or replace the top if necessary)
11) install rear speakers
12) replace passenger side inner door panel
13) check brakes for wear and replace as necessary
14) paint the brake calipers
15) fix/replace anything broken etc.

[sam c.]

First thing was the ims bearing which required the removal of basically everything but the engine.

Everything removed and ready to drop the transmission

[sam c.]

[sam c.]

Found the clutch was destroyed. Not just at the end of its life but showing rivets and carving small grooves in the pressure plate and flywheel surface. It def had a nice long life. If I had to guess, I'd say it was the stock clutch with 90k miles on it.

[sam c.]

Also found the clutch fork destroyed. No wonder it wouldn't activate the clutch!

[sam c.]

Meanwhile, the stock flywheel needed at the very least resurfaced (which u can't - Porsche fully expects owners to fork over $700 to replace the flywheel). At this point also learned the stock flywheel is a dual mass setup that is ridiculously massive. I'm guessing Porsche had a bunch of steel left over and decided to dispose of it by adding it to the rotational mass of ever stock flywheel. In addition to that, the test for the elastic polymer separating the two masses of the flywheel is to twist it by hand. It should reach its strongest resistant point at about 15° twist before snapping back. My stock flywheel would twist to about 45° with zero resistance or snap back. It would just twist to a hard stop and then sit there.

For all intensive purposes, I had a super heavy single mass flywheel that just so happened to be sloppy as hell.

[sam c.]

At that point I started researching aluminum flywheels. I've always thought theres a lot more performance in the base boxsters and was very interested in realizing some gains and improved driving dynamics.

The best LWFW on the market is arguably fabricated by Aasco in southern California. However, just as I began researching LWFW, I came across what seemed to be mobs of angry Porsche owners whose flywheels caused catastrophic crank failures. Awesome.