FYI, the Sachs clutch kit I bought came with an alignment tool.

I bought the same kit you mentioned. You must be a preferred customer because I had to buy the alignment tool separate from Pelican. Couldn't even find the tool on their website.

I have the clutch back together and most everything else has been torqued back in place, just need to bolt the mufflers and plastic body shield to finish the job.

Having never done any kind of clutch replacement before I would still rate it as a fairly easy DIY, but it does take some time and organization of parts because of all the peices you have to take off.

No sweat for a Hobbyist as you have a 2nd car and in no particular hurry.

I think I only cussed once when I rolled into a pile of clutch dust and blackend myself with it. I should have taken a picture of my face as well. You know how things itch at the worst possible moment. I looked like a Comanche in full war paint. :p

I was wondering if there is any kind of break-in required for a new clutch before I resume with spirited driving shifting again?

Drive it for about 50 miles or so, looking for noises, proper engagement, shifting, etc. If everything is fine, feel free to beat the snot out of it...........

I didn't buy it from Pelican.
I bought it from FCP Euro $326
They matched Rock Auto price and had better shipping

Ah, I got my clutch kit from Rock Auto, hence the difference.

Just to wrap this thread up nicely, I have driven it 60+ miles now and the new clutch is awesome.

The old one used to have a bit of a stutter when shifting from 1st to 2nd under heavy acceleration and that is completely gone now.

The shifts are very positive, smooth and crisp now. Better than when I first got it ~30k miles ago.

As a side benefit I also eliminated the occasional starter squeal, because while I had the transmission out I pulled the starter gear out a bit and squirted lithium grease behind the starter gear.

Another benefit was that I was able to positively identify the IMS being of the 2 row bearing variety by identifying the IMS retainer casting model as shown in the thread.

In summary it was an easy DIY if your not in hurry. If you are in a DIY hurry you could probably get it done in a day with your home tools and Jack stands.
Even faster your second time around.

For those who are interested to do a DIY clutch job. This is a general Sachs instructional video that shows some interesting and important things.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/njLy6Rca3T0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Regards, Markus

Nice video, Marcus! I've never seen runout adjustment of the clutch disc before like they show. Good idea if the tooling is available (or can be improvised)!

It kind of made me cringe to see an impact wrench being used to thread the transmission-to-engine bolts in, though. I supose when the transmission is dangling, you want something that works quickly. Probably there is little risk of cross-threading.

I wonder why they marked the inner cv joint to drive flange? I doubt the cv joint and transmission output flange would be balanced or otherwise indexed together, so it seems like maintaining the relative "clocking" isn't important. (To me, it seems like lining it up wherever the bolt holes were available should work fine.)

Finally, that's a slick tool they have for locking the flywheel. :)

Edit: one more thing - why would he loosen and then tighten the transmission fill plug? To make sure there is fluid in there? (But then, as the fluid seemed overflowing, it couldn't have been an accurate fluid level check?) I don't get it.

I don't think it's a problem. If you go to workshops and take a look at the real life – they do things with impact wrenches where you can only shake your head. Also there are different kinds of impact wrenches. Big ones and small ones. As far as i saw it on the video they didn't tighten the bolt with the wrench. I think in this situation when you got the gearbox into right place and need to fasten it quickly an power air or electric driven ratchet is a good tool. And to be honest, you're much faster if you use such tools.

I don't think the unbalanced masses are so high that you can get wobble. But when i replaced my axle boots i recognized that the cv joint didn't go in at every position of the axle shaft. Maybe it also depends on the construction of the inner drive flange. I think in general it's a good idea to reassemble things like they were before.

Agree, that's a cool tool.

Think the fluid level depends on the transmission. In a 986 the fluid level would be to high if the car is leveled, the gearbox is cold and there would be coming oil.

I saw this quick open technique in many instructional videos. I think it's mainly to check if oil is in.

Regards, Markus

Great video.
At 5:08 they are torquing the clutch on to the flywheel. What are the torque specs for this? Thanks - 2001 Boxster S

Thread is kind of old (though still very useful!).....