clutch
 

I agree with the afore mentioned advice - I will add a bit - ive had 2 boxsters, one was a 2000 S and sold it with 90k miles on it never had do to the clutch, I now have a 97 with 39k miles that just got a complete new everything- why the difference?? I have only had this car a year, less than 2500 miles put on by me - thePO(previous owner) wore the heck out of the clutch - chances are at 85 k miles you have a firm clutch due to the wear on the disc and the pressure plate and its nor working correctly anymore - do it before you burn up the flywheel too - that's $800 by itself!
- how long have you had this car? if you have never worn out a clutch but this one is going it may be due to previous owner wearing it out riding clutch, etc.
ps- my whole job including IMS bearing and hydraulics was $3200
my quote for all 4 bilitein B6 shocks and struts was $1,000 parts and labor
btw in 35 years of driving I have burned up one clutch - it was my '69 Austin Healey and the first gear was worn out( thanks to my sister's friend I bought the car from) and had to start out in 2nd gear, waited too long to get all that fixed and slipping the clutch like that will wear it out fast- I have not had that happen ever again, learned to shift properly- also now I have all new clutch and hydraulics in this Boxster it shifts like brand new, and now I really can tell how bad that disc was worn- previous owner never changed out the clutch fluid- yes it should be flushed just like the brakes.
$200 / hour is a joke- the guy that did my car recently charged $100, you can do all the front suspension stuff with a floor jack- go to pelican parts side on tech part and see all the step by step helpers for this job, I had the clutch done for me due to time and because I thought it was just the hydraulics initially and didn't want to mess with that- I will do all the suspension up front same as I did on my BMW recently and my P914 - as stated already its not really that complicated. -
Good luck-

Also, to the PO... if you haven't already, buy these two books: The latter you can find "used" for a bit less

https://www.amazon.com/Projects-Porsche-Boxster-Motorbooks-Workshop/dp/0760335540/ref=sr_1_1/141-7315495-9560361?ie=UTF8&qid=1513899947&sr=8-1&keywords=101+projects+for+your+porsche+boxster

https://www.amazon.com/Porsche-Boxster-Service-Manual-1997-2004/dp/083761645X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1513899998&sr=8-1&keywords=porsche+boxster+repair+manual

I had the wheels balanced on a road force machine twice and both places I took it to said they couldn't find any bends in the rim.

Thanks for the insight - really appreciate it. I brought the car to a different shop in the area - specializes in Porsche racing - they said it was my tires, replaced them and road force balanced the wheels, but that did not solve the vibration / judder.

Yeah I'll probably just do the rear shocks for now... I think I can do the front shocks by myself, and I kinda want to. Seems a little daunting since the most I've done on my cars is mounts and brakes, but I would like to learn more.

Admittedly, I should have brought it to an alignment first. I had my usual Porsche guy look at it, he didn't charge me anything, but he said he couldn't feel anything. 2nd place said the same thing, but I still feel it.

Bay Area everything is expensive... but yeah my usual Porsche guy is $120/hr and has great reviews on Yelp. I just wanted someone who could actually diagnose my problem since it has been driving me crazy. Usual shop and another shop couldn't diagnose it, my dad drove the car and said it felt normal to him, but I drive it every day and could definitely feel something was off.

Good ideas - thank you very much for the effort you put into your post... really helpful.

Do the brake/clutch fluid requiring bleeding? Or are they self-bleeding systems?

What are the best options for shifters? I know some people upgrade to the 996 shifter, and there's also the Numeric Racing short throw... but that's $700.

The first place I took the car to said the mount looked fine, but I'm guessing he didn't actually take it off to look at it - probably just wiggled it around. Might be worth it to at least take it off and look at it. 987 upgrade is pretty popular, right?

This is the 2nd suggestion I've had for them - I got a little turned off when I read some Yelp reviews saying that management changed there - have you been there recently?

Thank you for the time and effort - I really do appreciate it.

Yeah I've been driving stick for 6 years now, my first car was an 07 Mazdaspeed3 that I bought with 61k on the clock. I sold it at 133k and it was still on the original clutch with no slipping. I bought the Boxster at 78k miles and it has 85k now, I let a friend drive it once and he burned the clutch pretty bad on a hill start, but besides that I've been very careful on the clutch, I can't really see how it would crap out this early. I don't feel any slipping at all - it just jerks a bit going into 2nd, which might have nothing to do with clutch, and the pedal is a little heavy, but that might just be the clutch fluid, which I don't think has been changed recently.

I have the 1st one - is the latter worth the extra $$$? My gripe with 101 projects is that the directions are really rather scant and the pictures are too small.

Just wanna say real quick, thank you guys for all of the help, insight, advice, support, etc. I really love this forum. I used to be over on the Mazdaspeed forums and they were all kinda dicks to people asking for help, and I'm on the FT86 forums currently - super nice people, but I love the amount of experience and camaraderie here.

I believe most of the pictures in the book are available on-line.

Yeah, they are, but they aren't super clear. It's kinda hard to figure out the exact steps, it just says un-do this, do this, good if you have a lot of technical knowledge, but I'm still definitely a novice with repair work.

The simple answer is YES. For DIY you should the two suggested books, also purchase a bootleg Porsche Boxster service manual on eBay and finally download the Boxster parts listing from the Porsche web site.

The last time I was there was about 5 moths ago. I’ve heard nothing but good things about this place and during their Tech session it showed why. They know their stuff.

The brakes and clutch both require bleeding. Neither is hard if you use a Motive type pressure bleeder. The clutch slave bleed valve is a little tough to get to...you kind of do it by feel and a lift is a tremendous help.

Yep, as Anker said, both books make the whole IMO. Wayne D.'s books are great, I have the 911 version as well but they do lack some finer points and details that make things a little easier. The Porsche manual is great, and one of the best laid out automotive books I've seen. It's beefy too, about 2.5-3" thick. Look on Ebay and watch PCA as well, I bought mine "gently" used for 50 bones.

Regarding the mount and the shifter, the 997 shifter is the one you want, or the 997 GT3 shifter, either can be had at Suncoast Parts. Not sure if they are avail through Pelican. Both will reduce your shift throw and eliminate any slop in the system. Best bang for the buck IMO short of the high end race systems... $$$

The motor mount is impossible to diagnose by looking at it. Again, you want the newest version for the 997. You need to make sure you get the little "ear pieces" as well as they are not included. Pelican has both I think. The best way to "diagnose" a MM is by feel. If you feel vibration around 3k, you feel a distinct 'clunk' at times when shifting, or you simply have "loose" feeling shift engagement your MM is most likely shot. As I said, with the age and mileage on your car it is worth doing. Not expensive, slightly daunting, but doable DIY.

UPDATE:

So I picked up the car today - he said that the shocks were shot, tie rods in/out are shot, bump stops front are shop, and rear trailing arms are shot. He quoted me $3500 to do the 4 shocks/struts including labor/parts... seems a bit steep to me.

His suggested was that I sell the car.. he said it needed too much work and it wouldn't be worth it. He said that there is slight seeping from the RMS and in his opinion the clutch needs to be changed.

I'm not really sure where to go from here. I could do the tie rods - those seem simple enough - and then take it for an alignment and see if that does the trick. Otherwise, the guy kinda freaked me out. The car was running like a champ and it feels fine to me - just this infuriating vibration/shimmy through the steering when I drive.

So fix the shimmy to make the car fun to drive again and buy some time to reevaluate the rest as you go. Again, a lot of the stuff noted is DYI, even if you need to get a some help.

Is it the same shop that did the inspection?
Which shop is this?