[bobbeck]

Why you never hand over your keys without a "you break it you fix it agreement" and why AAA makes a good designated driver.

So this is the short version of a long ( funny ) story. I drove the Boxter to a friends house for a cookout about 2 weeks ago on one of the last warm fall days. A bunch of us were getting together on our day off for beer and brats on the grill. I was last to arrive as I picked up crusty buns and kraut for the festivities. This made the Box last in the driveway blocking everyone else in.

My good friend ( it was his house and birthday) wanted to head over to the brewery to get a few growlers filled. I handed over the keys, he's driven this car and my others many times before, and was off to pick up the brew.

The brewery is about 2 miles away, 1/2 hour later he's back with beer and a question… "has the clutch pedal ever gone to the floor and stuck for you?" Ummm… no.

We all went to the car (6 of us now) to see what had happened. Before I started it, I felt the clutch pedal had no resistance and something was wrong.

Starting the car and putting it in gear confirmed this. Barely moved in reverse, just chattered in 1st. My first question was "what were you doing when the pedal got stuck to the floor…?" He answered "deep into triple digits in 4th and downshifting" Nice.

So I'm thinking over revved, slammed into 1st, all that good stuff.

As I wasn't that happy, I'm 1/2 at fault for handing over my keys and as expensive as it may be, it can be fixed.

So my friend feels awful and immediately owns to "driving beyond it's mechanical limits" and insists on paying for the repair. (We have had a long standing agreement that if we break a vehicle of the others due to stupidity etc. we would fix it), never thinking it may happen.

At this point there's nothing to do but drink. We cracked open a pricy bottle of bourbon and laughed it off… He's got a great story to tell about what he did on his 33rd birthday.

Fast forward several hours (it was dark by now). His wife gets home from a weekend away, there's 5 drunk guys on her patio burning a picnic table we disassembled in a fire pit and he's got to break the news to her that he ****************ed up. Luckily her flight was several hours delayed and all she cared about was a shower and a comfy bed.

So AAA came with a flatbed, smelling the booze the driver asked if the car was really broken or if I just wanted a free ride home… who knew this was ever an option! Much cheeper than a cab!

Anyway, now to the fix.

I know it needs a clutch kit for sure. Prices for these vary dramatically online from less than $300 for the LUK kit to well over $1000 for others. The SACHS kit for $400 has my attention now.

New flywheel or not? I know it really needs to be inspected to know for sure but what's SOP with replacing vs resurfacing?

IMS, how does this sound… I spoke to my mechanic ( he's got 3 986s at his shop now) about the IMS bearing since now is the time. He'll do it of corse if I want it done but said he could inspect it first and go from there. He says he's never seen a pre 2000 fail. We both know they have and he said if my car has the single row bearing there's no question but to change it now ( I have a '98 so I'm thinking it's the double row and probably fine).

My mechanic will do the labor for the clutch for $700, my Porsche killing friend wants to pay for the whole thing. We agreed to labor and some extra since I was most likely addressing some maintenance that should be done now. (I won't let him pay for the whole thing anyway).

So that's my "why I need a clutch" story. Any feedback about the replacement process and parts advice is appreciated.