Took my Boxster out for a drive tonight after completing the repair. Holy Smokes! It drives so much better with the flywheel resurfaced and the clutch bled. The clutch pedal is so easy to push in now; I can now use my toes instead of leg to push in the clutch. No more clutch judder when taking off or reversing, it's smooth as butter now. In addition, before the repair the car would make a fairly loud rattling noise when I shut the car off without depressing the clutch pedal. I'm now positive that the noise was from the exhaust system shaking as the engine came to a stop because the right side transmission mount was shot, even though the mount never leaked fluid. Therefore, leaking fluid from the transmission mount is not an accurate method of determining its condition. Rather than removing the mount to inspect it, a simple test would be to have someone observe the mount for excessive movement as you hold the brakes and/or e-brake while letting out the clutch in first gear or setting the car in drive and mildly revving the engine. Since these cars are so low it might be difficult to observe the mount unless the rear tires are on a ramp. The right side transmission mount experiences the most wear from tension compared to the left side which experiences compression while moving forward; forces are opposite in reverse.
Boxster Skid Plate Installation
I've never seen illustrated instructions on the skid plate installation. When the skid plate is the removed, the left and right subframes move away from each other making reinstallation of the skid plate impossible unless they are pulled back towards each other. To accomplish this I mount the skid plate with one nut and one screw at the front and rear loosely threaded. Then I hook a ratcheting tie-down to the sway bar, lateral to the left and right mounts, routing the strap under the skid plate; for removal of the skid plate I route the strap over the skid plate, between the transmission and the skid plate. As you ratchet the tie-down the two subframe members will move towards each other and eventually the bolts will align. Once they are aligned you can use a rubber mallet on the skid plate to pop the skid plate all the way up through the bolts; this step should not require a lot of force with the mallet. Finish installation and torqueing of the two bolts and two nuts then remove the tie-down. Some owners insist on re-aligning the rear anytime the skid plate is removed but I've removed mine at least four times during the last 10K miles without an alignment and I have yet to observe alignment related issues.
