A gal named Elsie and her little Tornado...

[RSTarga]

Sure sounds like clutch adjustment as Cornpanzer says. What brand oil? There are basically 2 favorite brands here Swepco, which is what has been around for a while and the other which Pete Zimmerman recommends, I can't recall the brand. Chevron??? Both are non synthetic, does the car have LSD? If so you need an oil with the LSD additive.
You should have about 1" free play on the clutch pedal.

[4SFED]

Sure sounds like clutch adjustment as Cornpanzer says. What brand oil? There are basically 2 favorite brands here Swepco, which is what has been around for a while and the other which Pete Zimmerman recommends, I can't recall the brand. Chevron??? Both are non synthetic, does the car have LSD? If so you need an oil with the LSD additive.
You should have about 1" free play on the clutch pedal.

I used O'Reilly MasterPro gear oil... it's a Mobil base (I believe) and is my shop's "house" brand. It's 100% pure dinosaur juice.

Thanks, everyone, for the thoughts on the clutch. Seems like an adjustment is an easy enough place to start.

[4SFED]

So, I searched the forum for "clutch" (Title Only) and got 5 pages..... read through all of the threads that looked like they pertained to adjusting the clutch.... only got one thread that made any sense.

http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...ghlight=Clutch

Anyone want to point me in the right direction on the RIGHT way to adjust the clutch in a '73S 4-SPEED? Is the trans still a "915" unit with one less gear? I suppose I can crawl my fat-a** under there and see if there is an adjustment on the end of the cable at the trans, eh??...

EDIT: I found a little write-up on the Bird.... seems legit. http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...Adjustment.htm

I went out and checked the "free-play" in the pedal (just pull the pedal from it's resting point back towards you, right???) and it seems to have about an inch of play.

[Louie]

Just got around to reading this...very touching story. Thanks for sharing it.

Tim

[edmayo]

There is an adjustment at the end of the cable, might be an 11mm nylock, if so I suggest removing it and replacing with two standard nuts tightened against each other, the nylock sometimes loosened with age. You should have 1/2 to 3/4" inch of free play when pulling the pedal back, then (by hand) push the pedal down to the clutch pedal stop, which is adjustable. Just before hitting the stop you should feel the effort ease up as the diaphragm goes over center which is maximum disengagement. If you don't feel the over center adjust the stop until you do, if no over center can be felt it usually means the disc is getting thin and replacement will be necessary.

[4SFED]

Thanks, Tim.

[4SFED]

Thanks, Ed.... I think you nailed the problem. I don't feel the "over-center" before the pedal hits the stop. I'm looking forward to adjusting this weekend and we'll see what happens.

[RSTarga]

That oil will not work properly especially if it has a synthetic base. First adjust the clutch like Ed says then get Swepco or the other Zimmerman recommended oil in there.

[4SFED]

That oil will not work properly especially if it has a synthetic base. First adjust the clutch like Ed says then get Swepco or the other Zimmerman recommended oil in there.

The gear lube wasn't synthetic....

[edmayo]

What Dave is getting at is that gear oil designed for standard type hypoid gear differentials may be too slick! Hypoid gear lube has a lot of extreme pressure additive in for the differential gears, the Porsche diff is spiral bevel, not hypoid (hypoid means the pinion gear is below the centerline of the ring gear) that additive doesn't allow for enough 'friction' to allow servo type synchronizers to do their job. Servo type synchronizers are totally different in requirements the usual cone type synchro. Look in your owners manual, in there it will state what type of oil to use.