Haven't had a lot of seat time in the TT yet, but I've found the clutch to be a bit tricky. Not a lot of feel with engagement. Very close to the floor, but other than that, I just can't seem to get a good read on when it hooks up. Before I got it, I was expecting the pedal feel to be firm, but it was surprisingly very, very light. My Mini's clutch actually feels firmer.

I thought I liked the ease of the pedal, maybe still do, but a friend at EVOMS mentioned this 'upgrade' to me and it sounds intriguing. Removes the power assist and gives back more 'feeling' with clutch engagement. Only downside is it makes it much heavier and harder to depress.

Anyone done this conversion? How much firmer is the clutch? I've felt clutches without an assist and I dunno if I could deal with one on a car I actually own

Input/opinions appreciated. TIA.

 

My biggest complaint with the 996 Turbo other than the PSM was the no feel soft as butter clutch.

The GT2 clutch fixed it, as it is quite heavy. Both my wife and I loved the clutch in the GT2.

I am interested in this mod as a 997 Turbo is probably the more practical family fun car over a 997 GT2. After all, where is the baby scuderia going to sit in the GT2?

 

Sounds like a PITA to me. Summary of the labor from one of the senior wrenchers at EVOMS:

You have to remove the powersteering pump and actually remove the coupler that pumps fluid down to the slave on the transmission....once that is done, the Slave needs to be pulled out and replaced with a new bracket and slave cylinder. NOW! before you hook up the new slave to the pedal, you need to remove the master cylinder and pedal assist spring and replace them from a GT2 unit. The last step before hooking up the new slave cylinder is you have to COMPLETELY clean out the line. The factory fluid is called Pentosin. It is very very very damaging to rubber seals. The GT2 unit uses rubber seals in its master cylinder and slave, so you have to replace the pentosin with brake fluid, just the like the GT2 has from factory. Then the new slave can be hooked up and bled. The labor time on it is very intense I think its about 6 hours on a 997tt.

Man, this conversion sounds like exactly what I'm looking for. Just can't justify the cost now....

 

This is great info.

I am definitely doing this if I get a 997 Turbo as the family fun car.

I cannot stand the clutch in the Turbo's, 996 or 997.

 

I actually think this may be one of the more cost effective ways to really enjoy your car.

The 997TT clutch feel is a joke. I think Turbos use the hydraulic assist so that girls can drive it

 

Funny you should say that. My wife hated the Turbo clutch, especially driving on hilly streets, because you have zero feel. Heck, I hated driving the Turbo in San Francisco when I was stuck in traffic going to Sears Point after a nice detour in the city.

In general, we both prefer the feel of clutch action from older cars like say, the E36 M3, which has probably the best clutch amongst all the cars that I have driven.

E46 M3 clutch is junk, so is E90 anything, or the Turbo, or any VW, or for that matter our S4 Avant.

 

It is like with everything just a matter of getting used to. I have a x51 clutch in my Cayman, it is by no means a heavy clutch, but very long with lots of modulation. The TT clutch is soft and short, only engages on the last say 20% of pedal travel. I use it quiet often to commute and it is a very easy car to drive, launches are super easy. Not sure I would change it. But of course everybody enjoys their cars differently.

 

The Turbo clutch drove me nuts, especially when I get stuck midway on the steep La Cienega going up Sunset.

The GT2 clutch is stiff and quite easy to get the engagement point every time, and driving on hilly streets was no biggie.

I DD'ed both cars and put close to 40K miles on both.

 

Ugh. I took her on some twisties up north with some friends and I still can't get used to that damn clutch. It does engage very high (think I said it was close to the floor in my OP). Seems very all-or-nothing. Not much slip, so when it engages, better have that foot on the gas or it's lurch or stall-city.

Damn it. I was hoping to allocate any extra funds to more fun stuff, but if I don't get used to this thing soon, I may have to dump $$$ into this conversion.

 

I don't know how many miles you have driven the car yet, but I would think that within a few thousand miles you have the clutch down. I believe some 2500-3000 TTs are sold annually. I do not know how many are tip/PDK but I am sure that hardly any of manuals chnage the clutch. I asked my tuning shop a couple of weeks ago about it and they never done it. Again if it is absolutely uncomfortable for you then change it but if you have only a few hundred miles experience with it then give it some more try.