First some background. My '92 244 with an M47 and 164,000 mi was difficult to shift into first and second gears. Come to think of it, it was also a trick to shift into reverse without grinding the gears. Anyway, a friend and I replaced the factory-installed clutch disc, pressure plate and throwout bearing using a Sachs clutch kit from IPD. The result: the clutch wouldn't disengage.

My friend found that three of six tooth-shaped things inside the new clutch pressure plate were shorter than the others. I bought another Sachs clutch kit, with all of these things as long as the longer ones in the other pressure plate, and my friend installed it. The car shifts more smoothly than it ever has.