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914World.com _ 914World Garage _ is this an early strut?

Posted by: jimkelly Jul 25 2011, 12:16 PM

early?

the seodn pic - red struts - have brake line mount with hole vs slotted - but seem to have half threaded ball joint connection??

Attached image(s)

Posted by: jk76.914 Jul 25 2011, 06:08 PM

Jim,
Those are early pinch bolt struts. I don't know when they switched over to the tapered pin arrangement, so maybe someone else will chime in on that.

If you're going to use them, I'll be glad to send you a hardware kit- bolts, special lockwashers, and the thin washer that goes on the ball joint before you insert it into the strut. I just did the same job on my own car, and had to source 50 bolts, 25 locks, and 10 of the thin stainless washers, so I have lots of extras I'm glad to share.

Be sure to use the right kind of ball joint. These are different than the later style.

Jim Kelly

Posted by: jk76.914 Jul 25 2011, 06:15 PM

QUOTE(jk76.914 @ Jul 25 2011, 08:08 PM)

Jim,
Those are early pinch bolt struts. I don't know when they switched over to the tapered pin arrangement, so maybe someone else will chime in on that. The nut is not normal, but someone may have added it to fix stripped threads in the strut.

If you're going to use them, I'll be glad to send you a hardware kit- bolts, special lockwashers, and the thin washer that goes on the ball joint before you insert it into the strut. I just did the same job on my own car, and had to source 50 bolts, 25 locks, and 10 of the thin stainless washers, so I have lots of extras I'm glad to share.

Be sure to use the right kind of ball joint. These are different than the later style.

Jim Kelly

Posted by: jimkelly Jul 25 2011, 06:33 PM

thanks for the info and the offer - i will be in touch.

finally i can ask someone if THEY are the quarter back for the buffalo bills : )

Posted by: cwpeden Jul 25 2011, 06:41 PM

They changed to the taper pin in mid 72. Both my 72 and 73 have it.

Posted by: jimkelly Jul 25 2011, 07:54 PM

perfect

do both your 1972 and 1973 have dual bleeder calipers ????

thanks

jim

i ask because it seems that an early caliper can be used on a late strut provided one also uses an early rotor ??

--

QUOTE(cwpeden @ Jul 25 2011, 05:41 PM)

They changed to the taper pin in mid 72. Both my 72 and 73 have it.

Posted by: SLITS Jul 25 2011, 07:57 PM

QUOTE(jimkelly @ Jul 25 2011, 05:33 PM)

finally i can ask someone if THEY are the quarter back for the buffalo bills : )

Uhhhh, what sport do they play?

Early ball joints using the pinch bolt have a half moon shape cutout in the stem for the bolt to pass through.

Later style have a pie shaped cutout in the stem which is locked by the double taper pin.

Posted by: jk76.914 Jul 26 2011, 04:09 AM

Ball joint for early pinch bolt design:
Attached Image

Posted by: cwpeden Jul 27 2011, 01:07 AM

QUOTE(jimkelly @ Jul 25 2011, 06:54 PM)

perfect

do both your 1972 and 1973 have dual bleeder calipers ????

thanks

jim

i ask because it seems that an early caliper can be used on a late strut provided one also uses an early rotor ??

--

QUOTE(cwpeden @ Jul 25 2011, 05:41 PM)

They changed to the taper pin in mid 72. Both my 72 and 73 have it.

I'll check tomorrow...

Conrad

Posted by: Eric_Shea Jul 28 2011, 12:04 AM

I wondered when the meeting of the Jims would happen. Now there's probably a black hole or some similar dark matter vortex somewhere over the east coast!

Posted by: scotty b Jul 28 2011, 12:28 AM

And a later one just for reference

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Posted by: Eric_Shea Jul 28 2011, 08:43 AM

(Speak of the Devil)

Posted by: tomeric914 Jul 29 2011, 01:48 PM

QUOTE(jk76.914 @ Jul 25 2011, 08:08 PM)

Be sure to use the right kind of ball joint. These are different than the later style.

I can understand that the ball joint type would matter if using the taper pin type strut, but it shouldn't really matter if a later ball joint were used with an early pinch strut.

Posted by: r_towle Jul 29 2011, 02:40 PM

It matters,
The two ball joints have different profiles on the shank...look again.

Jim, if you have a choice, stay away from the old balljoint/struts.
They suck.
Eventually the hole in the strut that the ball joint goes into turns into an oval and you will never have tight steering.

the pinch bolt setup sucks and that is why Porsche changed it mid year 72.

To add to your fun, old struts require calipers and rotors that only fit on those old struts.
These parts are getting harder to find and most replacement parts will be for the later bolt pattern of caliper and later offset rotors.

These are a mid year 72 change that was the right thing to do.
I swapped out mine after trying to get it to stay tight...working through two sets of struts that eventually ended up with oval holes in the bottom and finding out I could not find the early calpers at the normal parts store...only the later ones.

Rich

Posted by: jimkelly Jul 29 2011, 03:13 PM

rich - i am comitted to go year correct on my car - for now at least.

BUT

if you ever have the opportunity to mount and early caliper and early rotor to a late strut - can you report iof you see any issues - as this is how my drivers side is set up currently and the spacing seems about right between pads on caliper and rotor??

it would be great to have a final answer on this mix match of parts.

thanks

jim