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Posted by: kdfoust May 25 2003, 09:02 PM

I'm putting the front suspension back together and I dont' remember which end of the mounts goes up. Is the side that's up here the side that contacts the underside of the car?

Thanks,
Kevin


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Posted by: kdfoust May 25 2003, 09:06 PM

How about thiis end? Is the side that's up here the side that contacts the underside of the car (the rear mounts have a taper).

Thanks,
Kevin


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Posted by: bhfast May 25 2003, 09:56 PM

i beleive the way you have them shown in the pics is correct. for the front the side with the little spacers in the top, and for the back the bigger opening goes up. atleast that the way i just put mine on.
brian

Posted by: Brad Roberts May 26 2003, 12:05 AM

Kevin,

you nailed it.

B

Posted by: 914Timo May 26 2003, 12:07 AM

Yes, at least thats the the way I put mine....

Posted by: Jeroen May 26 2003, 04:56 AM

Hey Timo,

Did you install the bronze bushings yet? How are they?

cheers,

Jeroen

Posted by: 914Timo May 26 2003, 06:28 AM

Oh yes, I did. But I havent yet drive it after that.

Well..... I dont know what I should say about them. At least I can tell the installation is not bolt on. One end of A-arm I had to hone a little. It was too tight before that. The others were ok.

The most difficult and real PITA was to line the front and rear mounts. First I just bolt everything together. It was a big surprise to notice that after tightening the front mount, The A-arm didn move at all. It was really "solid" suspension .....

I need to put some shims between the body and the front mounts. It help a little. The final adjustment I did twisting the front mountings. The front edges of the mountings were too low and the bushings didnt align with the A-arm. I made a tool and twisted firs the mounting points a litle So little that I couldnt see or feel any differences before puting everyting back together again. A little by little I twisted and tested them. Now the A-arms moves quite nicely.

And for those who thinks that my front mounting points were dirty or rusted or my car is crashed, I have to show this pic. I beleve that they have not lined them in the factory well enough for bronze bushings. The original rubber bushings allow a lot more missalignment. So, be carefully with those bronze bushings and bearings.


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Posted by: 914Timo May 26 2003, 06:40 AM

Here is my "adjusting tool" bolted to the place of the front mounting.


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Posted by: kdfoust May 26 2003, 09:49 AM

Just making sure. Thanks!

Kevin

Posted by: Gint May 26 2003, 10:30 AM

I did my last set the same way Kevin.

Timo:

Nice work man.

Posted by: Brad Roberts May 26 2003, 01:52 PM

Note to self:

Bash and trash bronze bushings any time any place in front of any crowd.

What a pain in the ASS Timo. The roller bearings require work to the actual "cup" that they sit in... but bolt up FINE with No alignment issues to the stock mounts.

B

Posted by: Jeroen May 26 2003, 02:54 PM

Yeah, but he got them for less than half of a set of roller bearings

But in all seriousness, I'm quite surprised that they didn't fit well
I didn't mount them to my car, but I did testfit them on my a-arms and "holders"

Actually they were a bit "loose" which is why I got a set of shims, so the fact that Timo had to hone them, tells me more about lousy production tolerances from Porsche on the a-arms/holders than on the bronze bushings.

More so, because I have the same "slop" on my a-arms with Muellers rollerbearings.
(the inner sleeves rotate freely over the a-arm)

Maybe the mounting location at the front of the body was slightly off because of the oilcooler opening in the front trunk floor?

No need to bash the bronze bushings. I'd say they're in a different league than Mike M's rollerbearings, both price and performance wise.

cheers,

Jeroen

Posted by: 914Timo May 27 2003, 12:48 AM

Gint, Thanks !!!

Maybe. I think the problem was very tight tolerances. So, the alignment need to be very exact. If the front bearing cant twist in the mount, the same problems exist wit roller bearings.



This is very interesting question. I have thought about it too. If this is what have happen, then I can only highly warn everybody who are going to do anything like that.

But, now after all the problems and effort I am very happy with them. I can hardly wait to have first test drive....

Posted by: kdfoust May 27 2003, 09:05 PM

I just bolted up the a-arms this evening with the needle bearings installed. Much to my surprise I didn't have to fiddle with the position of the front mounts at all. I haven't tried to move the a-arm through the entire range of suspension travel yet (I'm letting the RTV hold the a-arms up in a convienent position for assembly), but, just moving the arms a small amount I'm not feeling any binding whatsoever. Once I'm ready to put the rest of the bits in I'll check the smoothness through full travel and let you know how it is.

Question
Do I need to preload the suspension by pulling the a-arms towards the rear of the car or do I just let the first drive/brake application do that job?

Have fun,
Kevin

Posted by: Brad Roberts May 28 2003, 10:03 AM

Yes !.

Preload the arms "backwards" a little bit. I use a small prybar against the end of the torsion tube at the front. You can use the one welded nut for the (protector cup) to pry against. It wont take 500ft lbs.. just barely load it until you feel it stop and tighten down one of the front mount bolts. This is good place to have three hands.. but you can do it with two (You can DO IT !!) << spanish accent..


B