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914World.com _ 914World Garage _ Turbo Tie Rods

Posted by: chris914 Apr 8 2005, 02:50 PM

Has anyone bought the turbo tie rods from Performance Products? Are they the better quality ones?

Does anyone in San Diego have the wrench I can borrow?

Posted by: StratPlayer Apr 8 2005, 03:12 PM

Try Pelican Parts I'm sure they have them and quality as well.

Posted by: ! Apr 8 2005, 03:15 PM

Unless you get them from Performance on one of the sales...you'll get bent over....

Try Pelican or GPR.

Posted by: mk114 Apr 8 2005, 03:18 PM

Tweeks has them for 119.00 But are they any good?

Posted by: Travis Neff Apr 8 2005, 03:41 PM

You want to be sure and get the OEM versions. They have castellated nuts and cotter pins. The knock off ones have a nylon lock nut only.

Posted by: Cloudbuster Apr 8 2005, 03:44 PM

QUOTE (chris914 @ Apr 8 2005, 12:50 PM)
Does anyone in San Diego have the wrench I can borrow?

Since you should get the car aligned once the new tie rods are installed, take the car and parts to an alignment shop and let them do the whole shebang.

Posted by: anthony Apr 8 2005, 04:43 PM

You only need to adjust toe after a tie rod install. That's pretty easy for a DIYer.

AFAIK, GPR sells the good Lemforder Turbo tie-rods.

Posted by: vsg914 Apr 8 2005, 04:53 PM

QUOTE (Travis Neff @ Apr 8 2005, 03:41 PM)
You want to be sure and get the OEM versions. They have castellated nuts and cotter pins. The knock off ones have a nylon lock nut only.

Turbo tie rods were OEM?

Posted by: anthony Apr 8 2005, 04:57 PM

There were on a 930 Turbo!

Posted by: vsg914 Apr 8 2005, 04:59 PM

QUOTE (anthony @ Apr 8 2005, 04:57 PM)
There were on a 930 Turbo!

Well damn! I've never got take one of those apart!

Posted by: Cloudbuster Apr 8 2005, 05:09 PM

QUOTE (anthony @ Apr 8 2005, 02:43 PM)
You only need to adjust toe after a tie rod install. That's pretty easy for a DIYer.

Correct! Sort of.

Setting toe isn't simply measuring front and back of the tires and twisting rod ends until there is a 1/8" difference. There's that whole issue about setting toe and getting the car to track straight AND having the steering wheel centered. Furthermore, for a street car, toe settings should not be identical due to uneven weight -- driver, no passenger -- and to compesate for the crown that roadways tend to have, which would push the car to the edge of the road.

So this messy wrenching and trial-and-error stuff is well worth $80 and the 2 block trip to the alignment shop for me. (Plus I don't have a 45mm spanner).

Posted by: vsg914 Apr 8 2005, 05:34 PM

QUOTE (Cloudbuster @ Apr 8 2005, 05:09 PM)

QUOTE (anthony @ Apr 8 2005, 02:43 PM)
You only need to adjust toe after a tie rod install. That's pretty easy for a DIYer.

Correct! Sort of.

Setting toe isn't simply measuring front and back of the tires and twisting rod ends until there is a 1/8" difference. There's that whole issue about setting toe and getting the car to track straight AND having the steering wheel centered. Furthermore, for a street car, toe settings should not be identical due to uneven weight -- driver, no passenger -- and to compesate for the crown that roadways tend to have, which would push the car to the edge of the road.

So this messy wrenching and trial-and-error stuff is well worth $80 and the 2 block trip to the alignment shop for me. (Plus I don't have a 45mm spanner).

Road crown can be compensated for with caster. Caster keeps the car in a straight forward movement. We used to set caster with a half degree more on the passenger side to do this, but it is not as important as it used to be, as highways and interstates, and divided highways are crowned both directions these days. Left lane crowns to the left, right lane to the right, and centerlane? Too much caster makes it hard to turn. Not enough makes it impossible for the car to track. Toe is simply whether the wheels are paralell with each other and keeps the car from wandering left to right. Toe can easily be set with a simple jig and tape measure. Steering wheel can be centered with a simple road test.

Posted by: Cloudbuster Apr 8 2005, 05:50 PM

Zut alors!

I checked my settings and found the difference in the caster, not toe.

Posted by: trekkor Apr 8 2005, 06:01 PM

Got mine at HPH...

KT

Posted by: blk'72 Apr 8 2005, 06:16 PM

Hey guys how much time does turbo tie rods swap takes for diy's?
Cloudbuster are you Francais?
good info on this thread!
R.

Posted by: vsg914 Apr 8 2005, 06:43 PM

QUOTE (blk'72 @ Apr 8 2005, 06:16 PM)
Hey guys how much time does turbo tie rods swap takes for diy's?
Cloudbuster are you Francais?
good info on this thread!
R.

Depends on your abilities and cooperation from the old stuff. My first time took 5 hours. Last one took 2 hours (not counting resetting the toe). Setting toe takes me an hour. I take my time, and do several test drives. Always use locktite on the rack end.

Posted by: Travis Neff Apr 8 2005, 08:59 PM

Mine took 2 hours, but I cheated and dropped the whole suspension off of one car and put it on the other, then put the old stuff back on the other car.

I had some cheap wrenches I bought from HF and they were thin enough that I didn't need to get a special 1 use $50 wrench. You can take a grinder to a wrench as well, that still is cheaper to replace than purchasing the special tool.

Shouldn't take longer than an hour or two, take measurements first before you disasemble, your life will be a little easier when you get that done. If you don't we get to call you "gimpy"

Posted by: Cloudbuster Apr 8 2005, 09:04 PM

I cheated, doubly.

I did the balljoints, tie rods and master cylinder. I had intended to do the bushings as well, so I had crossmember and a-arms off. It was still a PITA to get the TTR boots onto the steering rack.

I'm not sure if this is recommended, but you could grind down the spacers to the same diameter as the TTR ends. That way I could use a really big Crescent wrench instead of a thin spanner.

Posted by: jgiroux67 Apr 8 2005, 09:08 PM

So which tie rods should I get? I changed to 911 supsension with the 3.5 spacing and the steering arms are farther in so the tie rods have to be shorter. Should I get tie rods for a 9ll or just shorten the 914 ones?

Posted by: Cloudbuster Apr 8 2005, 09:19 PM

The turbo tie rod kit for the 914 comes with spacers that are 4mm or so thick. I think that makes up the difference, and the tie rods themselves are the same for 911 and 914.

(Yes?)

Posted by: vsg914 Apr 8 2005, 09:21 PM

yep.

Posted by: jgiroux67 Apr 8 2005, 09:42 PM

So just get the 911 turbo tie rods if I you have 911 struts?

Posted by: vsg914 Apr 8 2005, 10:28 PM

They are the same. same item, same part #.

Posted by: jgiroux67 Apr 8 2005, 10:49 PM

Ok I get it now.
Ha, in the Mid America Motorworks catalogue they charge $150 for what they call 911 turbo tie rods and only $120 for thier 914 ones.

Posted by: chris914 Apr 9 2005, 12:40 PM

So, the question still is, LOL. Who sells the good ones

Posted by: anthony Apr 9 2005, 03:02 PM

GPR or Pelican and probably many others.

Posted by: guywan914 Apr 9 2005, 05:49 PM

Just recieved mine from GPR. took 2 days to get all the way to the east coast. Talked to Dave about the turbo tie rod ends, torsion bars, and more. Lot's of help

Posted by: Mike T Apr 12 2005, 07:04 PM

I just bought a set from ebay. $110.00 with shipping. I'll let you know if I get bent over.

What do I look for to tell if they're junk?

Mike T

Posted by: chris914 Apr 13 2005, 10:37 AM

QUOTE (Mike T @ Apr 12 2005, 05:04 PM)
I just bought a set from ebay. $110.00 with shipping. I'll let you know if I get bent over.

What do I look for to tell if they're junk?

Mike T

Are they made in Germany and do they have a cotter pin or a nylon locking nut.

Posted by: Cloudbuster Apr 13 2005, 10:40 AM

Kit with factory parts

http://www.paragon-products.com/product_p/pp930ttrk.htm

Posted by: ArtechnikA Apr 13 2005, 11:33 AM

QUOTE (Cloudbuster @ Apr 13 2005, 11:40 AM)
Kit with factory parts
http://www.paragon-products.com/product_p/pp930ttrk.htm

that does look like the good stuff, and of course Paragon is one of the good-guy suppliers.

i found this item amusing in the description tho ...

QUOTE
Not for 930

Posted by: porsche914blue Apr 13 2005, 11:44 AM

I just recently bought a set off Ebay from a seller "importbaron" for around $90. He claims they're made in Germany. The photo in his auction shows castellated nuts but I'm going to have to check mine when I get home tonight (haven't put them on yet). I'll report back the name of the manufacturer too if anyone's interested?

Anybody had any experience / know the quality of these?

Posted by: ArtechnikA Apr 13 2005, 11:59 AM

QUOTE (porsche914blue @ Apr 13 2005, 12:44 PM)
I just recently bought a set off Ebay from a seller "importbaron"...

since this subject comes up at least once a week, the thread with that discussion can't be very old - days tops. a search will turn it up for you...

Import Baron "now" sells Lemforder - $195 ...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7931752089&ssPageName=MERC_VIC_RSCC_Pr4_PcY_BIN_Stores

with the Euro exchange rate, this is a particularly sucky time for buying EU stuff.
OTOH - 356's and early 911's are flying outta the US back to der Vaterland by the container load ...