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Posted by: DennisV May 22 2023, 08:56 AM

Here is the rear truss bar as found on our 914-6. Does anyone recognize it? I poked around the Google machine, but didn't find much.

Any gotchas for removing it? I'm putting the car back very close to stock and AFAIK, they didn't come with these. I don't see that it's welded anywhere.

I assume now would be a good time to replace the shocks it I were going to do that.

Posted by: r_towle May 22 2023, 09:03 AM

If you are not racing the car with 11 inch wide rear slicks, I would remove it.
Seems like overkill to me.

Rich

Posted by: Cairo94507 May 22 2023, 09:10 AM

I could not agree more. Remove it and list it for sale in the Classifieds.

Posted by: 914Sixer May 22 2023, 09:39 AM

Extreme racing only. Not practical for the street.

Posted by: Superhawk996 May 22 2023, 10:11 AM

Looks like a whole lot of extra weight for very little stiffness gain since it’s not even welded in.

It will be an upgrade to get rid of it.

Posted by: rgalla9146 May 22 2023, 01:39 PM

Manufactured by Stable Energies, Garfield, New Jersey

Posted by: Mikey914 May 22 2023, 04:30 PM

Agreed, unless you have a surplus of power, you'll actually go faster by removing it.

Posted by: DennisV May 22 2023, 05:36 PM

Thanks! No photos or mention on their current website, but https://www.stableenergies.com/specs/ct914al_install.htm.

There is plate in the engine bay that indicates the car had a 1967 911S engine at point point. Guess someone was tracking it.

Posted by: mepstein May 22 2023, 05:48 PM

Like everyone said above, it’s a rare part to see because it’s not going to do anything positive for 99.99% of the cars out there.

Posted by: emerygt350 May 22 2023, 06:24 PM

If the top bar flexed enough to utilize the cross bracing, you hit a wall.

Posted by: Racer Jun 3 2023, 02:25 PM

Yup. They also sold a camber truss fir pre 964 911s to sure up shock tower movement.

I had a truss like the one pictured in a 76 I bought. Immediately removed it, and its weight penalty.

Folks tried everything to stiffen these cars.

Posted by: BillJ Jun 3 2023, 04:27 PM

My father ran this in the six in the past. Vanished at some point and dont think it does very much good.

Posted by: rick 918-S Jun 3 2023, 04:37 PM

Rube Goldberg device.

Posted by: East coaster Jun 3 2023, 07:20 PM

Are the rear shocks even stressed much beyond supporting the springs (lateral, radial, etc)?

Posted by: brant Jun 4 2023, 07:01 AM

Nope

The pick up points for the swing arm are
But not the shocks, nor their mountings

Posted by: silverg Jun 4 2023, 07:42 AM

It made the buyers car go faster by lighting his wallet

Posted by: DennisV Jun 4 2023, 07:45 AM

I was looking at this with my father last weekend. He wondered if maybe the car had developed a stress fracture around the shock tower and they used this to mitigate things getting worse.

I can't see anything obvious. The seam sealer, or whatever that black stuff is, makes it hard to tell. Guess I can take it off and a bit of driving will reveal.

Posted by: brant Jun 4 2023, 08:30 AM

That’s layered metal in the towers

They can tear welds if your running 400lb springs but it’s not common
Only when racing with extreme spring rates

Don’t think that truss would help at all with that type of problem

The rear trunk is the worse place for weight if you want optimal handling

Posted by: Literati914 Jun 4 2023, 08:34 AM

I wouldn’t be running out to buy one for a street car, but to me it honestly doesn’t seem like a whole lot of extra weight from just seeing your pics, and it’s already there, no expense. Easy to remove and compare - Go drive it hard and see if you think it’s a detriment to handling.


.

Posted by: Craigers17 Jun 4 2023, 10:32 AM

I'm no engineer, so I have no idea if these braces work or not, but Thorotec makes a similar strut brace, as well as a roll bar stiffening brace. Here are the links:


https://www.thoro-tec.de/en/p/strut-brace-rear-porsche-914

https://www.thoro-tec.de/en/p/struts-for-interior-for-stiffening-of-the-roll-bar-porsche-914

Posted by: r_towle Jun 4 2023, 02:49 PM

I might suggest that back in the day, when this car may have been raced, there was far less in depth knowledge regarding the 914.

So much knowledge here, including the details of fixing the metal in that specific area you have circled, along with all the real failure points of the rear of the chassis in racing conditions.

The super smart people here that race are steering you correctly.
remove it...and clean that black crap off the paint work
Rich