? Camber truss, are they worthwhile? Options

[PinetreePorsche]

I got a bunch of '80s vintage Panorama mags the other day. In most I found ads for "the Camber Truss" for street 911s and 914s--these made by Stable Energies. Supposedly it prevented tire roll on cornering. Was this more snake oil??--seems unlikely in Panorama for so many issues. If it was a good innovation, why don't I hear about them any more? Did Porsche re-design their later cars so that these wouldn't be needed? What's up with this? -Guess I'm still a novice.

[Dave-O]

I don't know much about 911's...but on 914's the area between the front strut towers is STRONG! I've seen pictures of the cutaway and it is multiple boxed layers of thick metal (I can dig them up and send them to you if you want) The only reason to put any kind of connection between the struts would be to make camber adjustment easier. As far as the rear, the braces that bolt in the trunk are a waste of time, there isn't much lateral force on the shock towers and the rear firewall is also multiple layers of thick metal. Porsche got those areas right.

If you want to stiffen the car up a good weld in cage or well designed rollbar would do the most. The weak areas on the car are by the front and rear of the doors.

Let me know if you have any more questions...I've spent a little time with 914's (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[John]

For the front end, in a 911 it tied the tops of the struts together. The truss that I installed in a customer car attached at the tops of the strut cartridges and prevented the rubber bushings (and the strut tops) from moving. They had a turnbuckle setup so you could easily pre-load them. The real reason I liked them is that you could lock down one side and actually use the turnbuckle to dial in camber settings on the alignment machine in a very precise way and the setting would hold while the bolts are tightened down.

On a 911, I can see them preventing the strut tops from spreading or collapsing. On a 914, the only benefit I could see is that they eliminate the rubber bushing compliance and they would allow one to set the alignment precisely.