Rear 5-lug Conversion, Gauging Interest... Options

[Eric_Shea]

Hi Gang,

While the front suspension seems to be a breeze (bolt on a 911 set-up), I was wondering if anyone would be interested in a turn key (bolt them on) rear conversion?

Kit would contain:

2 Control Arms - Bead blasted to bare metal. Checked for straightness. Repainted with POR-15.
2 New Wheel Bearings
2 Rebossed and drilled 5-lug Hubs. Factory 45mm Studs. Set in the new wheel bearings.

I was thinking $450 plus your loaded/usable control arms as cores (control arms and hubs).

So for $450 you have basically "brand new" control arms, bearings and 5-lug hubs ready to go. You'd have to buy 914-6 rotors.

Doable? Anything I'm missing? You could add items at will (Mueller bearings, Box kits etc...).

Thoughts?

[Eric_Shea]

Let me answer a few:

Like stage 1 being your whole deal.
Stage 2 might be hubs / bearings ?
stage 3 Just the damned hubs?
I know my car was originally owned by an attourney/demon and was never driven real super hard, and never hit.
Drives straight...so maybe I don't need new control arms?
And if my bearings are good now, why replace them?

This is actually the problem with doing a rear end conversion. It's not as straight forward as bolting on a 911 front end. It pretty much needs to be the whole deal. Here's why:

1. I'm not talking mass production etc. Unlike Brad I don't have a pile of control arms laying around so I would need cores (your old ones) to sustain the process. You may not need new ones (and I assume most people wouldn't) but this package gets you two straight, bead blasted ones as part of a "bolt-on" solution.

2. That being said, that would do away with stage 2 because you can basically buy bearings any where. The problem is you can't take out your hubs without damaging your bearings. It's a split bearing and 40% of the time one of the bearing halves comes out with the hub. Regardless you won't want to reuse a bearing once you've taken the hubs out.

3. I could get the hubs done up no problem. Again, you'll need new bearings though. Just because they're good right now doesn't mean they will be once you get the hubs out. A lot of people aren't set up to press in and out new bearings.

So in for a penny, in for a pound as I see it.

What I was thinking is; put your old grimy (straight) control arms and 4-lug hubs in a box. The following week get a box with new shinny control arms, new bearings and 5 lug hubs. From Mueller's comments I would agree these would probably include new bushings as well. I read through Mueller DesignWerks installation pdf's and I'd be good to go for any of those installations as well (front and rear).