north east guys, bring out your dead Options

[nycchef]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/drunk.gif) o.k winter is coming to an end here in the northeast and it is time to see which teener owners survived the winter. let us all check in and begin the seasonal battle against the 914.

[r_towle]

Wow, what a night.
We have been hunting for a front end wiggle for a whole year since we built the car...
All bearings, tie rods, ball joints etc were all replaced...no good, kept happening.
New wheels, tires, even my mint fuchs and tires...no good, kept happening..
The rear end is tight.

So I was reading on the 914club board, and Brad mentioned that he is starting to see steering racks that are failing..he suggested that we have a look.

Well, up in the air she went, my son held the steering wheel still against the lock, and I wiggled and wiggled...I kept feeling a very slight wiggle, but it was very hard to figure out were it was coming from.

So, wheels off, tie rods off, grab the rack end and guess what...
It wiggled up and down, just a bit...but the other side did not wiggle at all..mind you it was really just a little bit..

So, this is the fun part.
We took off the ujoint at the floor board inside the car, dropped the skid plate, and took off the two bolts that hold the rack in place...
It will not move far enough out to remove it..
Hmmm.
Went and had dinner...
Went back, figured we had to take out the tank and unbolt the steering shaft from the rack to get it out...
Nope..
We ended up unbolting the a-arms in front and rear, dropping the entire assemble with the ball joints still attached to the struts.
It will come down enough to pull out the steering rack..not a problem, and we did not have to take off the ball joints...(I am always looking for less work)

Anyways...its all back together...tight, and all lubed up..
Gotta set up the alignment system tommorow and get it back on the road for the season tommorow afternoon..

My son is very excited to drive his porsche again after a long winter..

Meanwhile, mine has half the front end all new, the other half is still in the boxes..and I want to drive also..
I went for the full monty though..ball joint, bearings, turbo tie rods, rack spacer, roller bearings...so it takes a bit of time to take out all the old rusty crap and put in the nice new shiny stuff...
It may be done tommorow at around 12pm..maybe not..we shall see.

Then once they are all aligned, pack them up and head to Hershey next weekend..

Rich