I have 5/8 spacers under the rack of my 911 front end but I would like to take them out and raise the spindles on the strut body. I have 7x16 911 offset fuchs.
I have the proper rod ends, 12m 12.9 bolts, spacers and lower support .
I started taking the front end apart and found that I have Boge Struts. The ones with the bulge that prevents the spindle from simply sliding up after drilling out the weld.
I understand the Boge spindles can still be raised, with a little more effort. My question is how?
I read something about cutting off the top and moving it to the bottom. Seems better to bore out the top of the spindle. What is the most common, best method?

Send them to Chris @ Tangerine Racing. He did mine. He is one of our guys. He cuts the desired amount from the top and adds the same amount below the spindle. He also curves the the steering arm to match.

Having 16" wheels you can drop it more than the 19 mm before the ball joints hit the rim.

Thanks Krieger,
I sent Chris a PM. I may have a go at it. He is my back up if I'm in over my head.

Wonder if Chris can lower my spindles

Its not any harder than raising them, I'm sure.

Eric,

Chris can raise your ears too!

I raised my knees...

I don't think anyone has mentioned that raising the spindle does not affect the need for rack spacers (I.e. bump steer). It corrects A arm angle on a lowered car but the relative position of the tie rod ends and the chassis does not change. Unless you have the steering arms on the struts bent down more than the spindles are raised, you will want to keep the spacers.

I thought the whole reason for raising the spindle was so that you can lower the car correctly. Wouldn't raising the spindle allow you to drop the A-arm (assuming that was the method used to lower the car before the spindle raising) back to a stock (nearly level) angle? And wouldn't that give you a proper steering rack/tie rod/spindle geometry?

No. The resulting geometry will almost certainly have significant bump steer issues, unless the tie rod end is moved downward.
The optimal location of the rod end can only be discovered thru measurement of the toe in the range of motion that the suspension will actually go thru in operation.

Thanks brian,
I plan to remove the spacers under the rack and move the bump steer kit to the rod ends.

There are also kits you can get that extend the connection for the tie rods down by some amount. That helps with the bump-steer issues. I believe they usually have a turn-buckle like arrangement so the length can be fine-tuned.

Generally only done for race cars, so they may require much more frequent inspection and maintenance than street car parts would.

--DD

Ah, I think I understand what Chris is saying now. Had to give some thought to how things look under there with and without the raised spindle.

The Boge struts I have are from a circa "86 911. The struts go from 50 to 52 mm.
My first thought was to bore out the spindle casting to a 52mm ID about 13 mm deeper. That is only .039 per side of the bore and I say deeper because it already has some c-bore started so I don't think it would take a full 19 mm deep to net 19mm movement. Anyway, this plan seemed to be frowned upon.

Then I thought, why not just swage some of the tube down. I pulled the inserts out of some extra 914 Boge struts and found the inserts have the same bulge in the same spot, bummer. Now, I am understanding all the cutting and welding.

But in all my searching I remember Bilstein inserts don't have a bulge and they are common in Boge struts.
Cool, I found Bilstein inserts in my 911 struts.

I have not taken the inserts out yet.
Anyone see any reason why swaging the tube down to 50 mm and just move the spindle up with Bilstein inserts would not work?

I suppose it might work.
I'm almost certain it will be more difficult than the method I currently use.
You will probably destroy more than one strut learning how to do it.

Ruby914

If you go to the link in my signature you will see my build thread and can read about how I did mine. I'm not saying this is the only way to do it. But it works for me. Don't go as far as I did though! Because I am running 17 inch wheels and I have a little bit of room for wheel deflection.

Thomas

Thomas,
Thank you, nice work. I only started to read your build thread, I will have to go back and read all.
I started to put my car back together, I have other projects to complete first.
DIY to save a little money normally ends up costing me more in the end. I always end up saying, “it’s an education”.
I have two old 914 struts rusting in the back yard. I think I will try to swag one down and see how it works.
Mike