Got the brakes all done with all new lines, no leaks. Went to put in the bolts for the ball joints and they dont fit. Aaron was here and thinks I either have the wrong ball joints or the wrong bolts. The struts must be early struts and I got the later ball joints. I can run a bolt all the way through and put a nut on it but the tapered ones will not fit. The strut itself is threaded on one side with a larger hole on the other side. Can someone tell me what I need to put in there, That is all that is left to do.

Since Dr. 914 or Greg isn't here, it is my belief you have the early struts that have the pinch bolt and not the double taper bolt. The double taper style is not threaded on the one side, it has a thru-hole (Britney) with a nut and lock washer.

Sorry Scott, I am serious. Did your front rotors have the hub centering ring?

If you need a set of late struts, you know where they are...........

Well, It's a 911 front end from a 911. I swapped out everything. The caliper spacing is 3" and I would rather have the 3.5" but then I would have to find new calipers and stuff. I guess they would be like the 914/6 as they are from a 71 911 I think. Maybe a 72.

I have a 914/6 front strut assembly and would have to look at it tomorrow as I don't remember how the ball joint attaches. That said and it is threaded, it's got to be a pinch bolt setup and part of the bolt would prolly fit in the groove in the ball joint shaft to keep it located. I do not know the shape of the bolt on this style (meaning if it has a partially unthreaded shank and is larger diameter in that portion).

You need help from the "Dark Side" guys.

Here are some pictures, maybe you can tell from them. There are 3 and one of speedy Aaron in motion.

Next

Hub

And as promised, one of speedy Aaron moving so fast the camera cant focus him.

Ya gotta put that mirror away and work on the car.

Scott, I really don't know the answer to your question and would have to research it. My PET6 is at my office. I would want to see if the attachment bolt has different part numbers between early and late.

From the differences between the early and late strut in the ball joint attachment area, I still say it takes a pinch bolt. I just don't know the configuration of the bolt.

Oh, does the groove in the ball joint shaft line up with the hole in the strut? It could be a single taper bolt.

Well, I have PET 5 and PET 6 so I will try to look it up and see. How can I tell what year suspension it really is?

Look up a 71 and see what the attachment bolt part number is. Then look up a 76 and see if the part number is different. I have a 78 SC front end, but it's down at the facility.

Also, there may be a part number on the strut that you can trace with PET.

Well, it has part numbers. Here is a screen cap resized of course of the 71-73

And here is the 76, it is different.

You want to highlight #22 - that's the bolt and the -71 means "up to 1971"

The second ball joint listed translates to "double taper".

I got the ball joints from Pelican over a year ago when I first started the front end conversion. No clue which one I got. Could I try just picking up a grade 8 10X30 bolt, lock washer and nut? Is there a chance that if I am wrong the front end could come apart on me while I am driving?

901 is early

911 is the later style

Look on the barrel of the strut and see if there is a part number stamped into it........it may be covered with paint.........I can't tell you exactly where it is, but you may have to extend the strut to uncover it (the hat covers it in the compressed position).

I think you need the pinch bolt described in the '70 screenshot. The later is the pin with lock washer and nut.

The bolt you show in your images looks as if it is drilled for a cotter key.

Look carefully and see if the hole thru the strut is tapered and see if you can see the groove in the ball joint shaft.

I can't answer the safety question, but the bolt should clamp the ball joint shaft......I just don't know if it is tapered to provide an interference fit.

Well, the bolt in there isnt the one that is supposed to be in there. I just put it in there to hold it together till I got the right ones.

They are stamped 901 right underneath a Koni symbol.

If they are stamped 901 there will be more numbers..... 901.XXX.XX.XX or something like that....you can use your PET to determine the year of the strut.

AND

PET describes the bolt as an M10 X 30, so it is prolly a standard bolt and not specially made - but it will be a high grade bolt.

Lots of paint on it but I will try to get the rest of the numbers and look. Gimme a few minutes

Need to hand the 'puter to someone to take an online test for a class.

911 341 080 02 That is the number from the passenger side

its an early front end i bet.... you have wrong bal joints.... pin is too big for hole.....


scott....long story to tell you about my journey home

I am an expert on this (not by choice). If one side of the hole is bigger, then you have the later style strut that uses the ball joint with a wedge cut out of it and a pin with no protruding head when installed. If your holes are the same on both sides of the strut, then you need the ball joints with the dish cut out of them and a big bolt/nut. Simple as that. You can not mix and match so don't as I don't want you to die. If you can upgrade to the later style that would be noce as they did come in 3" caliper spacing for around the '73 year. I had one of each on two different cars. Both sides were different and the lefts and rights on both cars were the same so I had two incomplete sets. (until I stole a side from James).
HTH

He has one 901 strut and one 911 strut....one takes the double taper and the other takes the m10 bolt.........Go figure.

If that is what Scott has then he would be the fourth car that i have seen set up like that. WTF

That is what I got, so my resolve for now will be to put the tapered bolt in the one side and the M10X30 bolt in the other side. Until I can find me a nice set that matches with the 3.5" spacing. I want to run bigger brakes eventually so I will just wait till I find a set. I just wont do any AX's till I swap it out.

Did you ever go to sleep?

Yeah, got to bed around 12:30. Thanks to Aaron for coming out and lending a hand and Slits for the board and phone assistance. I just got up and came out here to the garage. I am going to switch the front ball joint bolts around and double check everything to make sure it's done and then take this thing for a cruise around the block. Its still a little cool out here in the garage so motivation is low right now. But I will drive it today for sure. I need someone to come take the video for me. It will most likely be around noon or so. Any volunteers?

Can't make it today, but could tomorrow. Be happy to host it anyway.

Well, I do have to go out and do some shopping (aargh!)
so I will be in the area, if you want to give me a call..maybe I could
help you out.

Lisa

i wish i could come out today too....

my trip home kinda sucked last night....tell ya later,
and im f***in sick now....

i wish i could come out today too....

my trip home kinda sucked last night....tell ya later,
and im f***in sick now....

go buy new ball joints,

Probably sick from wearing shorts out here last night and the snow yesterday. Keep warm and drink plenty of fluids and take 2 aspirin and call me in the morning. PM me with the story about your trip home.

Scott, just make sure that you match the ball joint to the perspective side. (dont use two from the same year or you will have problems. ) I may have a good old style one left from my problem with them. I'll look for it later. If I have it it is yours.

Thanks God... I thought this was going to be a Lindsey Lohan thread.




M

Who?