So after four years my car is finally running as of two weeks ago. After getting the tailshift linkage adjusted and dealing with a carburetor problem I decided to take a small drive to azusa canyon. In that short amount of time i am already catching the fever. I notice a pretty distinct clunking sound when going over a bump and i believe that the front right strut needs to be replaced. I am thinking that instead of just replacing the strut maybe i should invest in a 911 front suspension. what is a fair price for a 911 front suspension + brakes/ rotors/ hubs? Does anyone have anything they want to get off there hands?
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Maybe you should try to find the source of the clunk first. Could be something minor.

- What else could it be?

Could be quite a few different things. A 911 suspension also has some years on it and would require some attention as well. Could be a bad strut insert, insert could be loose in the housing, could be a bad ball joint. Bushings could be bad, tie rod could have play, wheel bearings could be loose. Maybe enlist the help of someone close to you to try and track it down.

yeah i could use the help, still a noob at all this.

Oh ! You will need new wheels -5 lugs .

the car came with drilled rotors and ats cookie cutters so i have that. looks like my front rotors are starting to run out of meat as well, thats why im thinking a whole new suspension upgrade.

There is very little difference between the two front suspension set ups, it may not be worth the costs.

Fronts are five lug...ok
Same ball joints and a-arm setup
Torsion bars have more splines on the 911, and there are more available
Under body inferior anti sway bar....so that would be going backwards..

I would suggest you find the clunk...typically something simple.

Does the conversion have a practical goal or is it a appearance thing? That should guide your project. It means a rear 5-lug suspension as well unless you want to run adapters on the rear, which you can't use at DE's or on the track.

I don't know about wheel-well clearance issues on a non-widened car with adapters. You haven't mentioned if you have any requirements for bigger brakes, but if you go bigger on the front, you'll have to balance out your system on the rear.

My car had 1979 Bilstein 911 front struts (and big aluminum calipers) when I bought it. Those struts bolt up to the 914 arms just fine, and the torsion bars (23mm) are simply 914 splined instead of 911 splined. No difference in price when you're shopping for those for different rates.

The rear suspension was done within a month of buying the car because I couldn't get onto Sears Point with the 5 lug adapters that came with the car. Done properly, it's a fairly expensive proposition to do the whole car unless you're prepared for it.

If rear brakes and CV/axle mods are in the plan, there are a lot of parts to accumulate, but it's a really great project.

Most likely the clunk is a loose strut bolt underneath the shock cover where the shock bolts into the strut. Check your tie rods and. Opts with a pry bar before jacking it up.

If that's it it's free and takes two hours max. One hour even

Collect the suspension parts if you want while your driving it.
The 5 bolt suspension parts run a grand if you do it right and if you don't need it for racing it may not be worth it.

Could be your front wheel is loose. Maybe the wheel bearing is slowly backing off. Seen wheels fall off because of that. It will make a clunk as it shift if it is loose enough. grab your front wheel & see if you can move it. It's pretty obvious when it's loose. It move in a way it shouldn't

Had the bump clunk on my 73 as well. Turned out to be the large nut that holds the insert into the strut.
Click to view attachment

so to check the strut bolts, do i need to jack the car up first and unbolt everything or is there a way to see if one's loose without taking it apart? I havn't taken apart any of the suspension components on the car yet so its all completely new to me.

To check the nut circled in the illustration. Jack up car, take off wheel, remove nut #21 at the top. There is a 'lock' washer that should be replaced but can be reused. The nut is a nylock and you need to put a wrench on the flats of the shaft to take it off.

Once you have it loose, just grab the dustcover #25 and compress the insert until you can take it off. It will want to expand again so be ready for that. Then the top nut holing the strut in will be exposed.

Clear?

Also, if the car has a sway bar it could be a shot or missing bushing on one of the links

Thanks a lot! for all the replies! the other thing is that the front of my car is really really low. Like about 3-4in off the ground. Is that normal? could it be something that someone had done in the past? could it be the combination of rims and tires i have?

I have feeling if you get all the stock parts working as they should, you will be very pleased.

Adjusted using bolt #17. Theres a whole other topic about ride height, bump steer,.....etc.

Yes, adjusting bolt #17 will raise the front ride height but an alignment afterwards is required.

Yeah i need an alignment anyways, Thanks again everybody, Going to try and tackle this issue tomorrow.

Still cannot find the source of the clunking noise. Removed the strut and Click to view attachment
Is this nut you are talking about? It's not loose and it seems like the strut has the same amount of resistance when I push on it. What else could it be? Definitely not the wheel, it's firm when it goes on

good job pulling the strut
any side to side wiggle where the shaft travels through the nut?

thats the right nut
if its tight then I apologize..
often it isn't and a big pair or pliers helps firm it up

could it be that the ride height was low enough to cause something to bottom out or hit?

often if that is the case there is some sign of worn paint or fresh contact
I use a large tire iron bar to wedge into the suspension when the car is weighted (on the ground), and then pry all of the ball joints and tie rods to look for wiggle or slop...

then jack the car up with the wheels tight and with hands at 12 and 6pm, check the wheel bearings by wiggling the wheel from top and bottom.

Nope no wiggle, and the nut is on pretty damn tight, how fast should the insert compress? Mine has resistance but it compresses all the way in about 4 sec.

Different brands have different tuning. But the fact that it isn't blown and has consistent resistance means it is probably good.

When the seal goes out it has zero resistance or dead spots

Looks like a KYB nut.

You may have found your problem.

Do you have an anti sway bar?

Rich

I believe I have found the source of the clunking!
Click to view attachment
This vertical shaft (sorry i dont know the technical names for these parts) is loose inside where it connects to the horizontal one. The bushing that it goes into is rotted. When the car is jacked up, i can wobble the rim back forth a bit because of it. What are the names of these parts? where can get the bushing? how is it replaced?

You need a new ball joint. It attaches the "strut" (vertical) to the a-arm (horizontal).

Should probably replace the one on the other side while I'm at it huh?

Ouch. Good that you found it

I'd get both... yes. They aren't cheap though.

Also look into finding, borrowing, renting or purchasing a P210 tool.

You may need a new strut. Someone modified that one to use a through bolt at nut. This is an early car?
Looks like an oversize bolt too. Original is 10mm. It threads into the strut and pinches the bottom around the ball joint. What does the other side look like?
The surface when the nut would contact is not flat as they are made. See if the bolt is loos or worn.

is that a tool i need to replace it? do i need to buy/replace any washers/lock washers ect. Is the car safe to drive for now? its my daily driver so im kind of shit out of luck

Am I the only one who sees a crack in the arm or are my eyes screwed up? If they aren't that arm needs to be replaced/welded.

I believe it's paint peeling but I'll double check today

Yup, definitely a crack. Going to be replacing the A arm, ball joint and strut since whoever "worked" on the car jerry rigged something on the bottom of the strut.

Saw that... I thought it was paint too.

You'd have caught it while replacing the ball joints anyway, but the earlier the better. Glad you put the pic up here.

While posting a pic on another thing altogether, I had a caliper installation error pointed out by a member that I hadn't noticed.

Good luck

YUP saw that big crack in the A-arm. OMG, glad that was caught before it broke!

Ben and Ralph - you'll save a lot of time and headaches searching and reading lots of DIY posts here. I know it helped me go from "never done it" to "I can do it" in just a few months with my 914

I had a bad a-arm on my 914. I built an entirely new suspension from collected new/used parts, repainted/coated most, then swapped the whole thing. Very satisfying how easy it is to swap the whole suspension in front. Leave the brakes, steering, etc and build up new tie rods onto struts, ball joints onto a-arms and struts, new bushings on a-arms, and inserts into struts. The new turbo tie rods and new a-arm bushings made a huge difference.

Good luck!