Well, my $831.76 alignment is done, will be picking car up this afternoon. They had to tap the tie rod ends to get enough toe. Something is not right here .....

I still think its because of the way I incorrectly placed the bump steer spacers (I lowered the cross member rather than raising the steering rack) created a distance issue from the tie rod to the A-arm/strut, but shop believes the turbo tie rods were not threaded deep enough........

Asked them to bleed my brakes as my pedal has about 3-4" travel after I added 19mm m/c and rebuilt front calipers and replaced hoses.

They tell me the brake proportioning valve is bad.....they can hear it click which they say indicates it's bad. They were unable to help with the mushy pedal (I don't believe they bled the valve).

Soooooo..do these go bad or should I try bleeding it before replacing it (with V.W. Tee fitting....)?

Were they able to get any fluid out the rear caliper bleed screws? If not I would supect swollen rubber brake lines first...p-valve last.

update:

just drove it home, not as bad as I thought they would be;

I bled them before taking it to shop and got preasure and fluid at all 4 points very quickly, but not the high preasure squirt from the rears one would expect. The brakes were much better feeling before I replaced the M/C and calipers (front only), so I believe they can be brought back with some work. I did not touch the rear brakes so hoses and calipers are a few years old (PO did tham but car sat for a long time). I have the rear hoses and caliper kits so I might just go ahed and do them (or send them to Salt Lake City to be done)>.......

Suspension feels like a buck wagon! alignment is spot on, but its going to take getting used to going to modified 914 from a mushy power everything Hyundai. Got a lot of new rattles to track down and fix!!

QUOTE (MarkG @ May 17 2005, 08:12 AM)

They tell me the brake proportioning valve is bad.....they can hear it click which they say indicates it's bad. They were unable to help with the mushy pedal (I don't believe they bled the valve). Soooooo..do these go bad or should I try bleeding it before replacing it (with V.W. Tee fitting....)?

There is a spring in the prop valve, when the presssure gains enough in the system (when you press on the pedal) the spring shortens up and you hear a "sproing" then your rear brakes get the juice. That sound is by design, unless they are hearing something waay different. Sounds like you need to find another shop.

Bleed your brakes again, lots of fluid, lots of times around the car - maybe bleed the prop valve too.

Yup, gonna bleed the heck out of them.....it HAD a better pedal feel before I upgraded so I too feel the valve is fine.

The shop I took it to is the best alignment shop in town (every Porsche shop I called said take it there), and they turned my nice running 308 into a deadly fast car, but I do wonder sometimes about them.......

Anyway, I am pleased overall with my car now, it is drivable but I will get the bleed issue resolved before I do any hiway driving!!

Looks like I might make it to Moab this fall after-all (if we don't get snowed in!).

Isn't the Turbe Tie Rod supposed to come with spacers which takes care of differences between A) 911 and 914 steering arms or the steering racks?

Spacers would preclude the need to tap the rod ends, right?

QUOTE (Cloudbuster @ May 17 2005, 11:52 AM)

Isn't the Turbe Tie Rod supposed to come with spacers which takes care of differences between A) 911 and 914 steering arms or the steering racks? Spacers would preclude the need to tap the rod ends, right?

Yes, and spacers were included and installed.

Either there was a minor manufacuring defect (which I doubt) or my original thought (improper bump steer RACK spacer install - I lowred the cross member rather than raising the steering rack) moved the geometry enough to push out the whole steering rod assembly length just enought that the tie rod ends themselves could not be brought in enough.

Shop called a few places with my hypothesis and they all felt it would not be enough of a difference to affect the adjustment capabilities......who knows. May be it was a factory tap depth issue after-all - heck the boots didn't even last 1 mile!!!!