A while ago I posted a picture of the drivers side control arm. It was elliptical indicating a twist somewhere. Torsion bar was straight and body measurements against the shop manual indicated the car was not twisted. I think I've found what cause this problem. This is what I posted:

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A few weeks ago I showed my kid how to high pressure the car. The drivers side wheel well had undercoating.

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BTW - She eventually started to look at what she was doing.


This is what I found:

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Other than the heat I see applied in a few areas, I don't see any body damage. How exactly do you cause this crease? I'll re-measure the front diagonals to verify it's straight. What else should I be looking for or checking since this crease is near the back of the control arm mount?

Thanks,

DaveB

Almost like the 914 came down off a curb or something?

Are we looking at the area where the tie rod comes out laterally? If so, that indicates a big hit in the wheel/strut backwards, causing the tie rod to bend across that space. Probable damage to strut, knuckle, control arm too, and probably fender.

Some sort of impact. Run your hand over the inner front fenders inside the front trunk and see if you can feel any buckling. If yes, the car has been hit in that corner.

measure the two U openings drivers and passenger side and see if one U is narrower than the other one now, if so it took a front end hit. They are made to bend there

Thanks for the input.


I ran my hand on the inner fender in the frunk and didn't feel any buckling. The front is original, no signs of a hit. The car was hit in the rear but that impact can be traced diagonally from left rear to right center. I measured all the points in the 914 body manual a few months ago to verify the body was square. While I was in the garage, I marked the center of the front suspension points as follows:

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I use a tram on the center points. Normally I have someone hold one side exactly at the center point while I align the other side. I measured the distance on the attachment points for the front traverse a few weeks ago with my daughter and it was 72.6 cm. This time I measured 72.8, so I know I could be off by 2mm on my measurements doing it by myself.

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These are the measurements (for reference, the area on top is where the crease is found):

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Could putting a jack under the area around the control arm cause this?

Also - Is there a way for me to make a measurement of the location of the rear control arm center point in the Z axis without putting the car on the ground and leveling it (i.e., is there a measurement point on the body that verifies the height isn't off by this impact)?

DaveB

your 914 may have gotten rear ended and pushed into another car Or a whole different incident..The impact bumper 914s have a much stouter bumper support than runs pretty far back on inner wheel house panel ,, Your 914 kinked where is was sapoosed to....

This Place has done quite a few 914 Pulls;


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Rodsandchops@gmail.com
Old car freaks. From German restorations to hot rods.
(503) 387-5952
brosseauscoachworks.com

In addition to measurements in a horizontal plane, I would suggest measurements for vertical differences. I bet the mounting points near the crease are higher than the other side.

thats very plausible re the big bumper car. piston reached end of travel and last bit of impact energy transferred into distortion of body work in line with it.
may have been little to other body damage resulting.

The would be the only thing on this car which seems to have worked like it should. .

Kent's place is about 20 minutes from my house. I don't know if he has the 914 kit for his Celette.

After I get it dipped, I'll have a better idea of the condition. Door gaps were good and body alignment measurements were in spec. But the engine mount cross bar was twisted and the trans mounts were cracked off.

Dave

Might be better to start at the that end. Seems like a rear end hit. Or start measuring from the front points to the rear and see if that gets out of whack.

be nice to see the inside of the front panel and some pics of the headlight boxes and fender lines.

Inside front panel:


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Underneath frunk pan to bumper line. Looks all original with body work or damage from a front end hit.

First picture below is the side that has the buckle in the inner fender

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Inside area over steering and control arm (buckle is just below this point):

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I'll post a few more of the fender and body alignment measurements.

Dave

Hmmm, those welds where the front clip attaches to the bottom don't look like factory spot welds.

agree looks like the front panel has been replaced.

Going back to your first picture:
I see a sagged out oem rubber bushing that caused the torsion bar to rub on the id of the a-arm. That has nothing to do with the chassis being hit. Its very common, and is usually evident by regular squeeking.

@ChrisFoley - Just to clarify, a sagging bushing would cause the ID to wear this much?

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I assumed it was the chassis compressing the torsion bar since the other side had no wear on the A-Arm tube ID. So if this has nothing to do with the chassis, is it common to replace the A-Arm when the ID gets this worn like this?

Thanks for your help on this.

Dave

@SirAndy Well that solves the mystery. I looked in the trunk and found this:

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You can see where the spot welds were cut out and not filled...and this is on the other front fender.

So now I'm dealing with a front end sheetmetal replacement. The welds were hidden by undercoating. After the high pressure wash, I looked at the sheetmetal for buckling and bondo and completely missed the fact the front welds are not done with a spot welder. Just keeps getting better.

DaveB

Welcome to the club. I think repairing botched PO body "repairs" can be worse than dealing with rust. But you will earn more street cred.

The amount of visible wear at the end of the tube may be exacerbated by other damage, but sagged bushings is a common cause of torsion bar rubbing.

Have you inspected the crossmember and the a-arm for bending/twisting? I have seen a-arms that weren't quite straight after being hit, but were straight enough to leave in service and not really be noticed until something else prompted an inspection. Does the crossmember align with its mounts, with no binding of the bolts?

Replacing the suspension bushings is a common diy project for 914 owners. New a-arms may be available but I'm sure are $$$$. You might find a good used a-arm with good enough stock bushings to simply replace yours.
There are a number of aftermarket bushing products, including oem style rubber - from more than one manufacturer.

I've dealt with some bent 914s and so far yours doesn't look too bad. The repair work looks like it may have been an insurance job a long time ago.