Hi. Frances and Dan from Tinkergineering here. Do these [see photo] end mounting brackets need to get pressed out, and if so how do I do that? should I need to heat it up? We got the front and rear suspension all removed. I know Ian had talked about the turbo tie rods. Why is this upgrade important/wanted?
keep on tinkering!

Turbo tie rod ends- better feel, stronger design (like everything else in the world vs the original 914 design) maybe longer life, less flex.

Modernizing a strange early way of doing this...

Lots of threads regarding "removal/replacement of front control arm bushings" are available. Search the classic forum.

Ready to go set up in the classifieds right now.
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=368466

So, i went and looked in the classic forum to see if I could find a DIY,
Nope, I couldn't. Found a rear bushing thread by Eric Shea that I couldn't get to come up...

Googled "how to replace front control arm bushings 914world"

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=270609

Google sometimes works better than the websites search engine.

Maybe another member has a better link?

Spend some time on Elephant Racing webpage and watch their videos.

https://www.elephantracing.com/porsche/914/...for-914/rubber/

I’ve used their rubber bushings on my LCA’s. They properly grip the control arm and don’t slip per design intent. Highly recommended. You don’t want the LCA rotating inside the bushing.

Elephant racing instructions are clear and have the appropriate angles to set the bushings at so they fit the car and have proper preload in the bushing when the car is at curb height. Their PDF instructions don’t seem to display correctly on my phone but I had no issues downloading them to the computer if you want to preview them.

Highly recommend sticking with rubber LCA bushings for a car intended for street use.

A press will make removal and install much easier but you can certainly get the job done with an inexpensive pipe clamp.

Keep up the great work you’ve been doing!!

Bushings are a good example of 'if it ain't broke..." They are not easy and a press is recommended. I'd leave them be and just clean up the metal.

Turbo tie rods are not that much better or I should say the stock rods are not bad. The inner bushing gets worn so if it's sloppy do the change over. Check for slop in the rack too. Also the rubber coupler between the rack and the steering shaft.

Easiest way to remove the bushings is to heat with a torch (outside your garage) until they smoke a bit and then pull them apart with some channel lock pliers or similar. New turbo tie rods don’t cost much more than stock ones but they are worth the upgrade. When it’s time to reinstall the new bushings, either use some all thread (plenty of YouTube videos or have a friend with a press set them in place for you. Ian’s videos are very good for the home diy suspension refresh.
If you have a powder coating shop near you, they can blast and re-coat everything at once.

Glad to see you back on this.

The rear bushing is probably the only one needing replacement as it carries most of the vertical load and over time collapses so the torsion bar starts rubbing inside the LCR destroying the protective coating. That leads to failure due to corrosion fatigue cracking.

Search through Ian's videos. Yes, those pieces come off. The new ones need to be installed at the right angles. Ian's videos do a great job of explaining that process. If you already have it removed, you might as well do the job right. Those bushings do de-form over time and become hard and lose compliance. It's not that difficult and is a very satisfying job to do.

Click to view attachment

I don’t agree. The fronts always need replacing, at least on all the 911’s that run through our shop. They are 50 years old. It’s one of those things that you do when you are rehabbing the suspension. Who’s going to blast and repaint the a-arms and not replace the old bushings. When they start to collapse, the torsion bar rubs on the a-arm and causes damage.
On a 50 year old car, you really have to look at every nut, bolt and bushing and plan on rehab and replacement. You don’t want to send Frances down the road in a car that’s not 100%.

I'm with mepstein!


On a 50-year-old ANYTHING I replace EVERYTHING made out of rubber...

Brake hydraulics and fuel delivery is the most important in my book, suspension bushings come close after those and BEFORE a bunch of other rubber things.

I already have all of the rubber needed to replace all of the susp crap on my 75.
The rears are getting changed before the initial "run in" and test drive.

The fronts will get changed before "return to service". Mine look much nicer than yours and I'm changing them anyway.

I've already spent over 1k with 914Rubber getting pretty much every single rubber product they make for my car.

As for the "why" the turbo tie-rod upgrade is preferred, I think a fair bit of it is "cachet". Everyone assumes that the 911 part (better yet, a 911 TURBO part!) is better than the 914 part.

The stock part uses kind of a fork-and-blade type of joint. It acts a lot like a hinge, allowing movement in one axis. There is rubber inside the joint to allow a little compliance and probably to damp a bit of vibration. The rubber can wear, making the joint sloppy. 911s also used this part up into the 80s at least.

The turbo tie-rods use a ball joint. This allows movement in any direction, not just in one axis. There is no rubber inside the joint, meaning no compliance and no damping. Ball joints don't tend to wear that much when they are sealed, particularly if there isn't much load on them most of the time.

The difference in feel between a new standard tie-rod and a new turbo tie-rod is frankly not that much. There's far more difference between a worn-out standard tie-rod and a new standard one. A friend of mine replaced the worn-out parts on his GF's 911SC with turbo ones, and was very impressed with the change. So he did the same swap to his SC, which had relatively new stock parts. No detectable improvement.

--DD