I'm finally getting around to putting a proper 5 lug conversion on my '76. Been using adapter plates temporarily while I sorted out everything else.

Anyway, I have a set of 914-6 front struts, part numbers 914.341.091.00 and 914.341.092.00 . How are these different from the 911 struts that most everyone converts over to?

Jim

Click to view attachment

I have a pair of 914-6 struts too. As far as I can see they are the same as early 911 struts,just different part number.

Jerry

They're the same as T struts except for the part #'s.

I believe that -originally- the Boge damper stuff - which ran directly in the strut tube (no insert) was different in valving, travel, or both. Once you open the tube and suck out the OEM Boge stuff, the remaining struts are the same.

Same strut, different insert. Different part number for different cars.

Most folks use the wedge bolt style rather than the pinch bolt that the 914/6 used (to the best of my knowledge). This attaches to the ball joint by each method but the wedge bolt if far superior.....which is why Porsche went to it. The ball joints are different also.

I thought one of the diffs was the 914-6 spindle sat a little higher than the 911 spindle on the strut tower? No?

I have never heard that, which doesn't mean it's not the case...
I may or may not have any 914.6 struts where I can find them, but I have at least 3 911 struts at least 2 of which are a matched R/L pair (they are '72+ struts...). I can measure those from the balljoint mount face to the center of the spindle for comparison purposes if the guy with the 914 part number struts can do the same...

with a 14" optional wheel, tho, you can't be raising the spindle -very- much...

Of course originally those struts came with -no- inserts.
Probably only a few here have ever seen a factory Boge strut with the original hydraulics.

Us, old farts have. They did not start producing gas struts until the mid 80's

Yes, a few have. I believe I said that.

However, there were Boge and Koni strut inserts long before that. IIRC, there were even Bilstein inserts before that.

The original 914.6 Boge strut had *no* insert.

The hydraulics ran directly in the outer tube. When you pulled off the big gland nut there was a piston and about a pint of really horrible smelling hydraulic fluid inside.

Sounds like I have a pair of "original" 914-6 struts, with the guts out. Also, that the difference between these and 911 struts was in the shock housed within. Now that there is no shock within, they are the same as 911T struts.

Sounds right?

Thanks for all the responses. This was interesting.
Jim

Ive also heard that the shock valving for a 911 is not as well suited for the 914 as the 914 shock...car weighs less. So you would need to stick with the 914 strut if you want the shocks to work properly.

But of course we are not talking about the dampers, but the struts.

The damper is the hydraulic guts inside the strut.

Outside a few never-driver museum pieces, there are probably -very- few 914.6's with the original Boge damper guts inside. And once those are gone, the remaining strut parts are the same.

And yes, if you were putting an insert into a strut, you'd want one for a 914 application...

Nada. Just put the proper insert in the proper strut.

In speaking with the engineers at Koni, only the high speed rebound was changed for the 914 so they are very close regardless. I would doubt seriously that most people could tell the difference.

The 914-6 "strut" and the 911T "strut" are identical.

Yes.

It's like this, for those not quite following along:

I've got two empty Coke bottles. They're the same.

In one bottle, I put regular Coke and cap it with a 'Coca-Cola' cap.
In the other, I put Diet Coke, and cap it with a 'Diet Coke' cap.

They're now different products.

Once I drink the beverages and throw away the caps, the bottles are identical again, even if I wrote "Diet Coke" on the outside of one so I could tell it from the other one.

Spring rate and Dampen rate are of course two different things. I learned by acident from a buddies 75' 911S that true Bilstien dual tubes kick butt for street use. I wound up putting a set on my last 914-6 and loved them. Car no longer hopped or bounced around rough city streets. Rather sucked up holes and rebounded quickly while keeping control.