First - Thank you!
I would have stopped working on this car long ago if it wasn't for the folks here. 914World has been my oracle for my fun/damn car. And thanks to those that repeat the same thing over and over again in different threads. It is very helpful, when searching and when trying to understand the problem.

Second - the early ball joint / strut bolt:
I suspect my car has hit several curbs or the like. While there is little body damage, I have found a cracked/deformed A-arm, a ball joint that was pulled out of the strut, the other ball joint pin was bent. And both bolts mounting the ball joints to the struts were bent or broken.

The bolts were SAE 8.8 - threaded all the way up the shank.
I thought - This can't be right - silly PO!
German enginering would have used a hardened bolt (SAE 10), with a solid (no threads) shank - threads on the last .5 inch.

But, when I got my replacement hardware - it was ... SAE 8.8 - full thread bolt.

Is this correct???


The old "good" bolt (the other was broken in half):
Click to view attachment

Ball joint pulled out of strut:
Click to view attachment

A small alignment/safety problem?
Click to view attachment

Doesn't seem right to me either. Wish I could help. I have a 73 and it uses the fancy bolt.

Wrong bolt. Where'd you get it? The Cap'n

Parts Heaven in Hayward, CA. Porsche junk yard - they seem pretty knowlegable. And said they pulled the parts off one of their 914s.

So... what kind of bolt should it be?

Another place show the same part: http://www.stoddard.com/shop/shopexd.asp?id=2593

PET lists it as "Bolt Hex Hd. M10 x 30"

And forget SAE when you're talking metric bolts... SAE grades and metric grades are totally different.

FWIW - Just got one from Pelican - the official part is a grade 10.9 full thread.
$6.75 + shipping ... or $1 at the local hardware store.
I'm still not convinced this is right.

The 70-72 914's use the 10X30 bolt in the ball joint (#16). The 73-up use the ball joint pin. It is wedge shaped with threads on one end. It is wedged in the bottom of the strut and ball joint (#11)
Early ball joints are round where the bolt goes through and the later one is "V" shaped for the wedge pin to go through.
The arm you have must be an early one by the ball joint shape and the bolt through it......

Click to view attachment

right. but what kind of bolt? a full thread bolt does not seem correct. even the picture above shows a "standard" bolt (ie: part of the shank is solid, does not have threads). And what grade of bolt?

If I'm not mistaken, one end of the strut is threaded, so the bolt goes through the other end, through the ball joint and threads into the strut's threaded portion. If that is stripped, get a longer grade 10 bolt and put a nyloc nut on it.

I was curious and did a search on McMaster.com and could only find fully threaded grade 10.9 bolts 30mm long. No partial threaded bolts till you hit 35 mm. If you want the extra security of no threads in the load area get a 35mm bolt and cut some of the threads off, though they would not do any harm hanging out 5mm. Only $6.21 for 10 of em.

The correct bolt has an unthreaded shank, as you surmise. If you were to order it from Porsche, assuming they still have them, that's what you would get. You may also find that it's a special use bolt, unavailable on the aftermarket. The Cap'n

Is your bottom of the strut threaded? If so, it is an early one. It may be possible to convert to the '73-up ball joint and wedge pin. Would have to enlarge where the threads are to use the wedge pin for the later model. The early strut may have a gap where the ball joint goes through and the bolt pulls the gap together or tight with the bolt.

When I got my -6 10 years ago, it had a 10.9 full-thread bolt, and that's also what I bought to replace it.

Looking at my worn-out strut, threads surround half of the area where ball joint connects ... so a solid shank could only cover half the load area (where the ball joint connects).

Click to view attachment

I'll just stick with the $$ full thread bolts already purchased - at least they are grade 10.9 ... I know that's right.