1988 Carerra G-50 Spring Plates

[Evans968]

New thread on my 1988 911 Carrera G-50 suspension upgrades. I have a box of fine looking Rebel Racing suspension parts. Already installed front suspension, now working on rear. Finally got the monoballs installed in the trailing arms and back into place. My car fought me all the way (getting trailing arms off required engine drop, getting old bushings out required hacksaw, getting monoballs in required heat, cold, press made up of sockets and long high strength bolt, getting trailing arms back in required beefier version of bolt press to open up chassis mounting flanges).
Problem now is old spring plate tube ID about 1 mm too large (and out of round) to allow Rebel bushings to slide on. So, not wanting to have that much wall thickness removed from spring plate tubes, opted for new spring plates. Not so easy for G-50 cars, so I could use some advice on this.
Options so far include:
1) Call Clint and order new adjustable spring plates. He had a new shipment coming in from Europe, would be in any day, but then I believe he's having some health problems and I haven't been able to reach him last week or so. Really hope he's OK as he's really a great guy and his parts are top drawer.
2) Purchase Swayaway adjustable plates and cut off the large inside tube as described elsewhere in this forum. But really don't want to face removing metal again, so does anyone have experience with SAW plates and Rebel bushings?
3) Weltmeister offers adjustable plates for G-50. Anyone have experience with these, both for quality, operation AND tube diameter? Trying to reach Weltmeister, but it's not easy.
4) There seems to be an OEM type G-50 plate with indexing marks available from some suppliers. Any experience on these??
5) Revisit having old plate tubes size reduced reduced. Am I being too anal about affecting the strength of the long tube, as it's essentially an extension of the torsion bar? Also, don't have ready access to a plating shop for corrosion coating.

[Evans968]

Any thoughts on best option from above list, or more options would be great!
Thanks

[robcf]

I just bought a set of G50 spring plates from rennline, check them out.

[Evans968]

Thanks Rob,
I found them, but they're nearly twice the price of Swayaway and Rebel Racing. I believe Rennline's plates are the same as those listed by Clint, so a 100% additional markup is tough to take (Rebel's OEM style plates are $380/PAIR while Rennline's are $375 EACH, and Rennline's adjustable plates are $895/pair). Although, since Rebel seems to be out of operation, at least for now, if Swayaway's won't match Rebel's bushings, they may be the only option for new plates. BTW, I called Rennline to be sure their web page pricing was accurate (seems odd that the OEM style would be almost as expensive as the screw adjustable), and was told that it was. However, our host shows a $250 price with a pair pictured, but not stated. Where did you get yours?

[robcf]

$375 for a set:

Rennline Adjustable Spring Plates - Street-Rennline, Inc.

[Lyle O]

One of the keys to this is how often you think you will be adjusting your rear ride heights/corner balance. If this is for the street, and you won't need to tinker much, the OEM version are fine. You need to get close when you re-index your spring plates/ torsion bars, then set the adjuster in the middle. That way for fine tuning you can move up or down the smaller amount necessary to dial it in. On the other hand, if you see yourself often playing with height adjust, the "adjustable" systems offer a bit more convenience. I put "adjustable" in quotes, because none of the other systems add much more adjustment range (though there is some). It really depends on how often you see yourself needing to adjust, and how much. And by the way, regarding Clint at Rebel Racing, I ordered some front bushings via the website a few weeks ago and they arrived within 10 days, no issue. FWIW.

[Evans968]

Thanks Rob. That's the site I saw ... says in the description "sold per piece, two required per car" at the bottom, confirmed by the Rennline guy I talked to yesterday. I dunno, maybe they're confused. Anyway, these say "adjustable", but in the same way as OEM. I was hoping for what I call "screw adjustable" plates to achieve the convenience Lyle described above (like Swayaway ($415) and the $895 Rennline set).

When I last talked with Clint, about 10 days ago, he expected a shipment of European "screw adjustable" plates any day. But they're not shown on his web site yet for on-line auto-pilot order. He was going to ship me a set when they arrived. Rebel site does show what looks like the Rennline "adjustable" for $380/pair. Also looks like the Rennline G-50 plates listed on Pelican for $280 (not clear if this is per pair or each ... will check with Pelican on Monday).

Big issue for me though is the Rebel Racing bushing set I bought from Clint several months ago (this project has been dragging out way too long). Clint said he'd make sure his bushings would slide onto the plate tubes if I ordered his. Problem is that he's not answered his phone or email for the last 10 days. When last we talked he said he'd just gotten back from a protracted medical absence. That's why I'm kinda worried about him.
If I buy from anyone else, must get confirmation of OD on the tubes, so I won't have to deal with the sanding, machining, etc that I found necessary in order to use my stock plates. Others on this forum have said it's a pain, but doable. However my old ones measure so much larger than the ID of Rebel bushings (considering out-of-round condition as well) that I'm reluctant to remove that much wall thickness, especially on the long tube, as it's loaded in torsion, like the TB's.

[Evans968]

Just learned from SAW that the splined tubes in their plates are different OD's (1.875" and 2.000"), so they're out (dang!).
So now I'm down to either Rennline OEM style or looking again into downsizing OD's on my old plates.

[robcf]

Your right they do say per piece in the site, however, my invoice says $375 and I received a set. When they were originally listed the price was over $500 and was then quickly changed.

Perhaps contact Tom Rittenburg at Rennline if you need further clarification.

[robcf]

Hey Evans968, I checked out the parts on Rebel Racing website, these look identical to the Rennline part which is manufactured by prekom. I think the Rennline website pricing is incorrect and should be for a set.

[Evans968]

Thanks Rob. I think you must be correct. After much gnashing of teeth, have decided to either: a) Wait until after Rennsport Reunion when (hopefully) Clint re-emerges and try again for a set of his screw-adjustable plates (though this will probably delay my next DE until spring), or b) continue sanding my original plate tubes until Rebel bushings fit. I've convinced myself that the wall thickness reduction on the long tube (G-50 plate) will be OK, and cannot justify $350+ for OEM style essentially just like my old ones.
How did your Rennline plates work with ride height adjustments? Since I have new TB's, bushings front and back, ball joints and semi-solid shock tower mounts, i will need some iterations of "dialing in" that should be much easier with screw-adjustable plates ... or is that just rationalization?
Evans

[Rennline]

We came across this thread this morning and did some digging into our cataloging. As Evans968 suggested, it looks like we had our wires crossed on the G50 EZ-Adjust Spring Plates. We have just updated the pricing and descriptions, and we've sent these changes to our host (Pelican). They will be making the updates as well. The correct price is $495 per pair.

As always thank you all for your support and feedback!

[wrxnofx]

I see that there are two different adjustable spring plates for the '87-'89 w/G50.
One is part number S-08024P: Rennline adjustable spring plates - street ($375/pair)
One is part number S-08022: Rennline adjustable spring plates - EZ adjust ($495/pair)

What is the difference? Both are adjustable, so how is the EZ adjust version "better"?

[Evans968]

The $375 plates are I believe similar to OEM in that plate angle adjustment is by the eccentric bolt through the two plates. The EZ Adjust have a welded bung on the outer plate with a vertical allen head screw to adjust plate angle through a wider range than the OEM version. This minimizes the iterations of indexing the TB splines to get the angle close enough for final adjustment once the suspension is installed and bearing weight. By the time I had given up on making my stock plates (with eccentric bolt adjustment) work with Rebel Racing bushings (well documented tube diameter problem needing extensive sanding or machining), I was ready to pay a bit more for less headache.

[wrxnofx]

That makes sense. Thanks for the clarification!