Wheel base/alignment issue

[Pinz712M]

I recently bought a 73 911. Today I noticed that one of the front wheels is much further forward in the wheel well than the other side.

The passenger side is in the middle, and the driver side is noticeably forward.

I can’t see any evidence of an accident. Seems on the bottom are all nice and straight and panel alignment is good. But it was restored about 10years ago.

Is it most likely a torqued tub from an accident or could it be something else?

Thanks
Christian

[Pinz712M]

Forgot to mention I measured it and it’s about a full 1” off.

Originally Posted by Pinz712M

I recently bought a 73 911. Today I noticed that one of the front wheels is much further forward in the wheel well than the other side.

The passenger side is in the middle, and the driver side is noticeably forward.

I can’t see any evidence of an accident. Seems on the bottom are all nice and straight and panel alignment is good. But it was restored about 10years ago.

Is it most likely a torqued tub from an accident or could it be something else?

Thanks
Christian

[freeform911]

Could is just be caster adjustment?

[juanbenae]

im imagining the car is,,, let's see... tangerine orange!

do you have any photos? not just the fender/wheel stuff you note, but strut towers, area up front where the hood rests when closed? battery box(es) hiding anything? how do the fenders fit in the body, bumper where it should be with good reveals? how does it drive?

does the horn work?

[Pinz712M]

I did look at a tangerine one...but this one is in gulf colors.

The car drives pretty well and does not pull even when braking. Also a Porsche shop in Denver (Eisenbuds) drove it and did not say anything about it pulling.

I can’t see any damage and the horns work. I did a quick measurement with my digital gauge and the caster is different by about 2degrees. Don’t think that would account for a whole inch though.

I’ll take the wheels off and take some better pictures. Here are a couple from when I bought it that shows the difference inside the wheel wells and one from below.

[Jim2]

This certainly looks a different size from the other side.

Possibly some hand built bodywork not uniform side to side.

[Pinz712M]

Yeah. Definitely looks off in the pictures. I’ll go measure

[Jim2]

Perhaps you want to measure from the door gap forward to both the front/rear of the wheel opening, see the variance.

[ian c2]

I think I recall the build pics from this car .

[Pinz712M]

Nice call Jim2. I measured from the rear wheels forward and I am off just shy of 1”.

I did measure from below as well and I am only off 3/8-1/2. As measure from the sway bar mount to the a-arm.

So I did more searching and found a small “crunch” zone on the passenger side. Where the wheel well meets up with the floor pan.

[Pinz712M]

Here are a couple of picture from both sides.

[Pinz712M]

So I checked the mounting points below. And i am really only 3/8” of as i can measure it. Probably within a margin of error doing it in my garage.

I also checked all the gaps around the doors, quarter panels and hood and they are all nice and even.

So I guess I need to find a good alignment and body shop to see what’s going on.

Thanks everyone.

[Tom '74 911]

When verifying these types of dimension I think it is critical to use underbody points of reference and not any parts of the exterior bodywork. This is especially true on cars with added flares or fiberglass body panels. Bodywork is typically installed and finished so it looks good visually, not necessarily so it is symmetrical etc...

In the photos of your car, the front wheels do not seem symmetrically aligned under the front arches, but it's quite possible that it's the arches, not the suspension that's off. Sounds like you're on the right track to suss out the issue...