Looking for someone with shortened LWB trailing arms on SWB

[SirMaeXchen]

Hey,

I am currently finishing my 911 SWB with a 3.2SS-engine with 46 Weber carbs and twin-plug. The owner before me already restored and modded the vehicle. On the rear axle, the previous owner used LWB trailing arms, that were shortened to the SWB length to fit a 915 transmission (including camshafts) and the stronger brakes.

Unfortunately, the shortening was not done very well. It seems, that the trailing arms were shortened too much, so that the situation looks like this:






I would like to improve the situation, because the car is too low and the dampers are near their end-position (stop) which would lead to a very bumpy ride.

Unfortunately, I cannot raise the car to a higher level because the dampers have not enough clearance to do that and would be bent. See the images here:




BTW: My car looks like on the images below at the moment. The car is a 911S from 1967 that was restored by someone that I don't know. I bough it half-finished with a proper body and a ruined engine. I rebuilt the complete engine and the electrical system and changed some stuff in the interior. I'm in love with the optics, especially the fuses in the interior and the colored dashboard was an amazing piece of work by the previous owner.






My questions are:
- Can someone help me with the trailing arms?
- Did anyone experience similar issues? How did you solve this?
- Does anyone know if someone offers steel trailing arms for 915 transmission and big brakes for the SWB?

My next step - if I don't get any hints - would be to weld an adaptor to my existing trailing arms. But appreciate any hint!

Best,
Max

[jmz]

You can use normal swb trailing arms too. You may need to change output flanges to 914 type on the 915 box. Search I think haycat911 posts. I can find it for you later too.

I’m doing same on my 68. Keep us informed if you find someone modifying lwb arms

[SirMaeXchen]

Hey JMZ,

I don't want to use them, because it would mean new brakes, new camshafts (with custom flange...). In addition, I would lose stiffness compared to the solution I have now. That's why I want to stick witch my trailing arms up till now. I found the threads also. Thanks for the hint!

Best,
Max

[SWS911]

I would have moved the rear flares back and made it a LWB and run '69-'71 rear trailing arms since originality wasn't a concern.

[1QuickS]

I kept the SWB hubs & grafted LWB bananas to it and made a lower shock mount like uses on the RSRs. I also relocated inner pivots but that is not the issue here. I'm not sure if LWB hubs provide a feature for grafting a fabricated mount like mine since they do not have the longer hub for bearings like the SWB hubs do.

[TRE Cup]

People used to mod lwb arms for swb chassis for racing. Fred Baker Trans am car (the red #8 that Dick Smothers drove a few time) was set up this way. Their thinking was the stronger bearing that the lwb arms had and construction were stronger than the earlier version

Now to your problem. Since the angle of the shock within the shock tower is off, you show the dust cover rubbing against the main shock tube. Eventually this will rub through (same thing happens on aluminum arm installs to a 69-71 model)
What to do? Simple, remove the shock from the car, cut the dust shield so it just encapsulates the rubber bumper inside on rod. While you are at it , you can cut one ring of the bump rubber. Reassemble.
Yes, the angulation is not correct, but it should not rub anymore. Check to make sure the body of the shock does not rub against the inside of the rear cross member shock bridge tubes. If it does, then you need more work to get those lwb arms to fit.
A simpler option for the DIY-er is to take the engine and trans out, cut out the shock bridge and weld in one from a 72-89 donor < hint the late ones are large enough that you can fit coil overs in the future if you like.
Cutting/ welding control arms, without a proper fixture, will be no fun

[donporfi]

Somewhere I read there was a company in the UK that did that modification to the LWB trailing arms to fit a SWB.
If I find that post, I will let you know.

[jmz]

Originally Posted by donporfi

Somewhere I read there was a company in the UK that did that modification to the LWB trailing arms to fit a SWB.
If I find that post, I will let you know.

That was I believe done by user name here “Chris Seven” that passed away recently

[SirMaeXchen]

Originally Posted by jmz

That was I believe done by user name here “Chris Seven” that passed away recently

Sad to hear. Do you know of anyone that worked wit him or used the trailing arms?

[SirMaeXchen]

Originally Posted by TRE Cup

[...]

Now to your problem. Since the angle of the shock within the shock tower is off, you show the dust cover rubbing against the main shock tube. Eventually this will rub through (same thing happens on aluminum arm installs to a 69-71 model)
What to do? Simple, remove the shock from the car, cut the dust shield so it just encapsulates the rubber bumper inside on rod. While you are at it , you can cut one ring of the bump rubber. Reassemble. [...]

Hey @TRE Cup: You mean the image below, right? Are you referring to removing the whole dust cover?