'79 930 - A Tale of Two (different) Struts

[bronald44j42]

Hey Folks,

Bit of a conundrum here. Rebuilding the front suspension on my 930, using mostly Elephant components. Taking the struts off for new Bilsteins, weld on bracket for the bump steer supports and so on. And I discover I have 2 different struts, not just the difference between left and right, but an early NOS part number and the current part number. the LH strut 911 341 041 32 (date of 11/79) and RH strut 911 341 042 30 (date coded 6/79). The shock inserts are Bilstein as are the struts, it is stamped into the tubing on both. Both use the roll pin to hold the shock in place, and both were green

The newer strut is about 1" shorter, and has the standard seal/wiper, while the older part number is taller, and has a quite short seal/wiper. See pics.

Of course the car may have been wrecked, and the LH replaced, but no signs of that, and the date code would indicate they were both installed at build time.

Could just re assemble as is with asymmetric struts, or get a new, matching unit for the LH side and the Elephant seals / wipers.

Wondering if anyone has ever seen this or has any knowledge of the old part number strut and if it matters one way or the other about having matching units?

[bkreigsr]

I have never seen that, and would agree it is the result of a repair.
You could probably reassemble as is with the parts you show, with no negative handling consequences, but if it was me, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I knew the parts were that different.
YMMV
Bill K