What should I do to "refresh" my front end
 

Well I've got the girl on jacks, in midst of rebuilding front calipers, new front wheel bearings and rotors. While she's sitting there somewhat dis-assembled, I'm thinking that maybe I ought to take advantage of this time, and kind of "refresh" the front end. What would be on the list? I've not really done much front suspension work in the past, so I'm really not familiar with what bushings etc could/should be replaced. I've already got a front strut brace, and I guess Turbo tie rod ends would be on the top of the list. What else? Is there a good book describing the processes?

I refreshed my front suspension (and rear) over the winter. Here's what I did:

1) A-arm bushings. Fairly easy to install. Do a search through prior discussions, plenty of info. I used poly; I believe there is a vendor selling Neatrix bushings as well which is softer than poly but harder than stock.

2) Turbo tie rods. Definitely worth doing.

3) Check ball joints for up/down movement. Jack car, put on stands. Jack under tire and lift tire (or use pry bar). Look for play.

4) Torsion bars. Stiffer, but do as a set (front/rear).

5) Weltmeister sway bars.

6) New shocks.

Obviously, not all of these need to be done. But this would make a "new" front end.

Colby

If you have old shocks/struts that may make the biggest difference.

if not done in the last 20 years, every piece of rubber in the suspension should be replaced. Including the sway bar bushings, and the upper shock mount bushings. Do the rear also.

People say to replace grease every 5-10 years based on shelf life.

Thanks guys for the input. It would seem that there are 4 Control arm bushings, and 4 sway bar bushings as I research. Did I forget anything? If I do Turbo Tie Rods, do I still need new ball joints, or are they part of the new tie rods?

The 4 control arm bushings are only available in stock form from the factory by purchasing new control arms as the bushings are vulcanized onto the arm at the time of manufacture. The replacement plastic and softer poly bushings are garbage IMO, I ended up doing custom lathe work to get the fool things to fit half way decent. I'd suggest just spending the cash now and getting a set of Elephant Racing bronze control arm bushings available from Pelican. A much better solution IMO... I have an 84 coupe and wish I had gone that route.

The ball joints are seperate from the tie rods. Be prepared for some fun getting the big nut off that holds them on. Not always a problem but all too often you need to be gettin' midevil on em...

Yeah, I'd pretty much landed on the Elephant Racing bushings, they seem to be worth the $$.

Steve is right on about the front shock absorbers. Mine were gone after 64K miles. Didn't really feel like there was anything wrong, but when I compressed the rods get them out of the shock tower, they were ultra easy to compress compared to the new Bilsteins (HD version).

The control arm bushings are always a topic of discussion when this comes up. I'm a sissy boy so I went the factory rubber bushing route. But I didn't buy new control arms. I had SmartRacing install new OE style rubber bushings to the tune of just under $400. OUCH. If I were to do it again I would use Chuck Moreland/Elephant Racing's 2nd Gen. bronze bushings.

Something I always try to talk people into doing is to relube the steering rack. You'd be surprised how much grease IS NOT in there anymore. It's an easy job and not a big deal if you're going to do the tie rods anyway.

Torsion bars make a big difference in the feel of the car. Car feels more solid with upgraded bars. Not harsh. Just tighter.

If you want stiff handling and a little more harshness , then go with stiffer sway bars.

The "good book" you're looking for is Wayne's 101 Projects for your 911. Good info. on all sorts of maintenance and upgrade projects for the 911. The book with all the torque specs and tech. info. is the Bentley Publishers 1984-89 Porsche 911 Service Manual. Both are great books to have when wrenching on your car.

Kevin:

Thanks for the reply, I've got both books, but I guess I didn't remember 101 Projects covering front suspension. It's been a long day, that damn work stuff keeps clogging my brain.

In doing my front end refresh, I thought the stock sway bar was a big pain - always getting in the way, I seemed to spend a lot of time wrestling with it. If I were doing this again, I'd put in an adjustable sway bar with drop links that can be easily disconnected.

" relube the steering rack. You'd be surprised how much grease IS NOT in there anymore."

- Huh. Something I didn't do -- how does one doe this? Where is the lube point for the grease? And does it require a special grease, or can I just use my regular Swepco?

Steering Rack "Rebuild" Procedure

That old Clymer manual rocks. They don't make many service manuals like that anymore- which is a shame. Something I didn't include in the above post would be to make sure you mark the orientation of the rack when you slide it out of the rack housing. In other words, it is possible to install it in the opposite direction than it was originally installed. Probably doesn't make a difference, but I still think it's a good idea to put things back together in the same orientation as originally assembled. Also make sure to center the rack before reinstalling it. Very easy. Just measure the exposure of the rack on both sides of the housing and make sure there is an equal length of the rack exposed on both sides.

Any good molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) grease will do. I used Dow-Corning BR4 wheel bearing grease. That would be because I had some left over from redoing my front wheel bearings. Otherwise i'd use Swepco, Valvoline SynPower, Neo, Redline, Mobil 1........... There's all sorts of good greases out there. Best one to choose would be a long life grease.