Serious Help needed on Susp./Alignment from someone who has been through this

[mr.bch]

Forgive me, I am new. This is long winded, but I am at a crossroads with my 1981 911 SC. Here goes.

My SC has had a slant nose body kit placed on it. It is low (1/2" lower than Euro) and looks good. However, whoever lowered it, did so without regards to the alignment. In 3000 miles, I have chewed up a brand new set of front bridgestone S-02 225/45-17's on replica 7 1/2" cup rims . Boo hoo. The front inners of the tires are down to the wear bars. So I buy a full set of Kinesis Supercup rims that happen to have new rubber on it (sized 225/40-18 front). Perfect timing, I need new tires anyway (well, that's what I tell my wife, hehe). I don't want to install these until I align it, right? Right.
So... in the process of prepping for a full 4 wheel alignment and corner balance, which I have read in the past thread does wonders for the car, I crap out a fuel pump. So I pull that flat, heavy-arse steel under-tray and look at the fuel pump. Somewhere in between, I read about how the 'bounce test' for front struts doesn't really work, and that if your struts are old (mine appear original but pass the bounce test) you should replace them. The car DOES have some relatively new Bilstiens in the rear. I also notice my sway bar bushings are looking tired as are the A-arm bushings. I also look at the front torsion bar preload square head screw and wonder what way to turn it to get a bit more ride height.
With the car not running now due to fuel pump failure, what do I do??
I am thinking 2 things. Take the cheap route and just slap in a fuel pump and filter and get it running for the rest of the short summer (Michigan remember) and forget the alignment? Or while it is down pull everything, order and slap in new front Bilsteins, powder coat my A-arms, replace bushings, coat the fuel tank with that liquid stuff, wash and clean everything and get my rims put on and aligned. This would not get me on the road the fastest, but is what I really want to do.

Since this is my first 911, I REALLY want to drive it this summer. I already had to grit my teeth during the early months when I installed 996 brakes and redid the targa top (took longer than I thought). But I can't STAND doing things 1/2-arsed. It would bother me every night when I laid down. But, If I don't do everything now and take the cheap and quick route (fuel pump and filter), I am not going to get the alignment. And truthfully, it isn't that much fun to drive on cooked tires with the wheel jumping all over the place. Is there any way to 'guess' where to dial a extra thread of toe out or in? Someone must have a rough baseline feel of what happens to the toe when you drop a car, no? I read the Pelican tech article on home-done toe jobs, but it doesn't make sense. You are aligning front toe to each wheel but not to the car. You can have the wheel in a turn and get good toe numbers. I used to crew for a friend who did his own alignments on his Formula Vee but that was a long time ago and can't recall the exact procedure, and I know that with the tools he had, the alignemt was spot on. So, it must be possible. I was quoted 2.25 hours to sort the front and 1.25 to sort the rear by my trusted dealership alternative shop (Munk's Motors in Waterfrd, MI). Seems like a waste if I don't have everything fresh.

What do I do?

[rattlsnak]

Well doing it right is definitely the answer, which means replacing all the worn parts. An alignment shouldn't cost more than $100.-125. tops, total, for a 4 wheel alignment. You should also put the new wheels/tires on before the alignment, not after. A badly worn tire will affect alignment degrees, so you want to start out fresh. This whole project you're talking about, (asided from powder coating) should take a weekend at best, then to the alignmnet shop on Monday.

[911pcars]

If you want to drive it now (or pretty soon), I'd adjust the front end height (turn screws clockwise [righty-tighty] to raise), then have it aligned. As rattlsnak suggests, put the new wheels/tires on first. This is not optimum, but you're not going to hurt anything.

You can put off the rest until you can DIY this yourself or set aside the funds and time to catch up on the other repairs. However, you'll end up repeating the above once you decide to get the entire suspension in order.

Sherwood Lee
http://members.rennlist.org/911pcars

[jess p]

Certainly dropping the ride height will affect the alignment. The
question is are the tires worn due to poor alignment ( ie ride
height change or perhaps wear in the suspension system).
If you have excessive wear in the A-arm bushings, ball joints or tie rod wear, an alignment will be a waste of money. Perhaps
you should get your fuel pump, and then drive the car very
carefully till you can sort out these suspension issues.







77 911S
66 912 V8
66 912 2.2 WITH NITROUS

[jyl]

I would get it aligned and perhaps raised a bit, so that the tires fit and it is driveable, and then drive it carefully for the summer. Then I'd do the research and do the suspension refresh over the winter. You'll have more time, and may be gotten a better sense of what needs to be replaced. Ideally, someone would check the car to make sure it is safe, but I guess that depends on whether you have a good Porsche shop handy.

I'm in the middle of a DIY suspension refresh similar to what you seem to be contemplating. Shocks, bearings/monoballs, balljoints, CVs, etc. With this forum's help, it is proving to be straightforward. The sticky bits I've encountered have turned out to be my own fault for not researching, ahead of time, the best way to do it. Admittedly, the project is taking me a long time, but that's because it's the busy season at my work so I only have a few hours a week to do car stuff.

However, I wouldn't want to be doing this under time pressure. It is nice to take your time, clean and paint as you go, etc. Also, I've encountered almost no frozen or rusted fasteners, you might not be so lucky. Finally, it is costing a bit, the parts bill was >$2,000. Why not put that off until it's zero degrees outside? (You do have a heated place to work, yes?)

[mr.bch]

This is all great advice. Thanks a million. Perhaps I can just put it off to do it all right. I am not a good when it comes to rushing things, I always screw somehting up.

Maybe buy a whole set of extra used A-arms and get them powder coated (I use a place from work that p-coats for us and it looks great) and redo everything in advance and have it done so I can do it right during the late fall or winter. The bushings don't appear too bad, they still look like bushings and aren't falling apart. If I leave everything in tact for the remainder of the year, I can just get a toe alignment and milk it, and then get a real 4wheel alignment in the spring. It would be nice, albeit expensive, to drop my old front suspension and bolt up a shiney new one all done. On the GSXR forum, there is a lot of parts swapping that goes on so people aren't down without a ride. Like if you want to get your kickstand chromed, you buy a stock one, chrome it and then swap it with yours and sell it to the next person who wants a chrome kickstand but not be without their bike. Maybe if I take this approach, I can get some of the expense of buying struts and a-arms back when I am done. I guess I will have to start reading more past threads to see how far I want to go, monoballs, bronze bushings, what size bars to run, etc. While my fuel pump is on it's way, I am still thinking, though...