Followup questions after reading Pelican suspension posts.

[Jdub]

I've assembled a binder full of every front and rear suspension thread on Pelican. I'm doing this to get a complete top-down look at the job at hand. We are darn good I have to say!

But I do have a few questions about threads that seemed to be left open-ended. Here are my questions:

= Wedge bolt: Did we ever decide that the "old" profile wedge bolts are NLA? That Pelican and others only supply new profile (shorter, more bolt sticks out of wrong end) wedge bolts?
= Using long M8 bolts to pull in rear torsion bar cover: Anyone do this other than the original poster? Required to pull cover over bushing?
= Sport/HD Bilsteins matched to Tbars: Is there any graph or urban legends showing what tbars match what Bilsteins?
= Oil in strut housing: Did we decide that oil in the strut housing was to quiet potential rattle or was this rather a failing strut insert giving up its life blood?
= Warren recommends Valvoline #985/986 SynPower Synthetic grease for steering rack relube. Anyone have any differing lubes?
= The spacer that comes with the turbo tie rods: Does anyone actually use this? Why was it included?

Many, many thanks for helping me tie these loose ends together!

John

[Chuck Moreland]

Originally posted by Jdub

= Using long M8 bolts to pull in rear torsion bar cover: Anyone do this other than the original poster? Required to pull cover over bushing?

Yes I've done this succesfully.


= Sport/HD Bilsteins matched to Tbars: Is there any graph or urban legends showing what tbars match what Bilsteins?


Use sports for 22/28 and thicker. HD for thinner.


= Oil in strut housing: Did we decide that oil in the strut housing was to quiet potential rattle or was this rather a failing strut insert giving up its life blood?


Some racers put oil in the hosing to aid heat dissipation from the shock. There is limited physical contact between the shock and the strut, the oil aids heat conduction.

However, the more likely reason that oil is in a strut is a leaking shock.

[Neilk]

Originally posted by Jdub
I've assembled a binder full of every front and rear suspension thread on Pelican. I'm doing this to get a complete top-down look at the job at hand. We are darn good I have to say!

But I do have a few questions about threads that seemed to be left open-ended. Here are my questions:



= Using long M8 bolts to pull in rear torsion bar cover: Anyone do this other than the original poster? Required to pull cover over bushing? Works great. It would have been impossible to get the cover over the new Neatrix bushings without them.



= Oil in strut housing: Did we decide that oil in the strut housing was to quiet potential rattle or was this rather a failing strut insert giving up its life blood? Oil is there to conduct the heat to the strut.


Many, many thanks for helping me tie these loose ends together!

John

[masraum]

My understanding is that the only strut that you should expect to see oil in is the original Boge struts, all others should be dry.

The spacer in the turbo tie rod kit is to keep from damaging the rack as I understand it.

[Early_S_Man]

John,

Actually, the rear bushing covers are held on using M10 bolts ... and yes, a couple of different-length longer bolts can aid installing covers over new bushings!

The spacer in the Turbo tie-rod kit is to keep the threads from bottoming out in the rack ... there is a definite gap between the end of the rack and the Turbo threaded joint if you don't put the spacer in place!

Original KONI struits have hydraulic oil in the housing, since the strut housing serves as the outer tube of the assembled strut, and struts don't work well without the oil for dampening! For installation of replacement KONI inserts, glycol anti-freeze is recommended to be put in the strut housing for heat dissipation purposes.

[surflvr911sc]

You maybe able to get some more specific info if you lay out your plans but it looks like you have all the info you need.

Use the spacer w/ the tierods, otherwise the tierod will bottom out in the rack.
Edit: Warren beat me to it!

I used the Pelican supplied wedge bolts and they were fine, they just don’t sit almost flush like the old ones. Do not over tighten them or they will break, ask me how I know. There is also conflicting torque specs out there for them, I’m pretty sure Benleys had it right though.

Good luck, it’s fun and very well worth it!

[KFC911]

= Wedge bolt: Did we ever decide that the "old" profile wedge bolts are NLA? That Pelican and others only supply new profile (shorter, more bolt sticks out of wrong end) wedge bolts?

After being dis-satisfied with the wedge bolts that Pelican shipped me (two sets actually), I did order some from a local Porsche dealer (the only thing I've ever sourced locally), and those matched the taper of the originals, and did fit flush with the strut. This was just a few months ago.

ps. Although the wedge bolts that Pelican ships may be OK, I was not comfortable with the fact that about 3/16" of the skinny threaded portion of the bolt would be in the ball joint shaft notch instead of the tapered portion as the originals are. Someone mentioned their concerns about these bolts passing a track inspection, but I don't know about that...I just knew 'it wasn't right', and several local p-car folks agreed w/ my safety concerns.

[Shuie]

Originally posted by Jdub

= Oil in strut housing: Did we decide that oil in the strut housing was to quiet potential rattle or was this rather a failing strut insert giving up its life blood?

I was told to use oil (or antifreeze) as a coolant when I replaced my inserts.

[Jdub]

Thanks very much guys!

I am going to 21/26 w/ Sports, and now I am wondering if that is not such a great idea? TargaSC with maybe a DE or two in its future.

Again, many thanks for these (and future) responses,
John

[KTL]

Originally posted by Jdub

= Wedge bolt: Did we ever decide that the "old" profile wedge bolts are NLA? That Pelican and others only supply new profile (shorter, more bolt sticks out of wrong end) wedge bolts?

I got mine from Porsche when I did it and they fit fine. Not all bolts are created equal I guess? Sorry Pelican.

= Using long M8 bolts to pull in rear torsion bar cover: Anyone do this other than the original poster? Required to pull cover over bushing?

If you don't want to pull the covers on, your next best solution is smacking the heck out of the cover with a rubber mallet. Not a fun job. Me being the one-track-mind kinda guy, I didn't even think of using longer bolts to do this. I'll know better next time.

= Sport/HD Bilsteins matched to Tbars: Is there any graph or urban legends showing what tbars match what Bilsteins?

I'm pretty sure the theory behind the "sport for the rear, HD for the front" comes from the idea that the light front end of the 911 gets harsh with the sports. Chuck's recommendation makes more technical sense than mine. I went with 22/29 bars and HD front, sport rear per the recommendations of Steve Weiner. Feels plenty firm to me, but i'm a puss so others may think it's a bit soft. I also have rubber bushings everywhere on the car, so they most likely absorb most of the additional harshness.

=oil in strut housing: Did we decide that oil in the strut housing was to quiet potential rattle or was this rather a failing strut insert giving up its life blood?

Like the others said, it's a trick for cooling. But, some housings are actually the tube which contains the damping fluid and internal workings of the shock absorber- no casing like the replacement insert uses. Not only do the Konis that Warren mentioned do this, but the some of the Boge units are this way as well. See attached picture of my original Boge strut damper guts.

= Warren recommends Valvoline #985/986 SynPower Synthetic grease for steering rack relube. Anyone have any differing lubes?

The recommendation I found in my Clymer 914 manual was for 0.8 oz. = two tablespoons of MoS[size=0.25]2[/size] EP grease. So any molybdenum disulphide grease will do, but Warren's Valvoline recommendation is what I went with after seeing what a non-synthetic original grease looked like when doing my rack. Not much left in there (kind of a dry paste) and a good bit of oily goo in the accordian boots.

[KFC911]

= Sport/HD Bilsteins matched to Tbars: Is there any graph or urban legends showing what tbars match what Bilsteins?

Like Kevin, I too followed Steve Weiner's advice. I think the key is to pick a 'known' combination that works well in unison, and Steve has plenty of experience in this area. I had already upgraded to Bilstein HDs in front, Sports in the rear, so after talking with Steve, I went w/ Sander's hollow t-bars 22 front/29 rear. I don't disagree with Chuck's recommendation either, as there isn't necessarily a right/wrong answer as much as picking a combo that 'works well'. I would also highly recommend Chuck's poly/bronze control arm and spring plate bearings (since you're in there)...and man are they nice!