Spring Plate Zinc Plating & Reassembly Help

[Glasgow 911SC]

I just got my spare set of adjustable spring plates re-plated. They look pretty cool now.


I have some spare adjustment bolts which I got plated too but I've forgotton which ones are which. the pic below shows 3 different types. Only 2 are correct, the left one (camber bolt) is correct but the toe bolt I'm not sure about. the middle one has a sort of cam and is centric. the right hans side one is just centric. Any ideas?



Also does anyone know the correct setup for all 4 of the bolts i.e. which ones have washers (including those tiny lock washers) and where?

Thanks

[Glasgow 911SC]

B-U-M-P

[Jdub]

The furthest right one, that has the allen head, is correct. The middle bolt is not.

I have this all sketched out at home. The Bentley manual has a decent breakdown of this, as does the Parts Book.

Also note that the two bolt/nut combos at the non-tbar end of your spring plate do not orient the same. That is, one of the bolts goes in from the swingarm side, the other from the springplate side. I don't remember which one orients which, but I have always observed this on all factory cars.

Finally, I would stamp a small punch mark on the small rounded section of your springplate, just between the bolt and edge, and do the very same thing on the springplate itself. This helped me measure how far I was moving the two in relation when I went to adjust rear height.

Very nice, I am jealous. I simply painted mine but wish I could have sprung for the plating.

John

[911pcars]

If I'm not mistaken, all the eccentric bolts have an internal hex (lower end of each shown).

The longer ones (first two) are for late model 911s with alloy control arms. The short one on the right is for early 911s with steel control arms. You'll see when you try to install them.

BTW, my plater tell me hydrogen embrittlement occurs with yellow zinc plating. Critical fasteners should be stress-relieved (heat treatment) following plating. These should be okay as they're merely establishing a position between the spring plate and the control arm - not "fastening".

Sherwood

[jyl]

This thread and the pics in it may help

Spring Plate Reassembly After Plating

[Glasgow 911SC]

Ah. Excellent info chaps.

John,
I'll remember the orientation tip when reinstalling (I'll copy the existing crud covered ones).

So the ones that use the small lockwasher type are shown below. The camber and the 2 trailing arm bolts. The toe also uses them but with no 'big' washer? Anyone know if the trailing arm (non eccentric) bolts use 1 or 2 of the big washers? I thought 2 but the parts diagram below shows only 1. The pic seems to be for a non-adjustable plate but I think it should be similar.



Sherwood,
I had heard about the embrittlement issues on this board (possibly through you??) so the guy did the heat treatment thing for me.

[Glasgow 911SC]

John L,
Thats the thread I was looking for!! Couldn't seem to get it. So is that how it ended up for you? Seems different from the diagram but I was sure there were 2 washers for each of the trailing arm to plate bolts. And you didn't use a lock washer on the toe?

Not in any hurry to fit these yet as I've yet to purchase new bushings. Chuck's bronze ones would look the part but I can't justify the cost considering I'm low on funds at the moment. Neatrix will have to do.

[jyl]

I think I used two washers on the trailing arm to plate bolts, and no lock washer on the toe eccentric.

[anil999]

Hi Chris

Those spring plates look really good.
Could you tell me what sort of prep work did you do to them before sending them to the platers, and can I ask how much did they cost to plate?

Cheers

Anil

[Glasgow 911SC]

hi Anil,
I removed the old bushes using Chuck M's heating the tube method. then I just got a wirebrush on the end of a drill and went to it. I cleaned it up as best I could.



That's them before plating. The one at the start of the thread is the best looking one. The other has pits in it where corrosion had got to it before. Still looks great though. The plater did the necessary extra prep work. The outcome was really good because he individualy wires each nut and bolt giving a better coating (so I've been told). I cant remember the exact price (my dad sent it off with bits for his Norton commando) but I think it was around £70ish?? He wasn't the cheapest quote I received but he seemed the most knowledable out of the guys I spoke to. I'll dig out his info for you.