boge self leveling strut ?conversion

[pjh69911]

does anyone know if is is possible to convert the Boge self leveling strut (from 1969E with 3.5 in caliper spacing) to use a normal insert? Maybe this has been done already?

[Scott Clarke]

It has been done. A search will find relevant threads. It is more common just to replace the struts with conventional units.
-Scott

[Early_S_Man]

Here is a scan of a conversion kit that is now NLA ... you need ALL of the parts to do a 'conversion'.

[Scott Clarke]

Warren-
Why do you need the A arms and the crossmember? Can't you just install conventional struts (preferably along with late style ball joints) and torsion bars?
-Scott

[randywebb]

Why not put in a complete Carrera front end? Many adv's to that -- Al Xbar, fuel pump mount, better brakes, and IIRC, better hubs...

[pjh69911]

Thanks for the suggestions! I was really hoping to use the self leveling assembly by removing the internals, and use ?spacers and a new strut insert? or is it just too short for available inserts?

[jhora]

pjh69911

To answer your questions...yes you can convert the self-leveling to inserts. I did not do this myself but have a setup that I removed from a 69' parts car. The top is threaded and has a cap some what like the standard strut and an internal sleeve at the top to hold and center the insert. This is needed as the hydro strut has a larger diameter that the standard one. These changes look as if they were added for the change over. They do have the 3.5" caliper spacing and it had standard Bilstein inserts in them. They are definately heaver than the standard strunt as they seem to be cast steel and not a thin wall tube like the standard strut. I never used them because I did not want the extra weight on a track car. It used the regular A arms and ball joint so really all you would have to do is just replace the strut.
Hope this helps.

John

[Early_S_Man]

I think some of you are forgetting about the matter of a spring support medium ... which disappears when you put a shock insert in place of the Boge HP unit ...

IIRC, the HP control arms weren't splined for torsion bars, hence their incorporation into the 'kit!' The crossmember wasn't designed for the adjuster caps and adjuster bolt, either ... so a new crossmember was provided in the kit.

[SC-targa]

Warren, I'm glad you chimed in about the torsion bars. Since no one had mentioned it, I was begining to think maybe the self leveling struts did use t-bars, which made no sense at all.

Jerry Kroeger

[Oldporsche]

There is another piece necessary that isn't included in the pictured convesion kit. The splined socket recievers in the body for the torsion bars must be there for this conversion to work. I have been told that there were some 69-70' bodies that didn't have the sockets welded in. My guess is that the 69E bodies of Reuters mfg would be the most likely to not have them.

The rest of conversion can be fairly straight forward. I have done several. The upright/strut is steel tubing just like all the rest of the struts. You will need to use some sort of sleeve in the bottom of the strut to locate the bottom of the shock insert. If you use inserts ment for Koni struts, they will need a thicker sidewall than those for Boge. I have never done a conversion using the Bilstein insert.

Good luck,
David Duffield

[zotman72]

Four years ago, I got "hoodwinked" into buying a set of converted hydropneumatic struts by fellow PCA racer at a swapmeet. Me being not too sharp on 911 struts at the time, I was looking to get the some 3.5 " spacing struts for bigger brakes on my T. I had starting slipping down that steep slope of being newbie track junkie. This accomodating fella said he had a pair of Boge 3.5 struts off his wrecked 914 that even had RSR raised spindle heights, he had them set aside for me... Oh boy I was swallowed that hook big time. $400 later, I discovered what I had purchased required 16" wheels, old style balljoints and yes by god they were Boges, but Boge Hydropneumatics! Needless to say I was torqued, literally. After trying for a couple months to get them to work for me with my collection of twelve 15 inch rims, I threw in the towel and got a set of real RSR Bilstein struts. They finally sold here on Pelican last spring for a lot less money than $400.

Ok I digress, but here is what was inside of my Boge struts.

Inside the the strut, was an adjustable Koni insert with aluminium spacer centering ring on the top. The Koni insert was tapered towards the bottom and had a little centering extension at the balljoint end. This conversion was apparently the popular method for these struts 15-20 years ago. The Koni struts are still available, but the spacer ring might be a hard item to source. HTH

[Oldporsche]

That's interesting.

I have a conversion sitting under my '70E. It has the 14" wheels on it too.

My guess is that whomever did the conversion on your struts also messed up the geometry on the axle stub?

Good luck,
David Duffield