Suspension rehab (slow) progress pics

[efhughes3]

I'm getting old, I guess. I just can't work as long as I used to before my back starts to go. So, I just budget more time, I guess.

At any rate, I got the "technical" part of the rear done, from here on, it's just assembly. The Elephant bushings went in quite easily, just like the fronts did. I did screw around a bit getting the angle of the dangle right, ending up with a net 30 degrees of angle to the spring plate with no load. The Sway-Aways came with some black "donut" spacers that might be needed for the inner bushings, and I did end up using them as without them, the bearings didn't mate with the races all of the way. As a result, you can see a little bit of the orange urethane revealed on the inner part.



Using Chuck's instructions on using both the 5mm and3mm spacers, the t-bar cover fit nicely, and the spring plate rotated freely.



Definitely worth the $10 or so at Lowe's or Home Depot to get an angle indicator.



Remembered the anti-seize on the height adjustment screws.



Here is some new hardware for the trailing arm pivots. The beloved lock nuts are strange, if you look at them. They are basically smashed to make a bit of an oval on the end. Why didn't Porsche just use nylocks?



I snuck another early Christmas present in: Monoballs for the front.

[efhughes3]

The new 993 calipers mean I finally had to put my 3 piece HRE's on. Here is the new on the car vs the old. I guess I'll have a nice set of Fuchs for sale soon...

[Chuck Moreland]

Hi Ed

Do I understand that you put a SAW provided spacer behind the bronze bearing, thus spacing it out and exposing the polyurethane?

I don't think you want to do that. SAW spring plates have a design "limitation" in that the spline engagement is limited. Your approach is compounding the problem.

Better to fully seat the bronze bearing in the torsion tube. Then remove either the 3mm or 5mm spacers (or both) to remove any slack.

As per the instructions, you want to test fit the cover plate without the torsion bar. Use no more spacer under the cover plate than is required to allow free movement of the spring plate.

[efhughes3]

Thanks Chuck, I understand what you're saying. I did test fit without the t-bars, but I seemed to be putting a lot of torque to try and get the inner race to seat all of the way into the bearing. It was missing by about a 1/4". I put the SW spacers, about a 1/4" in the t-bar tube, and it all went together well, and the plate swung freely. I'll put it all out and take the spacers out and give it another go tomorrow.

Shoot, now that I think about it, in hindsight maybe I was locked in on using the 3 and 5mm spacers, which could be the problem!

[randywebb]

my bet is that the nylok wouldn't be strong enough

maybe the cold + age is the issue - not age alone?

[efhughes3]

Randy: If it was cold in Dallas, I'd maybe use that as an excuse. It was about 60 today, however.

Chuck-BTW, thanks for getting the front monos out for me, as you can see I rec'd them.

[Chuck Moreland]

Originally posted by efhughes3

Shoot, now that I think about it, in hindsight maybe I was locked in on using the 3 and 5mm spacers, which could be the problem!

There is a LOT of variation, car to car, in the torsion tube protrusion. Even side-to-side on the same car. If Fritz welded the torsion tube deep by just 1/8 inch, then the other side protrudes 1/8 inch. The two sides then measure 1/4 inch (6mm) difference.

Because of this variation, it is important to use the right thickness spacers for your individual car, and each side.

The SAW spring plate really have an issue with limited spline engagement. The splined section on the plate is just not long enough, so they experience partial engagement on the tbars.

I've had some customers place a spacer between the torsion bars, moving each bar out 1/4 inch or so, trading some inner splien engagement to improve outer spline engagement.

[jpahemi]

The Nyloc nuts are not Grade 10.9 as are the steel units; don't use the Nyloc nuts if you don't want your plates to come loose.
j.p.

[efhughes3]

I'm not using nylock, that's why I got the Porsche parts. Just a curiosity. I used AN grade nylocks on my airplane, so I got to believe there are indeed nylocks strong enough for the car.

[jpahemi]

Can you find 10.9 nylocks?? Whether it's for aircraft or automobile, doesn't it depend on the application?
j.p.

[efhughes3]

Several versions of AN locknuts, including nylon...

http://www.gen-aircraft-hardware.com/images/pdf/Locknuts.pdf

[Evans, Marv]

Ed,
What do you mean the bearings didn't mate with the races all of the way? Are you saying the inner aluminum bearing surface didn't mate all the way with the outer bronze race? Or are you saying the outer polyurethane didn't mate all the way into the recess of the torsion tube? If it's the latter, I had a little problem getting the passenger side bearing to slide into the torsion tube. I used silicone spray and it went in with some effort. The other side slid in super easily - almost seemingly too easy.

[efhughes3]

I got both bearings in ok, I just spaced out on the spacers I think, no pun intended. I'll take it apart tomorrow, and try again without the donuts.

[Wavey]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by efhughes3
[B]I'm getting old, I guess. I just can't work as long as I used to before my back starts to go. So, I just budget more time, I guess.

Know what you mean Ed - guess that's partially why my suspension/brake poject took 5 months!

Originally posted by efhughes3
Here is some new hardware for the trailing arm pivots. The beloved lock nuts are strange, if you look at them. They are basically smashed to make a bit of an oval on the end. Why didn't Porsche just use nylocks?

So -you bought new OEM hardward and that's what you got? My '88 had wavy washers and standard nuts when I took it apart, which is what I used for reassembly. I wonder if the metal locks were standard for your year? Same thing they do for the big rear axle nuts.

Did you get everything sorted out?

[efhughes3]

Wavey: I don't see why these locknuts work better than any other kind...

I am making some progress, got the suspension mostly back together this past weekend: She's starting to look like she may actually drive again

[Jesset100]

looking forward to your front monoball installation. That is next on my to do list.