thx for reactivating this very informative thread, Frank

- would you object to continuing the digression re whether monoball top strut mounts by themselves add much NVH?

Very interesting that you powder coated the trailing arms.....I like the clear finish look, anyone have any experience with durability of powder coating in that application? I suspect that it would be pretty good, but then again there is a lot of road grime and grit going past those things.

D.

I don't mind, as long as it does not get too inflammatory, as that tends to turn people away.

Now that folks have had more time with the monoballs since this topic was last discussed here, it would be interesting to see if any opinions have changed, or if there have been any longevity issues. Plus we should get some additional data points from the new installations.

I changes directions slightly from my original plan for suspension components. I'll explain more when I cover the re-install of the F/R suspension.

I'm hoping that it will be durable as I've seen front control arms that have been powder coated and still looked good years later. I wanted to PC the arms because of the corrosion caused by the brake dust.

Btw, the trailing arms were coated in silver, not clear. I tried clear on the aluminum front cross member at first, and it came out looking a very dull gray (the PC shop indicated Al does not usually look good in clear). So, the shop suggested going with silver for all the aluminum pieces. I chose a silver that was the closest to Al in color, and had very fine metallic flakes - I wanted to avoid something that looked too blingy. They came out looking much better than the clear (IMO), and hopefully not too blingy :). Ignore the duct tape all over the arms - I put that there for protection as I was wrestling with the arms when pressing in the bearings and hubs.

Weekend update.

Not suspension related, but I got the pedal cluster re-assembled and ready to install - just waiting on some rubber bumpers (another long story on the "unique" '77 pedal cluster that I'll post more on later). And, of course, when I cleaned up the dirt and grease on the floor pan area around the cluster, I found some surface rust. So another few hours sanding, applying Metal Ready (zinc phosphate), and then POR15.

I'm going to wait on installing the pedal cluster until after I pull the brake and fuel lines through the tunnel to provide more access to the front tunnel area. And I won't be pulling the brake & fuel lines until after the paintwork - so pretty soon I'm going to be running out of projects and waiting on paint.

Assembled pedal cluster:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1359348751.jpg


Then it was on to disassembling the steering rack. I was not having any trouble with the rack, however after 36 years I thought it might be time to clean it out and put in fresh grease. And as long as I have it all apart, I'll replace the two pinion bearings as cheap insurance ($20).

Rack housing and pinion:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1359349380.jpg


Now back to an actual suspension related update. Some suspension goodies were delivered this week. Check out the artwork from Chuck and Clint :). This would look good just mounted on a wall.

OEM Spring Plate, Elephant Racing Splined Hub Kit, and Rebel Racing RSR Spring Plate Bushing Set:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1359349867.jpg


In preparation for installing the RSR spring plate bushings, I did a quick test fit of the outer inboard race into the left torsion tube - it would not fit (ID of torsion tube too small). Upon inspection, the problem was rust build-up in the tube from the old failed rubber bushing. Here is what it looked like at the start (this shot is actually after using a wire wheel for about a minute):
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1359350392.jpg

There were large clumps of rust at about the 10 and 2 O'Clock positions that the wire wheel would not remove. I moved to a Dremel with a sanding barrel, and that was better, but still not very effective. Then I switched to a ball-shaped grinding attachment on the Dremel, and that worked really well - cut right through the hardened rust. I finished up with the wire wheel, leaving me with this:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1359350655.jpg

Question: Does anyone know if the metal ring visible in torsion tube can be replaced? As you can see, mine is badly rusted everywhere except the top. I looked in PET where the torsion tube is listed, but not see this part. And are those two holes for drainage? Should they be at the bottom?

With the torsion tube cleaned out, the RSR race fits in perfectly snug:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1359350937.jpg


I applied Metal Ready to the bare metal in torsion tube, and would also like to apply a coat of POR15 to this area, but I don't know if the JB Weld used to hold the RSR race in the torsion tube will adhere to POR15. I'll ask Clint at RR, but does anyone have any experience with this?

That's all for now. I should get the steering rack bearings this week so I can finish that project next weekend. And I just might get my fenders back from the body shop this week, so things are starting to come together. I still need to resolve my differential carrier bearing issue though...

nice frank...please post what clint says about how to treat the torsion tube area as i an about to do this project also...thx, bob

Nice thread. Thanks for posting it.

Bob,

I posed the question about using JB Weld on top of POR15 in the torsion tube to all three parties involved here: Rebel Racing, JB Weld, and POR15. The responses were:

RR: Recommend JB Weld on bare metal
JBWeld: Do not apply JB Weld over any paint or coating - only to bare metal
POR15: "I have guys here in the office that have used the JB Weld over POR-15 before with good success. Just make sure you sand the surface before you start to apply the JB Weld."

I had a few email exchanges with rep from POR15 and he also mentioned that the JB Weld can be applied while the POR15 was tacky. But if it has already dried, then sand first to make the surface rough.

I suspect the folks at JB Weld stated that their product should only be applied to bare metal, never over any paint or coating (I told them I planned to use POR15 specifically) as this is the safest answer for them given they likely have no experience with the bonding properties of JB Weld to POR15, or POR15 to metal.

I still have some time to research this. I sure would like to seal that area with POR15, but then again I don't want to do this over if the epoxy bond does not hold. Actually, now that I think about it, with the ER splined hub, if necessary I could simply remove just the hub and leave the spring plate (and alignment) untouched. Hmmm, it may not be too bad.

thx frank for the info...did you find out if those 2 little holes @ 7 o-clock in your pic are for drainage, vent holes, ect...?? thus, can they or should they be covered up w/ jb weld...?? thx, bob

My 2 cents. Don't know if you bought shocks yet, but I put a set of heavy duty Bilsteins in my '71 and it's the best thing I ever did, great ride and handling. Kind of spendy but worth it. They can be custom valved if necessary.

Bob,

I have not received any further information on the ring in the tube. I plan to post a new thread about just that part to see if I can gain some insight.

Kevin,
Thanks for the Bilstein suggestion - I have heard good things about them. I have already purchased the adjustable Konis for the front so I'm hoping I'll be happy with them.

Not as much progress as I had hoped this passed weekend. I'm waiting for an O-Ring and Tire Rub Kit to arrive before I can finish assembly of the steering rack. And I need to get my 28-row brass cooler packed up and sent to Pacific Oil Cooler.

However on a positive note - a little forward progress. While not suspension related, the body shop finished the work on the fenders (metal repair and paint underside), so I picked them up on Saturday. Plus, the shop owner told me he can start on the chassis work in a couple of weeks instead of later this spring as originally estimated. Now I'm scrambling researching how to build a dolly to get the chassis to the shop. This is going to be fun.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1360043202.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1360043237.jpg

Progress is always good brother! :)

Good luck with the dolly. Hopefully she'll be on the road that much sooner.

Nice to watch your project moving forward at the same time as mine. Just keep movin forward. :)

Thanks Craig. I'm hoping my next batch of parts arrive by Friday so I can finish up the steering rack this weekend. If not, I'm sure I'll have more than enough to keep me busy building the dolly. I do have to make one more trip to the powder coating shop as well.

What's the plating or finish on your original spring arms?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1359349867.jpg

I asked about the holes a couple of times in the thread I started for the retaining rings:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/732522-question-about-rings-torsion-tube.html

but never received any feedback on them (plenty of other info, though). One thing I did discover in a thread started by Chuck at ER on the repair of a torsion tube for a '66 is that the early cars did not have the holes (at least the car in that thread did not). I'm not sure when they first appeared.

Also, the photo I show above is for the left side. The two holes on the right side of my car are about at the 5 O'Clock position - so about the same position for both sides if you were to draw a line through the torsion tube. So apparently they are not as some random spot, but I would like to get a larger sample size.

It's standard yellow zinc that has been clear powder coated. It does not actually look that color in person, the flash caused some weird reflection. The clear powder coating does darken and dull the plating at bit though.

I will be having the ER adjustable hubs powder coated as well to match the spring plates (and all the other suspension pieces).

Great thread,..thanks!

Doyle

I made some progress this weekend on some of the various projects, so I'm happy about that.

Brass Oil Cooler:
I got the 28-row brass oil cooler polished and packaged up to send to Pacific Oil Cooler for cleaning and testing.

Oil Thermostat:
I wanted to clean up the external/aux oil thermostat. The oil tank and all lines & cooler are out of the car, so working on separating the lines from the thermostat is much easier. I had actually removed the two lines leading back to the tank/engine some time ago. As usual, the steel line fittings were (galvanic) corroded to the aluminum thermostat. I tried heat and PB Blaster, but no luck with a wrench after several days. Since I was replacing these two lines anyway, and did not want to damage the aluminum threads on the thermostat, I used the method of cutting the nut and using a chisel to crack it. Worked perfectly. btw, if you ever need to do this and want to re-used the line, ER makes a repair kit with a special nut.

Today I removed the hard lines from the thermostat leading up to the external cooler. I needed to be more careful with these as I plan to re-use them (expensive to replace), hence I wanted avoid splitting the nut if possible. I had been soaking them with PB Blaster every month or so for the past several months, so I first tried a wrench and heat - as expected, no luck. So then I simply cut a shallow (~1mm) groove in the nuts and used a hammer and chisel to turn it. It took only 5-10 hits for the fastener to break free, after which I could easily wrench it off, and the aluminum threads are fine. I don't have any pictures to post of the cut I made, but will try to post one later.

Transmission:
I received a spacer I ordered to serve as special P-357 tool, and finished making the backlash measurement tool (P-259) to allow me to make some preliminary measurements of backlash and preload. I can't really compare my preload values with the spec because I have the main shaft installed (will measure high), but it appears to be close (~40 in-lb). However, the backlash should match the spec but seems to be a bit high (0.30mm). I still need to anchor the main shaft and measure backlash again. Once I have these measurements, I can remove the differential carrier bearings, check the manufacturer, order new bearings (same manuf), re-assemble everything, and then check the backlash/preload again. After all that, if the backlash & preload numbers for the new bearings aren't close to what they were for the old bearings, the gearbox goes off to the shop to have it set-up by someone who has the knowledge and tools to do this.

Chassis Dolly:
I just crawled around under the car a little to determine the best attachment points. So far I'm leaning towards the three bolts at the front of the control arms for the front, and the transmission mounting bolts for the rear. I did not want to use the engine motor mount points as the shop will be painting in that area.

Steering Rack:
Still waiting on the O-Ring and Tire Rub Prevention Kit, so no progress...

Checking backlash:http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1360564112.jpg

Nice floor too. Same here.