My theory on how wheel bearings are the anti-christ......or whileyoureinthereitis....

[berettafan]

Looking back at my Pelican order history i can see the whole thing unfold.

It all started with a comment about possible loose front bearings at my last autocross. Sent the hubs out to have new bearings put in (say what you want about just driving them in i'll never do that).

"oh dear" says me, "i've been talking of replacing my suspension bushings for three years now and need to just do it".

So i struggled with which brand of front rubber bushings i should buy and, long long long story short i went Elephant.

"Hoy" i says (my stepfather was Jewish so i have some insight into the brotherhood)....."$200 over budget on the bushings!" But i learn to live with it because hey, it's a frickin automotive icon and the mechanical love of my life for the love of pete and it deserves some nice treatment.

I say 'budget' like i had one. Yeah, sure.

So i pull the front t-bars.

"well ****, they've been rubbing....there goes another $200".

A few days later this turns into "well if'n i gotta buy new front bars why not stiffen that baby up and bump the size front AND back because hey, now's the time while i'm replacing the bushings."

So what's another $470 right?

What's that? I should really do the ball joints? And if i'm in there the tie rod ends are a bit rough looking as well?

"Ya know what?" i think, "i'm going whole hog and getting some SC spring plates so i can get ride height/corner balancing just so without reindexing".

Add two large pipe wrenches and a chisel to the incidentals list in an effort to get the damned bushings off.

And two pipe clamps (first one was two shallow) for putting the front bushings back on.

Then i'm reading about how easy it is to rebuild brake calipers.

Jeebus have you guys seen the price of SS pistons?

Add a tube of grease to push out that REALLY stubborn piston.

ALMOST added a $30 bottom tap for a partially stripped bleeder valve.

Okay, brakes are finally rebuilt (already had the monster C clamp), hubs are back and spring plates/control arms/t-bars are installed.

Put the car back on the ground.

Hmm....odd that i'm getting too much play on the wheel bearings.

Can you guess where that leads?

[berettafan]

$3300 later i've got (well, WILL have once my goody box from Elephant arrives w/ new struts/shocks) my wheel bearing issue fixed.

Effing wheel bearings.

Three grand.

What do checkbook mechanics do?

If my wife and i weren't facing the very real possibility of raising a Down Syndrome child come September i'd probably be scared ****less about her finding out about this. As it is i'm just numb to it. Who cares about such things right? Sometimes you gotta run right past that dollar on the sidewalk and get to the game on time.

The good news is if i can ever again afford another 911 there won't be much i won't be able to do on my own and in damn good time. I've gotten so proficient at pulling and replacing struts that i am allowing a whopping hour or so to install my new ones next week. Hell i could do it on a lunch break in my work clothes.

[ChkbookMechanic]

berettafan, slippery slope. Slippery slope, berettafan. You'll get to know each other a lot better very soon.

Oh, and as a checkbook mechanic, I've become much less of one... now that I have a reliable second car that can haul stuff.

[berettafan]

oh man i could NEVER afford this car if it was my only transportation.

sounds strange to say it like that but if i only had weekends to get things done...yikes!!!

[GH85Carrera]

I feel your pain. I have a big box of parts from Elephant sitting in my garage. All the typical suspension parts. I look at all the work ahead to get those parts on the car and I wonder if I am crazy for trying. Just for extra fun I plan to rebuild my pedal cluster soon.

[ChkbookMechanic]

Originally Posted by berettafan

oh man i could NEVER afford this car if it was my only transportation.

sounds strange to say it like that but if i only had weekends to get things done...yikes!!!

If I could only work on the car on weekends, I'd be biking to work a lot.

[euro911sc]

LOL I can only work on my car from 9pm to when ever I go to sleep and then I can't make any noise!! Kids room is the wall to the garage! If I am lucky, they go out on the weekend and I get soe quality daylight time...

I am slowly falling down that slope, but I have an engine rebuild behind me so some might say I have already fallen

-Michael

[DRACO A5OG]

I think I paid for my car twice

Love, Pride, Stupidity, GUILTY as CHARGED

[vanwyk4257]

I feel your pain, I started with thinking that I needed to adjust my rear ride height, realized that my rear spring plate bushings had bought the farm so I should replace them.

I ended up going down the same road you did:
22mm front torsion bars
New elephant racing PB A-arm bushings
New turbo tie rod ends and boots
New ball joints and associated hardware
Steering rack bump steer spacers
29mm rear torsion bars
neatrix rear spring plate bushings.
lots and lots of incidentals.

It's amazing how quickly a $100 job becomes a well over $1000 job isn't it!

I still have to drop mine off at the local race shop to have the car aligned and cornerbalanced when I'm done.

I told my wife my car would stay stock when I bought it last year in June, so far I'm in the process of all of the aforementioned upgrades, I've installed a SW chip, M&K euro premuffler, done a custom sport muffler, strut brace, Momo steering wheel, H4 upgrade, 16x7&16x8 fuchs wheels, Koni sport adjustable shocks, and a few other things I'm sure I'm forgetting.

It's funny how that happnes with these cars!

[sc_rufctr]

That sounds like how my life has been for about 9 years now. Not the whole time but there have been periods of time were I was doing nothing but working, sleeping and fixing my 911 (Note no mention of bathing, cooking food or having a social life here)...

Is it any wonder my girl friend won't move in with me... lol.

[James Brown]

someone on here once said "you can keep the recepts but don't total them up" it's the journey not the destination.
just be glad your not dumping all your cash into a Nisson or a Toyota!

[ChkbookMechanic]

Originally Posted by James Brown

someone on here once said "you can keep the recepts but don't total them up" it's the journey not the destination.

And you know, I was about to total up the amount I've spent on the 911 and break it down into two categories: actual work needed and upgrades. I'm sure the actual work needed is going to be a small fraction of what I've spent on the car.