73T - Brake & Suspension Refurb - Part 4 - Front Install

[Highfield]

Having finished up on the rear installation, bar a few finishing touches, I now turn my attention to the front.

Plans for today were to get everything together to see the scale of the task, and then get the front aluminium crossmember and steering rack installed, along with the preparation for the ER Polybronze Bushings and Low friction Control Mounts.

So here is what I will start with, and and update will follow after the first part of the install.









Ian

[Biff]

Looks great...better than when the parts were new on the assembly line! You do have to find a nice clean splash pan though - one without a bunch of dents.

[Larry_Ratcliff]

Sweet! I cant wait till I get to the point of doing my suspension and brakes.

[Highfield]

When you do get to it, count on everything taking many times longer than you planned.

I find myself doing lots of planning, and then I forget something so end up taking bits apart and doing it again etc. etc.

I have no specific deadline, and no specific allocated time slots when I can do this around work and family time, so it gets done when it gets done.

Speedo, Cnilesen, TRE Cup etc. do some amazing work, that involves 'engineering'. whereas I dismantle, refurb or send out / purchase, and then assemble, but I do enjoy the end result.

I suffer from 'while I am in there' which of course adds even more time.

Thanks for looking.

Ian

[TT Oversteer]

Please tell us more about those trick brake calipers.......................

[Highfield]

So here we go !

First up is the vapour blasted and super light weight aluminium front cross member - it has hard to believe how light these are.





I decided to mount the steering rack with the new turbo tie rods to the cross member and install froim under the car in one piece.

The assembly is loaded on to two axle stands and then eased up one side at a time, being careful to get the steering column aligned with the UJ as it goes up. Easier with two people, but axle stands work well.









Remember to centre the rack and steering wheel before mating the UJ with the rack :-)

Also, make sure you bend the tie rod split pins out of the way as they are a great point to take an eye out on if not careful.



Then the replated support brackets with the welded on bolt threads push in to the cross member and locate on the lugs on the underbody.





Next up come the ER Low Friction Mounts before the axle stands can be removed.

Ian

[Highfield]

I have the ER Low Friction Mounts and Polybronze Bushings, so hopefully the A-Arm install won't be too much of a trouble - famous last words.

I followed Chuck's excellent instructions and used a 'big' press to install the bushings - they are a tight fit.

Shown here with the front mounts also ready.





These are then placed in to the cross member and the concave and convbex washer set carefully setup and installed - take time to get them the correct way around.

Then the large mounting bolt, washer and lock washer are installed and tightened (not fully torqued) to allow the axle stands to be removed.





The last thing to do is to fit the steering shaft bushing and bracket and ensure the UJ is fully engaged the the bolt tightened.



So that is it for today, and next time it will be the A-Arms and ER Polybronze Bushings and front mounts.

Ian

[Highfield]

Originally Posted by TT Oversteer

Please tell us more about those trick brake calipers.......................

Read all about them here :-

http://www.early911.co.uk/html/calipers.html - who are a UK reseller.

Quote from the website says :-

"Now available, the very latest development in 911 brake upgrades, the Carbon 12 manufactured 6 pot front and 4 pot rear CNC machined aluminium calipers. Available for all 911s from 1969 to 1989 with 20 mm or 24 mm discs and “S” front struts (3.5” caliper spacing). It is a simple upgrade to fit 24 mm instead of 20 mm discs, and we always recommend fitting new discs with any caliper change. We can also supply an upgrade to front 300 x 30 mm customs discs and bells

Having fitted the calipers you can upgrade the discs at a later date, just purchase wider spacers to suit the thicker discs. An upgrade to the 300 mm discs will require a spacer for the caliper bracket as well, also available separately.

The front 6 pot caliper weighs 2795g complete, a Turbo caliper weighs 3420g so these offer a considerable weight saving, importantly unsprung weight, over the usual big brake upgrade for 15” rims."

The one piece calipers are from Carbon 12 engineering, a specialist engineering company here in the UK that also do them for competition Alfas etc.

They are sold in the UK by Coolcava Racing and Early911.co.uk and also used by Tuthills on their cars.

They are approx £1,105 or $1,750 for a set of 6 pot front and 4 pot rear.

I have emailed them to see if they have a US Distributor.

Wayne - do you have them or know about them ?

Ian

[Highfield]

Today was the turn of the A-Arms and the ER Polybronze Bushings.

I had already JB_weld fixed the races to the arms, and pressed the bushings in to the mounts.





With the ER Low Friction Mounts already installed but not tightened in the Cross Member, I carry the A-Arm and mounts to the car. I also took time to correctly orientate the ER washers that affix the mounts to the front of the car.







It is then simply a case of inserting the arm in to the rear mount and lightly attaching the front bolts.

Then tap the washers as instructed to settle them and whilst rotating the A-Arm, tighten the bolts. I did this a couple of times to get the arms to fit with only minor resistance to movement. They do not swing up and down with no intervention, but are pretty good.

Do they have to 'flop' with no input from me ?









What are the torque settings for the A-Arm mounting bolts please ?

Ian

[Flieger]

Your first photos have been removed by photobucket.

According to Peter Zimmermann, the front A-arm mounting bracket bolts are torqued to 34 ft-lbs.

[Highfield]

Originally Posted by Flieger

Your first photos have been removed by photobucket.

According to Peter Zimmermann, the front A-arm mounting bracket bolts are torqued to 34 ft-lbs.

Oops - I tidied up my Photobucket and forgot to amend the post.

Thanks for the torque settings. I need to loosen the LH Side and 'jiggle the washers' as I am not happy that it is free enough.

Who is Peter Zimmerman ?

Ian

[Flieger]

Originally Posted by Highfield

Who is Peter Zimmerman ?

torque value

Peter Zimmermann is an experienced Porsche mechanic and the author of "the Used Porsche 911 Story" http://www.amazon.com/Used-911-Story-8th/dp/0963172662

[Highfield]

The Front ARB is next up, this being the standard 15mm bar, freshly powder coated with re-passivated arms and links, and new 'stiff' bushings.

The new bushings were pressed in to the droplinks using a clamp and pre-soaking in boling water - same as for the new bushings on the rear ARB.

The 8 X 40 bolts are nowhere to be found, probably lost at the platers, therefore the droplinks cannot at this stage be attached to the arms, but that is OK whilst I do the height adjustment etc.



The bar is slotted through from one side, centred, and the new bushings fixed in place. The cover plate is then torqued in to place.





The arm is then mounted and the long bolts torqued up.



Final job for now is to fit the droplink but not fasten yet.



Ian

[Highfield]

I decided to fit the torsion bars (standard 19mm - Used from Tom1390Racing on Pelican as on back order in Porsche Europe) and index as best I can for now.

The bar is greased and inserted from the front, pushing it back until the rear threaded section is exposed for the adjuster to locate on to.





I have new foam gaskets and front dust covers as well as re-plated adjusters.



The dust cover is 'tapped' in to place.



The foam seal is stuck in place.



This is where I do guess work. How do I know which angle to set the A-Arm at in order to install the adjuster with no strut etc. ?

The Haynes manual mentions the A-Arm being 10 degrees below the Crossmember. Set get my angle setter and posiotn the A-Arm.

I then slot the adjuster over at the mid point of adjustment and insert the screw. Absolutely no idea what ride height this will give.

Does anyone have a more accurate way of doing this at this stage in my rebuild ?

Note photo was taken when adjuster was set incorrectly.







I now need to wait for a few bolts before moving on, and some channellocks to help me fit the ER Front Monoballs.

Ian

[Highfield]

The car has been left too long, so today I decided to get a few small jobs done on the front end.

I had ordered a number of bolts and the rear eccentric nuts from my local OPC, so no excuses not to crack on.

First I completed the ARB install. I left it with the drop link in place but no bolts. I also ordered 4 'spacers' from the OPC which were shown in PET for the drop link bushes. I have pushed these in to the new bushings, so the bolt doesn't slop about.









I also received the new bolts to mount the front bracket that protects the front of the A-Arm.



Ian

[Highfield]

I have the ER Front Strut Monoballs, and the fitting of these to the camber plates is straight forward, but boy is it tough to get them tightened.

In the end I hand tightened the monoball in to the camber plate, and then installed the camber plate in to the car using the re-plated brackets and allen head bolts.

Next up I used a large pipe wrench on the top, and my son held the cahnnel locks from underneath. I still haven't quite got it tight enough to fit the spring clip, so will need to continue tightening it tomorrow.















Ian

[Highfield]

I have the ER Basic Strut Brace, and fitting is straight forward as I was doing the camber plate install at the same time.

The bar mounts to the inner most camber plate mount, and is tightened 1/3 of a turn to apply a little pressure.









Ian

[Highfield]

Tuthills had painted my bilstein struts in viper green, but unfortunately they had been packed with corregated card and this had marked the finish.

So I decided they should in fact be finished in a darker green, and not having access to John Deere green, I went with Hammerite dark green spray. It is a hard wearing finihs which will hopefully chip less than spray paint.

Here is a taster, before I remove the masking a then they can be fitted up.







That is all for today :-)

Ian

[Rich Lambert]

Nice work Ian!

Those monoballs are beautiful.

[Highfield]

More progress today, as I edge closer to having the car back on four wheels for the first time in a year (nearly).

I tightened the monoball as much as I could, and then ground down the circlip to get it partly fitted - no way they are going to move :-)



Next up were the new balljoints, with the re-plated castle nuts and washer and new cotter pins. These have to be oriented so the cutout faces away from you.





The struts had been drying over night, and look good in their new dark green paint.

Fitting is straight forward, firstly over the new balljoint, and then compressed and pushed up in to the monoball. Secure with the re-plated washer, lock washer and nut. The wedge pin punched in easily and is secured with the washer and nut.







Ian