So Tell Me...Am I Screwed...

[Jtilden]

After looking at this pic:

I noticed it while I was lowering my car. I am going to have it fixed but would like to have it aligned before I take it to the shop to get repaired. Is there any reason why I can't have it aligned before I get it repaired? I am assuming all that has to be done is to remove the radius arm brace and re-weld the spot. Thanks in advance for your replies.

[afterburn 549]

The long and the short..anytime you weld something it all changes...in your case I would guess..with some expertise of experience..that the sweep radius will be shortened by a fudget...so..I would most definitely have the weld work done FIRST

[1990C4S]

It it were my car:

Pull it.

Clean it up.

Replace your bushings.

Weld/repair.

Paint/assemble.

Align.

Drive.

Otherwise just weld it and drive.

[Eagledriver]

As long as you don't remove the spring plate during the welding you won't disturb the alignment. It looks like you might have some damage furthur forward, or is that just some paint peeling?

-Andy

[silver911rdb]

If I were doing the repair, I would take it apart to make sure that the complete area was inspected and corrected. To me that means the spring plate would come off. If the spring plate was coming off I would do the alignment/corner balancing after it was all welded and assembled. I don't think you'll be able to remove the spring plate and then install it again and maintain all your adjustments (camber, corner balance, etc). A proper alignment on a 911 is very time consuming and expensive. I personally wouldn't pay all that money for the alignment then take it apart to do the repair.

[vash]

isnt that just a spacer? it is welded on there, but i am not sure it takes a load.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

It is transferring loads in shear, as evidenced by the type/location of failure.

[Flieger]

I cannot see what is wrong in the photo. Is the head of the lower rear bolt on the spring plate cover sheared off?

[nineball]

Originally Posted by Flieger

I cannot see what is wrong in the photo. Is the head of the lower rear bolt on the spring plate cover sheared off?

[glennspiegler]

You could remove the spring plate cover, weld it and replace cover without getting into ride height, corner balancing and alignment (in that order). If you have original bushings, my guess is you will get into these projects. Read, read, read. This also will lead you into full suspension eval. You only want to do corner bal once in your life and it must be done after reindexing torsion bars. Search my posts from when my questions were posted. Good luck, Glenn

[175K911]

I've seen this several times over the years. In all cases the rubber bushings in the spring plate were shot, so my speculation is that the spring plate no longer swings in it's correct arc and pulls up on that particular bolt. Maybe because it's a spacer and not a fixed standoff.

When a friend called me one day to show me how his had done the same thing, we pulled spring plate off and found moisture and rust in the torsion tube. With the break in the metal, there is now an opening for moisture to get in there and I'm sure you've got it too. I would NOT just weld it up and let it go at that. You need to pull it apart and inspect everything else, and replace those pivot bushings too, if you want to do it right.

Keep in mind, the bushing wear theory is just my personal thought, others may have other ideas, but I've seen at least a half dozen SC's and a Carrera that have all broken the weld on that bolt boss, so it's not uncommon. And the ones I've seen repaired all required the spring plate to be removed to tweak the threaded boss back into position to properly close the separated metal. And of course the rubber bushings need to be dealt with too.

So you're not screwed, and you're not alone either. Just takes some work to get it right.

[Gunter]

Looks to me like the area got hit by something driving backwards?
There may also be more damage on the other bolt-bosses hidden under the T-bar cover.

Before it can be welded, the assembly has to come out so the area can be cleaned up properly with a small grinder. Any good welder would prefer that.

Toe setting is mosst likely affected but there may be enough adjustment left in the eccentric bolt for the toe to be set back to around neutral after a proper weld.

Wouldn't hurt to check T-bars and assembly on both sides if no service has ever been done and the main bushings need replacing.

Aligning before the repair makes no sense and might have to be repeated later.

[Tyson Schmidt]

That is a fatigue crack, and is extremely common, even on high mileage street cars.

I suspect many people are driving around around right now with these cracks hidden under the paint.

We reinforce this area when converting a streetcar to a racecar, and 60% of the time, I find cracks on the bosses. Top and bottom, but usually the bottom rear goes first.

Usually they are just hairline cracks in the valley of the edge of the weld.

Clean it up really well and weld it with the cover in place. It will hold the spud in the correct position.

Looks like you have a lot of lift damage to the rocker.

[moneymanager]

And what does the other side look like?

[Joe Bob]

As mentioned.....repair, paint, align.....

[Gunter]

Sounds good but................ if there is more damage on the other bosses the cover has to come off.
What other cracks are under the cover??

A bit too much rust there for my taste. I would want to see how deep it is and depending on what I find may decide to re-enforce.

[Jtilden]

Thanks for all the input...the paint chip is from lifting improperly (before I educated myself on this site)...the other side is perfect...i might have done this when I was trying to remove the radius arm (it was stuck so i took a hammer and board to the inside and tried to beat it loose from the torsion bar)...lesson learned...