glad I caught this!

zotman72 · 08-19-2012, 11:31 AM

So I was going to check the right front brake last night as the wheel has been locking up recently under hard braking. Instead of working on the brakes, I spied this on my tierod end. This could have been a real disaster in the making on my SC.

Now I have a good excuse to deploy my turbo tierod kit that has been on the shelf for two years. I am debating swapping out the whole front end from my old PCA E race car while I am in there. More work, but having a fresh Elephant racing bushings with 23 mm tbars, and newer HD struts might be worth the time. Stay tuned.

Tippy · 08-19-2012, 11:38 AM

Buy a lottery ticket!

Canada Kev · 08-19-2012, 11:49 AM

The lottery ticket didn't work for me. I figure I used up all my luck in a traffic incident that could easily have made me and a number of others hurt or dead. I walked away with nothing but dirty shorts and a slightly bent bumper skirt.

However, that's a great catch. Coulda been real bad, too...

Do the fresh front end. The work will likely be worth it.

Jbp · 08-19-2012, 04:17 PM

No need fore a lottery ticket.
You hawe had your luck.

Jocke.

zotman72 · 07:22 PM

Well you strip a broken racecar in a hurry to sell to an crazy Porsche friend up in NE Wyoming who needed a '74 911 shell (VIN & title)l for potentially shady purposes, you do not remember how bad things really were with the parts you took off four years ago. That is where I was when I went looking for the go-fast changeover parts for the SC. Why was I keeping junk?!
My front racecar strut was trashed and it was unusable (pitched in the trash after stripping it). The Elephant bushings need their A arm inner bearing sleeve, which is impossible to remove from the racecar A arm. A call tomorrow to Elephant Racing is order (Please sell me just the bearing sleaves), as I will swap the rest of the bushing package over on my SC existing A arm. So the SC 's right Bilistein insert strut is worn out (car has 130K on it) so I will replace both front insert struts with new now. This is shipwrights disease with this old 911, -it is just a good driver SC. The turbo tie rods and bars (only 21s! I forgot that too!) will complete the refurbished front end but this endeavor is turning into two week cluster* rather than a weekend dabble.... as I just checking a sticky brake. Stay tuned.

Dublinoh · Dublinoh's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by zotman72

Well you strip a broken racecar in a hurry to sell to an crazy Porsche friend up in NE Wyoming who needed a '74 911 shell (VIN & title)l for potentially shady purposes, you do not remember how bad things really were with the parts you took off four years ago. That is where I was when I went looking for the go-fast changeover parts for the SC. Why was I keeping junk?!
My front racecar strut was trashed and it was unusable (pitched in the trash after stripping it). The Elephant bushings need their A arm inner bearing sleeve, which is impossible to remove from the racecar A arm. A call tomorrow to Elephant Racing is order (Please sell me just the bearing sleaves), as I will swap the rest of the bushing package over on my SC existing A arm. So the SC 's right Bilistein insert strut is worn out (car has 130K on it) so I will replace both front insert struts with new now. This is shipwrights disease with this old 911, -it is just a good driver SC. The turbo tie rods and bars (only 21s! I forgot that too!) will complete the refurbished front end but this endeavor is turning into two week cluster* rather than a weekend dabble.... as I just checking a sticky brake. Stay tuned.

while your in there....

zotman72 · 06:13 AM

Update to my DIY 911 suspension efforts. Now this endeavor is past three weeks ---but I am in the reassembly phase.
First off, I had use both of my existing A arms from the SC as the left race car A arm sway bar mount was different and so another set of bearing races were ordered from Chuck @ Elephant Racing (Thanks for such prompt shipping Chuck!).

New ball joints added by the adroit lads at Storz garage, lordy the joints were not cheap!. I could not get the ball joint pinch bolts out and I was certain I was going to destroy them if I did, the original ball joint bolts were quite comfortable (as in frozen) in place after 32 years. Leaving this task to my local P car experts was a no brainer.

The old A arm rubber bushing were removed with my Harbor Freight propane wand (a pretty useful tool) and the operation was perfomed this early Sunday morning before my neighbors could complained about the ensuing black toxic smoke. The new ER races JB welded on without much fanfare. New inserts went in, but I had to use the old roll pins because the Biltstein supplied ones were too big. Probably OK on that, me thinks. The A arm and sturts were ready to go on the car but then I had a dickens of time lining up the ball joint with the strut.

Does any body have some insight to the easiest way to get the ball joint to mount the strut (which is mounted with its top bolt)?
Is it easier to assembled everything first, strut to A arm ball joint? I have only been here once before but that was on my '72 and I can not remember what I did. Thanks in advance lads!

Oh, both original tierods are off and I will finish up that task after the suspension upgrade is completed. The old tierods were completely toast.

Finally, I am debating also what the car will be like with 21 mm T bars in the front with OEM 24.5 mm bars in the rear. I do have as set of Turbo rears (26 mm) I am considering to put back there but then I would be in looking at another week of wrenching and requisite bushing upgrades.

Hey being in the garage on the weekend keeps me off the street and wasting money on strange women.... YMMV

na2ub · 09-10-2012, 06:39 AM

Before you chase your brake problem, the right front typically locks up first because it has less weight on it, so less traction than the left front. Try locking up the tires with a passenger in the car, or jack up the right front a 1/4 inch or so to put more pressure on that tire. Naturally, a proper corner balance would be best, but even with that, it is not uncommon for one of the front tires to lock up before the other. The only way to even them out is to have equal weights on both front corners, with what ever driver / passenger in the car as you would normally have.