advice on replacing odd struts please

[Naick]

Long time lurker, first time poster, just need some advice about struts please.

Car is an ’84 ROW Carrera Cabriolet, little over 95,000miles on the clock. Only mods from factory are RUF bumpers, wheels, muffler, floor mats and a Steve Wong chip.

Shocks are still the original ones and need replacing. They are Boge units, stamped 91134104203 right, and 91134104103 left. It appears they are SC units, and I’m just lost as to what the best option to replace would be.

As car is in such original condition I’d prefer to keep to factory spec as much as possible. It’s not driven hard, or as often as I’d like these days (kids!) so performance upgrades aren’t really a priority.

Any advice gratefully accepted from the wise heads on the forum (haven’t got photos either, will add some if I get a chance later)

Cheers,

Nick

[Franks89-911]

I'm certainly not wise and I don't know if some or any of this applies to you since mine is an 89 U.S. 911, not ROW. I had original Boge struts in mine, and I replaced them with Sachs inserts sold by Pelican Parts. Currently $124US per side, for my car anyway. The original Porsche inserts are over $300US per side.

Like you I was just looking to replace the inserts, not upgrade.

So far I've been very pleased. The ride is much smoother overall. Well worth the effort. I followed the instructions here. rvbprecision.com/porsche-911-stuff/porsche-911-front-shock-strut-replacement.html One truism I personally experienced was all the oil mess that came out of the housing when I removed the original inserts. Get a bedpan or something under there, yuck.

Good luck, hope our host has the part you need or you can otherwise find it where you are in the bottom left corner of the world.

Cheers,
Frank

[Trackrash]

Just to be clear, you don't have to replace the strut. These old cars have replaceable inserts.

So now you have a choice of what insert to buy. The best being Bilstein.

Lots of threads on replacing the front strut inserts.

[Lake Guy]

I went with Sachs from our host as a compromise between ride and performance. I don't track so the new suspension parts similar to stock met my needs nicely.

[Naick]

All great advice, really appreciated.

The inserts are definately the plan now, cheers. I think i've trawled every 'strut' and 'insert' post in the forum though, and still not sure which particular insert units will fit my struts. Are the struts actually SC ones from those part numbers, or is that not even an issue, and Boge is all I need to worry about?

Our host does stock the actual struts I have, but oddly they say they don't fit my particular model car. Even though they came from the factory with them. All a bit odd and confusing really. :-)

[Trackrash]

My Google search shows those to be the correct struts for your car. However, there was a change in 84 to 85 so you might want to call Pelican and talk to someone to make sure you get the correct inserts.

You just need to decide what replacement inserts you want. Sachs, Bilstein, or Koni.