914 struts

[jess p]

I have two 914’s. One is a 1970 and the other a 1971, however, at this point I don’t know or can’t identify the front suspension. I believe they were changed out.

For example, I purchased new brake rotors from our host for the 70 but when I got the
rotors the rotor does not extend in far enough for the brake caliper to fit. Pelican sent the correct rotors for a 1970. Someone put in a different strut. The bottom of the strut
uses a v wedge pin , at least that’s what I put in. The other thing I noticed is rotors with a deeper hat will fit.

I’ve noticed that 914 rotors all use the same inner and outer wheel bearings, however,
914 early rotors have a short hat and there is an offset where the inner wheel bearing seats. On my 1971 914 the strut where the ball joint goes in there is a slit, opening on the strut with threads for a bolt that screws in to secure the ball joint.

God only knows what Porsche did on later 914’s.

Dave, can you chime in to clarify the strut differences on 914’s from 70-76, particularly in regards to the ball joint attachments, different rotors etc. Are all strut inserts the same for all the 914-4’s.

Thanks in advance

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

The wedge pin style was used on 1973+ cars. They use different rotors and calipers than the early struts. They also have a hub-centering ring so that early alloy wheels will not fit properly.

That's what it sounds like you have on your car.

--DD

[jess p]

Ok that’s good, thanks for the info. My big question now is that the struts on my 71. At
the bottom of the strut where it connects to the ball joint, it uses a threaded pinch bolt
and there is a slit in the bottom of the strut. Is this a 71 strut? The ball joint that it was attached to has a curved area instead on a wedge bolt.

Also there were Boge strut inserts. Do I need to replace the insert exclusively with Boge?

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

The pinch-bolt struts are the early ones, used up through mid 72 model year.

I think that the inserts are universal, but I am not quite sure on that.

--DD

[mepstein]

Dave is correct on both items. Inserts can be boge, Bilstein or Koni.

[jess p]

Dave and Mepstein

Thanks for your input, I’ve sorted my strut issues on both cars and ordered the correct
parts from our host. For the benefit of future readers on this subject I’ll post some
issues I’ve learned, but still have a few questions.

1) All 914-4 strut inserts are interchangeable from 70-76 wether it be Boge, biltstein
or koni.
2) 70-72 cars use pinch bolts whereas 73-76 use wedge pins. Thus you have to make
sure to order the correct ball joints.
3)Brake rotors are not interchangable between 70-72 and 73-76 struts.
70-72 struts use a short hat brake rotor whereas 73-76 use a tall hat rotor.
4) All front wheel bearings are the same for all years.

So in conclusion there are two distinct differences on 914-4 struts. At the
bottom of the strut how the ball joint is secured and the difference of the
brake caliper mounting point distance from the face where the spindle ends.

As Dave mentioned on 73 and later 914-4 brake rotors the larger ring flange
can prevent fitment of early style rims.

Why would Porsche move the mounting points of the brake caliper inwards
on 73-76 cars? For these years the brake rotor had to have a taller hat. I’ve
noticed on early struts 70-72 there is a VW mark on the struts? Was it because
after 72 Porsche raided the 911 parts bin and used early 911 struts?

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

I believe you'll find that the later struts also have a VW mark on them; many 914 parts do. (Even the transmission cases!) The later struts are not the same as 911 parts regardless.

I think they changed to the wedge pin design simply because it was better. They changed the 911 struts to a wedge pin design around the same time.

Note that there was some overlap in late 72 where cars had early versions of some parts and late versions of others. I don't remember exactly which parts, though, and unless you have one of those transitional cars it's not worth trying to piece together early and late parts. The late parts (of this assembly!) are IMHO better in all cases.

--DD

[mepstein]

Dave is correct again. Later 914 struts are not 911 struts.