So now that we’ve been properly introduced, and before we get to the main event, let me tell you a little about the suspension refresh. Pretty much every piece of rubber in my 167K mile suspension was weary and weak. All the rubber was deformed and cracking, the torsion bars were soft and sagging just a bit and after a half dozen of track days (yeah, it’s kinda like heroin) I knew something had to be done. So it’s something I did…
I’ll summarize the parts I replaced:
- Bilstein HDs (F), Bilstein Sports (R) replaced the leaking and creaking Boges.
- Sanders Engineering hollow t-bars (21mm/28mm) replaced the soft and sagging originals
- Elephant Racing Polybronze bearings replaced the deformed and cracking rubber at both ends of the front control arms.
- Elephant Racing monoballs replaced the deformed and cracking rubber at the top of the struts.
- Elephant Racing triangulated strut brace.
- Elephant Racing Polybronze bearings replaced the ovalized bushings in the spring plates, and Elephant Racing monoballs are now at the little end of the trailing arms as well.
This was a monster job. It took me about 6 weekends to do it all, and it was grimy, greasy, back-breaking work. That said, none of it was particularly difficult to figure out. Chuck Moreland at ER is awesome, and his stuff is top-notch, as are his instructions. It’s just a lot of twisting, scraping, heating, swearing, and fretting. I’m not intending to post any pictures because this same type of project has been posted dozens of times before. But I will enumerate a list of things I wish I’d known before I started but found out along the way (after lots of research and questions).
Lesson #1: if you have a G50 and you want to replace the trailing arm bushings (neatrix, ER, rubber or whatever) forget about trying to do it with the motor in the car. I tried. And tried. And tried. Nope. On the passenger side, there’s pretty much no way to get a 22mm socket on the nut that holds the arm in place. Actually, there is enough room for the socket, but not for the breaker bar you’re going to need to twist it. Impact socket with u-joint extension? Nope. Offset box-end wrench? Yes, but I don’t have a lift and there was no way I was going to get enough torque on that thing laying on my back. And even if you get the passenger trailing arm out, you need to get the driver’s side out too. And on the driver’s side, there’s even less room because of a half dozen lines and cables.
Bottom Line: If you have a G50 car, just drop the engine and transmission and have the trailing arms out in 15 minutes or less. I spent 3 days trying to get those damn trailing arms out of the car with the engine in, mostly because I was too chicken to take it out. But as it turns out, engine drops really are not that big of a deal, even by yourself. It just takes some patience and a Bently and/or Wayne’s book. I used both.
Lesson #2: Oil return lines can be REALLY hard to remove. Feeling a sense of both elation that I was moving ahead and fear that I was about to take the insides out of my beloved 911 and put them out the outside, I began disconnecting lines and wires in preparation for the drop. The last thing I had to disconnect was the engine oil hard line at the back of the motor.
This one:
I don’t think that line had been disconnected in, well, forever because that thing was *stuck*. After 2 cans of PB blaster, one MAPP gas canister, one totally bent and scarred 36mm Pelican oil line wrench, a 24inch pipe wrench, a 15” crescent wrench and 3 Dremel cut off wheels (don’t ask) I sank to a new emotional low. Not only could I not disconnect the hard line, but because counter-holding the hard line while twisting the rubber line’s 36mm nut is next to impossible, I’d completely crimped the hard line, so I knew I’d be needing another one. Oh well, one more $100 bill bites the dust. And not only would I need another line, but I’d be acquainting myself with my extremely rusty heat exchanger barrel nuts as well. Ugh.
Bottom Line: After several beers and some sleep I had an idea… why not just disconnect the line at the thermostat!?! 5 minutes later, the line was off. Counter-holding the hard line in mid air while trying to apply enough torque to loosen the 36mm nut is next to impossible if your line has not been disconnected in a while. If you have a front oil cooler, consider disconnecting the same line at the thermostat instead. You have to counter hold the line there as well, but at least it’s supported, if just barely. You have to be careful as the thermostat is aluminum and you can break it. I used a block of wood wedged between the body and the thermostat to keep it from bending and flexing. Also, the thermostat threads gall pretty easily, so you do run the risk of ruining it simply by taking the oil line off, but it may be your best/fastest/only option.
All in all, the front rebuild was a piece of cake compared to the back rebuild. But I did get a chance to adjust the valves, clean up the transmission, replace the CHT sensor, delete the AC (everything – I never bothered to charge it anyway) , replace the leaking breather gasket and a couple other hard-to-get-to vacuum lines “while I was in there.”
Was it worth all the work and expense? Hell, yeah! It was like driving a totally different car. At the track, between this work and my new Toyo RA-1s, it was like night and day. I’ve only had 2 track days on this setup so far, so after I have a couple more I’ll post some more in depth opinions and Lessons Learned.
Of course, now that I have my 16x7 and 16x9 Fuchs shod in Toyos, which are not so good for street miles, I
needed to get another set of wheels.
What will I get? Fikses? Nope. Lindseys? Nope - Rota Foxes! Subydude and UPS says they are on the way. This is one of the reasons the gratuitous glamour shots will come at the end.
Now, if you need an even better view of my flailing slide down the steep, slippery slopes of Mt. Porsche, read on…