Where to Support the Car for Rear Suspension Drop?

[Chunkerz]

I am removing my torque tube for a rebuild, which means dropping the rear suspension. Right now I have the car up on the lift with two of the pads resting on the torsion bar housing. Obviously I need to change the location of the pad in order to drop the suspension, but where do I put it? Resting the car on the torsion bar housing seems like the only safe place for the lift pads. Other areas back there look like they might collapse. I have seen the picture of safe 944 jack stand points and the only safe place for the rear shown in the picture is the torsion bar housing.

Current lift pad location:


Would any of these areas work? They seem somewhat reinforced. I need to use the wood blocks because the pads are too low and the rocker pannels rest on the arms, which bends them. I am worried that the narrowish wood blocks will put too much stress on one area instead of evenly distributing the weight and bend the area.

[944 Ecology]

Use the area marked with the red circle on the left. It is stronger than the floor pan.

[Chunkerz]

That's what I ended up doing. I fallowed the suspension removal tutorial on Clark's Garage to a T and it won't come out. I can't figure out what else is holding this thing in

While I have your attention, does anyone have any tips for getting the clutch fork pin out? I tried the bolt thing but I ended up breaking the bolt. I removed the bell housing, pressure plate, and clutch fork as one, soaked the pin in Kroil oil for a few days, and tried using a punch and BFH to pound it out from the other side but this thing isn't going anywhere. I have the locking bolt removed. I don't have a torch so I can't put any heat on it. Now I see why the PO left the clutch fork alone when they replaced the clutch

Oh, one more thing: what is the maximum number of times I can have the flywheel turned before it's time for replacement? Is there a wear limit for it? How would I measure it? I'm assuming they had the flywheel machined when the clutch was replaced last time and I'm worried that shaving it again will cause the clutch to engage very late in the travel.

[tamathumper]

A. Get a hardened bolt and try again.

or

B. Get a hardened bolt and a slide hammer.

or

C. Get a torch.

With B and C you win, because you end up with more tools.

[rhett]

Hi Chunkerz, I am guessing that 'this thing' is the cross-body torsion tube assembly. If that is the case, even with all the bolts removed it does take a fair bit of persuasion to drop down. Usually the rubber mounts hold it very tight in its mountings. One thing I also found, it must come down squarely otherwise it will bind in the mounts even more, so don't be tempted to just pull down on the arms, as that wont do it. I suggest you spray some silicone lube into the mount to help free the rubber and carefully prise it down a small bit each side at a time. Put some axle stands and blocks to support it as you don't want it dropping! It may take a while, I recall it taking about an hour to do this.

As far as the clutch pin is concerned - they are a pain! You will have to go and get a cheap blowlamp/blowtorch as it will help. As the pin goes through quite a large section of the bellhousing, a lot of corrosion can build up. Penetrating oil sometimes just cant get in, but heat will help break the corrosion along with impact. Always remember you are dealing with an alloy casting, so don't go overboard with the pounding, or you might crack it. Again, patience and time is required here.

Hope that helps, good luck!

[Tervuren]

I break the upper mount free first, spreading it out a little, and getting the torsion tube supports free up there. Then I work gently with a crowbar on each side moving it down in small increments on each side to keep it as level as possible. Make sure you pad the area you are prying so you won't scratch through your paint.

Its one of those things that once you've done, is a lot easier the second time.

I also build a base tower out of scrap lumber for the torsion tube to rest on once its out. If solo its a big help.

[Chunkerz]

Sounds like a plan. Right now I have all the mounts soaking in Kroil oil. When I get home I'll try that. I just remembered that I have the trailing arms resting pretty high up on jack stands. Maybe that's why my suspension won't drop...

[Bukowski]

off topic - what symptoms would call for the torque tube to be rebuilt?

[Chunkerz]

My car made awful grinding noises on deceleration (usually caused by bad TT bearings), it has ~110,000 miles on it, and when I spin the shaft it makes funky noises and doesn't spin for very long. I'm already in this far so I might as well do it. I need to drop the rear suspension anyways to put in some thicker torsion bars and replace all the rubber. When I drop the suspension to do those things the torque tube will be easily accessible, so I might as well.

[Chunkerz]

I don't know about you guys, but I like my rear suspension lowwww


I managed to get this bad boy out too


And as an added bonus I got the clutch fork pin out!!!! That little stopper pin thing was preventing me from getting a good solid hit on the pin, so I tapped out the little stopper pin. Even with the stopper pin out the punch kept sliding off the back of the fork pin when I hit it. That's when I came up with the brilliant idea to punch it through the other side by hitting the broken bolt, which worked great.


The clutch fork looks like it's in pretty good condition too. I'll clean it up and look for cracks before reusing it.


I never ever want to do this again....

[tamathumper]

Congrats!

"I never ever want to do this again...." - Amen, on this and several other jobs.

[rhett]

Well done..it's pretty satisfying when it all eventually comes apart. Now, will you clean all the components, paint and refinish them prior to putting it all back together??? I think it was at this point that the Obsessive Porsche Cleaning Disorder really kicked in....will it claim another victim?



Keep us posted!!

[Chunkerz]

Originally Posted by tamathumper

Congrats!

"I never ever want to do this again...." - Amen, on this and several other jobs.

The only thing I've enjoyed about this so far is that nice loud snap when a stuck bolt comes loose.

Originally Posted by rhett

Well done..it's pretty satisfying when it all eventually comes apart. Now, will you clean all the components, paint and refinish them prior to putting it all back together??? I think it was at this point that the Obsessive Porsche Cleaning Disorder really kicked in....will it claim another victim?



Keep us posted!!

I'm definitely going to clean everything. For now I'm going to just use some degreaser and wire brushes to clean. Once it warms up I'm going to roll the whole assembly outside and power wash the rest off. The underside of the car and wheel wells need a good power washing too, but I don't know how I'm going to get the car out of the garage with no rear wheels. While I have the car up in the air I think I'll touch up the under sealant too.

Only rusty parts will get painted. I have big expensive plans for the car while it's down for the winter/spring so I don't want to spend money on areas that don't need it. Nobody sees the underside of this car but me and it's just going to get covered in road grime again so painting everything is kind of pointless in my opinion.

Edit- I was planning on notching the bellhousing so I can gap the sensors with the bellhousing off and so I don't have to remove the sensor bracket ever again, but then I read this:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-924-944-968-technical-forum/528623-s2-968-speed-reference-sensor-question.html

Reading that gave me second thoughts about notching the bellhousing. Should I still do it? My bracket does have the little shielding sleeve things around the sensors. I don't want to put it all back together and end up with detonation while cranking and have to do this all over again...

[Chunkerz]

No thoughts on the bellhousing notch?

[kdjones2000]

I notched mine, no issues at all.

I would do it.

[Chunkerz]

Did your sensor bracket have the shielding sleeves over the sensors?

[kdjones2000]

Does.....

Yes, a shield is on all of the cars with the small starter, AFAIK, and it's only on the one (Speed, I think) sensor.

[100mileperhour]

Originally Posted by rhett

Well done..it's pretty satisfying when it all eventually comes apart. Now, will you clean all the components, paint and refinish them prior to putting it all back together??? I think it was at this point that the Obsessive Porsche Cleaning Disorder really kicked in....will it claim another victim?

Keep us posted!!

Wow, - That's really nice!!!!!! Rhett! What did you use on your muffler, to make it so shinny? Besides metal polishes (I.E. Technique/Methods)

[rhett]

Hi, the muffler box is solid stainless steel, so it is quite straightforward to remove gouges and scratches, etc. Simply use wet and dry emery cloth/paper going from a heavy grit to a finer one until the scratches have disappeared, then use a good quality metal polish to bring out the shine!

At the risk of a thread hijack..(sorry)..you can see the entire extent of the restoration work here:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-924-944-968-technical-forum/770673-there-back-again-porsches-story.html

[Volhv]

Originally Posted by kdjones2000

Does.....

Yes, a shield is on all of the cars with the small starter, AFAIK, and it's only on the one (Speed, I think) sensor.

Not entirely true, the 85.5 and 86 don't have the sleeve, but do have the small starter. Think 87 on, had the sleeve, and it can be retrofitted to the older cars.