Follow up to original post below... please note that this is
crossposted to alt.autos.porsche.944
Cliff's notes/background: I purchased a used (read: junk) pair of
each flavor of strut off eBay for the express purpose of mocking up my
proposed mod. If it works out, I'll probably have the late style
strut housings powdercoated, and install a pair of Bilstein cartridge
inserts. And I'll be all proud of myself and stuff. The followup is
a copy of a post to a thread on the pelican parts forums. I'll post
lots of pics on my web site if this actually works, with a lawyer
proof disclaimer of course if anyone is suicidally insane enough to
try this on their own vehicle, or worse yet, perform this mod for a
paying customer.
Nate Nagel wrote:
> Hopefully some machinist will read this who also has enough knowledge of
> cars that this post will make sense.
>
> I own a 1988 Porsche 944. The front struts are unitized; that is, the
> caps that hold the inserts into the housing are crimped on. I can only
> replace them as a complete unit. They're made by Sachs/Boge, which is
> not a big plus in my book.
>
> Earlier cars used a threaded cap at the top of the strut tube to hold
> the insert in. Those struts are rebuildable by unscrewing the cap and
> simply replacing the insert. Bilstein makes inserts for these struts,
> and new Bilstein inserts are significantly cheaper than the new
> Sachs/Boge assemblies. (win/win, better dampers *and* cheaper too!)
>
> From what I've been told, the two assemblies are not directly
> interchangeable due to differences in the way they mount to the steering
> knuckle (there were some suspension geometry changes between the '86 and
> '87 model years, when the non-rebuildable struts were introduced.)
>
> So here's why I'm posting to this newsgroup and not an automotive group
> - I have a pair of '87-88 style struts that are shot. I paid $20 to
> have them shipped to me so I could play with them (so if I screw them
> up, I'm out the cost of a semi-expensive dinner.) I have my suspicions
> that if I grind the crimped caps off of them that I will find that they
> are otherwise identical to the earlier struts in terms of the tube and
> insert. If that is the case, would it be possible to simply have a
> machinist cut threads in the top of the strut housing tubes? I'm not
> sure what the implications are of trying to turn something this big and
> unbalanced in a lathe, is that a problem?
>
> If you can tell me that this *should* work, I'm going to try to find a
> set of junk early struts as well, and will gleefully start cutting stuff
> up :)
>
> thanks,
>
> nate
>
Well, I just got my early struts a few minutes ago... it looks like
they would bolt right on to my car EXCEPT that the lower mounting hole
is about 1/4" or so off from the later ones. Just enough that I
wouldn't feel comfortable opening it up/welding a washer on - it would
be awful close to the edge of the bracket.
At a glance, the only other major difference I can see is the strut
bearings (obviously) and the brake line bracket (welded on at a
different angle.) The tubes appear to be similar in diameter so I'm
still keeping my fingers crossed.
One of the late struts appears to have been in a fire - fuel line
maybe? - spring is sagged and bump stop is melted but the other
appears to have been recently rebuilt (bump stop and little plastic
cup are intact, and I swear there's cosmoline around the cap threads)
so I have high hopes that I will be able to unscrew the cap and
extract the cartridge for a trial fit in a late style housing.
I'm going to try to work on this tomorrow as I am leaving for a
Studebaker meet in South Bend, IN on Tuesday; if I can get all my
questions answered I might be able to leave my pieces parts with a
machinist friend that lives in Fort Wayne.
Note to self - make sure camera is in car when going over to friend's
garage to destroy these @[EMAIL PROTECTED]
late struts!
Stay tuned...
nate
-warming up the angle grinder and other implements of destruction -
woo hoo!-
-this is what happens when you let a cheap ass Studebaker owner work
on a Porsche-
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