Front strut installation advice

[James_G]

ORIGINAL: zcacogp


1. DON'T THROW THE OLD FRONT UNITS AWAY! Someone will use them for a Koni job. (Fitting the koni units involves cutting those front dampers up and installing the new koni inserts inside them.

Ah, an excellent suggestion and having spent all day under the car, I've spent the evening in the garage cutting the old dampers to size to fit the Koni inserts using the Paragon Parts instructions available here. So they are all ready to take some new inserts, although of course if those instructions are wrong.........[]

ORIGINAL: zcacogp


2. DO get it geo'd. Changing the dampers means the wheels are pointing in every direction but the right one. When I did mine, having the geo set after fitting the new dampers made more difference than changing the dampers. Really. There are posts galore on here about the 'ideal' settings, but I can let you have the details of what mine is set to if you want (I headed for what are generally seen as being on the aggressive end of what you'd choose for road use, and I think it's superb.)

Definitely and in fact it was all booked in for it, but alas I've had to postpone because neither of the OPCs nearby had the camber bolts in stock, so I am having to fit them tomorrow afternoon. Geo then will be soon for sure, but yes I'd definitely be interested in your geo settings Oli, has having driven round the block in yours, I thought they were superb too!

 

[Frenchy]

Regards keeping the old struts ,John whom i bought my old car back from, had just before me buying it back had new OEM Koni adjustables fitted at the local garage who had put the old ones in the skip...............AAARGH !

 

[James_G]

ORIGINAL: mik_ok

Sounds like you had a very similar experience to me - I took the same route with OEM shocks and also snapped the camber bolt on one side []

edit: and the ABS doo-dah! [8|]

Ah, this makes me feel much better that it's not just me it's happening to. What did you do about the ABS doo-dah?

 

[mik_ok]

I used the elegant insulating tape method..... [&:]

 

[zcacogp]

James,

My only advice for the cutting of the front dampers would be to wear goggles as they are meant to spray high-pressure oil everywhere (mine didn't - huge anticlimax; I even had Mrs zcacogp videoing it!) And to cut it slightly longer than the instructions, as it can be trimmed if it is too long but can't be un-trimmed if it is too short (if you see what I mean!)

I'll scan the print-out of my geo settings later on this week and eMail it to you. Should be able to do it tomorrow. Is this OK?


Oli.

 

[James_G]

Oli

I drilled a small pilot hole and there were no oil spill dramas thankfully. Geo settings tomorrow would be great - thanks.

Right then, day 2 and the brakes are now all sorted, so here are a few more photos. I've gone for the classic combo of Sebro discs and Pagid pads and luckily there wasn't a whiff of plate lift so the pads slipped in and out very easily. For those of you who like photos, here's a few of progress.

So here's the front disc with a dreadful score that I picked up on the last track day. Note new damper installed and ignore temporary tie wrap []

You can see that the pads have worn in sympathy with the scoring, and good job I replaced them. One more track day and it would have been metal on metal.

New Sebro disc alongside the old one, brand unknown. I really like these Sebra discs partly because they are painted and now I've got them all round. Pile of bricks an ongoing project of my father's!

All fitted up and ready for the wheel to go on. I have a rounded off bleed nipple on this side, and I still can't get it off but I'll probably leave it for when I do a full caliper overhaul.

Rears were just a pad change so no pictures of those, but again due to nice open design of the calipers went together very easily. Just waiting on that sheared bolt to arrive so I can tighten everything up at the front and go for a drive.

Cheers

James

 

[elvis]

The ABS clip thingies are available at your friendly local Porsche dealer for £1.89 each (price as of May last year, anyway). Be careful as they are actually handed, not that you'd know at first inspection.

Parts nos are 928.612.531.00 and .01, they're listed as 'HOLDER'

 

[James_G]

Chaps

Following from my recent post I now have my original S2 front struts ready to go to a new home. They've been prepared to take the Koni Sport inserts, using the instructions from Paragon Products, and I've now listed them in the spares section.

They are free to a good home, but I would be very grateful for a donation to charity - details of which can be found by following the link here

 

[zcacogp]

James,

If I was you, I'd hold on to them until somone pops up on here asking questions about the Koni solution, whereupon you can offer the struts and mention the charitable donation.

(If you were really keen, you could 'lend them out' - asking that the person sends you their old struts in return and makes a donation to the charity. That way you could make much more for Chestnut Tree House over time ... )


Oli.

 

[Diver944]

Oli that reminds me, who was it we sent your old struts off to after you used my old ones to 'Konify'

Not that I'm in any rush, but I am old and forgetful []

 

[zcacogp]

Paul,

'Twas Phil Imray ... a message from him via another source suggests that he still has them and needs to remember to post them to you ...


Oli.

 

[James_G]

ORIGINAL: zcacogp

Funnily enough, just come across a good piccie of a gooseneck spanner being used as it should be, for a very similar job.

No grinding, no scratched chrome, no fuss ...


Oli.

Just resurrecting this thread again. I went off and ordered my 22mm swan neck spanner here which by pure coincidence happens to be the swan neck spanner shown in the above photo. Only trouble is, it doesn't fit my strut tops (or anybody elses in 944 land I would guess). This seems to be not because the ring is too thick (it isn't) but because the handle exits the ring at about 70 degrees, whereas it really needs to exit straight up at 90 degrees and then bend.

Oli, you mention that you have used a swan neck spanner successfully for this job - any idea who makes it? Anybody else who's done this with a swan neck spanner - what make is yours?

Thanks

James

 

[Neil Haughey]

Not me, as I said earlier my brothers one made by Kennedy wouldn't fit, we then went out around Northampton and found 2 others that also had to much of an angle to fit. In the end we gave up and used a socket with 2 flats ground on to it (its amazing how often one ends up using an angle grinder when you have one) although as noted earlier you can buy a socket from halfords that already has the flats on it.

 

[DavidL]

That's a shame as I have literally just ordered a set of Draper ones for this job!
I'll wait and see if they fit and report back!
These: Draper 64607

 

[zcacogp]

James,

My swan-necks were made by a company called Am-Tool. (I think). They are actually cheap and nasty (my father has a bad habit of buying cheap tools, and happened to give me a set for Christmas one year.)

I had to brush mine up on a grinding wheel to make them fit the strut tops; not because the angle of approach of the handle but because the 'ring' wasn't a constrant thickness all 'round.

Sorry to hear yours don't fit. I can't recommend 'modifying' tools in this way, but you could contemplate doing something similar ...


Oli.

 

[tr7v8]

I bought a set of Vortech sockets from Halfords for this job.They are hollow with a serrated drive around the outside driven by a ratchet. They also work over studs etc.
I also found the strut piston rod had TORX centres not hex so had to buy yet more tools!

 

[James_G]

I may well end up going the "modification" route since I have already bought the spanner and I doubt I'll use it for any other job than this. It's nearly there so I think a quick pass on a bench grinder will be sufficient - just need to find one to use.

The Vortech/Vortex route is one I've been looking into, but in a world of small flats and minimal storage space I can't justify another socket set for a job I currently do once every five years (on different cars I hasten to add!)

I wonder how they do it currently in factories - probably some fancy bespoke tooling on a machine somewhere?

 

[zcacogp]

James,

If you have an impact air gun it is ferocious enough not to need the centre holding still while the nut is driven around. I don't know how it is done in factories, but expect that it will be something along these lines.


Oli.