quick question on mounts and ball joint repair, order them the night

[diabloam]

Hey guys

quick question as want to order these bits the night online. Porscheshopuk, are there engine mounts original quality porsche or crappy pattern parts, are they good anybody have them fitted. Also its says two per car, mine vibrates at idle, so do I just need the one for drivers side mount or better getting both (are both engine mounts the same). Also going to try the ball joint rebuild kit, see how that goes, if its crap will then buy complete wishbone, but going to try it and see. Whats the opinion on these two options, thanks for any help, much appreciated, as want to order them tonight, cheers

Diabloam

 

[Diver944]

I have only ever heard bad things about pattern engine mounts and would always buy the genuine article as it makes such a difference to the smoothness of our engine. Call Chris at Exeter Porsche Centre and mention the forum for the absolute best price in the country for genuine parts.

I have used Porscheshop once many years ago and they sent the wrong part. Since then I have heard good and bad and the majority have had experiences similar to mine so if you have to use them then I would call them up and make sure you get what you want first time.

I have no experience of the balljoint kit but I thnk a couple on here have. Many more have used the rebuilt arms from Hartech with no reported problems. When mine wore out after 17 years of hard use I fitted a genuine replacement and will hopefully not have to worry for another 17 years

 

[diabloam]

Hve went ahead and order, a mount, new mount bolts and a ball joint rebuild kit, so car is more useable the now, have another car so am going to take porsche off road in couple of months, do sills and up the power then, considering new suspension so might take closer look at ball joint then, see how its going. But any comments about these bits from porscheshop, please let us know. Cheers all

 

[sawood12]

One thing to note about Hartech service. The bushes in the stock ball joints are some sort of polymer that wears away quite quickly from new. Not a major problem in itself (as Paul say's the last a good 17yrs or so) but it has the effect that the ball wears into the socket making it out of round and accellarates wear when you replace the joint. One thing Hartech does is to re-machine the socket to re-establish it's shape. The ball joint kit I bought replaces the plastic bush with a phosphur bronze one which resists the wearing mechanism. Might be something to consider while you're at it.

Also regarding the mounts. Have you actually queried an OPC? People often discount trying the OPC and go straight to Porscheshop and other well known suppliers, however I often find the OPC is competitive on price and you know you are getting the pukka part. My experience is that unless you are buying a vendor part (say a Boshe part) then you tend not to get the pukka Porsche part. Often different OPC's will hold sales on different parts so it is always worth giving a couple of OPC's a call as the prices between them can vary. I'll always be prepared to pay 10 - 15% more for a part to get it from an OPC as i'd rather buy the pukka part.

 

[diabloam]

sawood12 - good point but am working offshore the now and hence its awkward to ring a OPC although normally would consider it. I wanted somewhere that I could order online, so parts be waiting for me when I get home. The clonking from the ball joint and vibration at idle are annoying me and wish to use car when get home. However further down the line I am going to take car off the road for a while and do everything and up the power so kinda see this almost as a quick fix for the time being, cheers for advice guys

 

[sawood12]

North Sea??

Certainly Exeter OPC will post for a reasonable rate so don't see why other OPC's wont. However the ball joint kit I referred to was from a US site called Rennbay. It was specifically for lowered cars so might not be suitable for you, but they might very well do the same kit for standard ride heights.

I thought knocking was usually a sign of a worn top mount rather than a ball joint?? Have you confirmed it is the ball joint?

 

[diabloam]

yeah, jacked car up, then jacked weight of suspension and there is a lot of movement in ball joint so its defo shot. However ou know sods law say once i shut that up I will here something else, wouldnt surprise me if top mounts aint 100% as car has done 88k and prob on its original ones, however will prob look into that when do suspension further down the line, cheers

 

[Guest]

In my experience the only 2 balljoint kits worth buying are the Rennbay or SSI (Chicago Il) kits.
Both use phosphor bronze bottom cups.
The plastic cups are only good first time round.
I have used 3 or 4 sets over the years on different cars so am speaking from some experience
As for engine mounts get em from Porsche or guarantee they have the porsche stickers on. OE or OEM does not mean they will be genuine! Promise!!

 

[mik_ok]

Not sure how much the repair kits are, but there's a place in Glasgow will refurb your wishbone with a new balljoint for £140.

I had one done whilst my car was at Motortune in Shotts ~ it's a guy Peter uses regularly but I didn't deal with them direct and therefore can't remember the name.

Prob worth phoning Peter ~ I'm sure he'll be happy to give you the details. (01501 822247 )

 

[diabloam]

Thats interesting, I bought my car in Edinburgh, and got a lot of reciepts for work done over the years and large amount of them were from Motortune in Shotts, including a belt change last year (3k ago) and the waterpump 3 or 5 years ago (cant remember). They reciepts say they are Porsche Specialists and I have to say the pricing does seem reasonable and since car hasnt died after any of the times they must have worked on it, they appear be quite good on the 944's and will keep them in mind, anybody else used them. Although I have always done all my own work on my cars in the past.

I have ordered these bits now anyway however, I read on clarkes-garage that there are two different sizes of bolts can be found on engine mount on the left, but the drivers side only uses the one size. However since I am away with work the now, got my girl friend to ring to confirm that they are sending me right bolts (ordered them also just in case, I am changing driver side, or right hand side mount) and they say there is only one size for all. Can anybody clear this up for me, thanks. I will do the ball joint and report back, not bothered if it only lasts a year, it prob just a short term fix so can use car, as wish to fit new suspension when get a chance and so prob change anything with wear then.

 

[mik_ok]

Diablo - I've always worked on all my cars too, but since the 944 had a book full of history it seemed silly to potentially drop its value by doing all the work on it too.

Peter Mcanna who owns (and is actively hands-on within) Motortune used to work at Glasgow OPC and was trained by Porsche when the 944 was a current model. He's hugely knowledgeable, good value, and very fair (he argued against a few things I asked him to do as he reckoned I was wasting my money). Do a search and you'll find an overwhelmingly favourable response on this forum.

And if you do complain - do it nicely ~ in his spare time he coaches the Scotland Tae Kwon Do team and got a Bronze medal last year in the World Veterans event [&:] []

 

[diabloam]

hey all

Well used the porscheshop ball joint rebuild kit. Wee tip for anybody doing this, was once you have the ball joint out, I found that the new circlip would not seat in its groove properley as it was filled with that white powder from the reaction of steel in alloy, so when i put it back together it was threatning to all pop apart again. What I did was get my dremel and a small cutting disc and used that to clean out the groove. Then rebuilt it with the circlip seated much better. I then filled it with 2 part epoxy and stuck it back on car. What a difference, silence and much tighter feel to the front end. Realise it never going to last as long as original arm, or a higher quality rebuild, but quite pleased with the result. Now need to do engine mount, boost gauge and fuel ratio gauge and look at the bubbling on the sill. But my daily runner (95 plate Clio 16v has stopped charging so that taking uop space in garage at the moment so will get back to my 944 turbo soon. How long do you reckon I can expect this ball joint to last. Would be happy with two jaunts through the MOT myself

 

[sawood12]

No reason to assume they wont last as long as original. They may be kits but they are pretty much identical to the stock items. I suppose it will depend upon how the socket in the control arm has worn. I wouldn't expect any more problems from it if I were you.

 

[Guest]

They usually run out of grease which causes the premature wear. Then hit a pot hole and the polymer bush cracks.
As long as you have plenty of grease packed in the joint it will last years. Did you fit a grease nipple on the base plate? Always a good call but too late if it is back together

 

[morris944s2john]

Grease nipples on my 944 suspension swivels. Love it!

 

[diabloam]

No thought about putting a grease nipple on it but cause didnt have one to hand and was itching to get car back on the road just threw it together without it, will keep everybody posted on how it does, hopefully last a while as i cleaned it as much as possible and put a shed load of grease in it, so will see how it goes.

 

[morris944s2john]

Do you have any photos as to where you drilled and tapped the hole in the base plate for the grease nipple?