The primary projects this winter are to sort out the both front and rear suspension and brakes, safety first!
Pretty much finished the front now so thought I'd share with you all what I have learnt. My car is an '86 944 2.5N/A Lux (85.5 or Gen 2, this is important later on)
I had various knocks and movement from the suspension that really shouldn't be there so I got it on the stands and stripped the front end down. I expected one or 2 worn bushes and dreaded finding shot ball joints. Well, I found only one or 2 decent bushes and definitely had shot ball joints and both top mounts were buggered as well. This was looking like a big bill for the parts. However, I did some research which started out as looking for someone to refurb the alloy swingarms and replace the ball joints but lead me to a completely different solution. It turns out that the steel (vw) control arms fitted on the Gen 1 944 will fit the early Gen 2 cars e.g. cars up to '87 that dont have anti lock brakes as standard. After 87 the geometry was changed to accommodate anti lock brakes. From a budget point of view this was excellent news.
Cost Comparison
New alloy control arms from Porsche £280+VAT each ( £336 ) so £672 the pair
Refurbish exisiting approx £150 each so £300
Gen 1 Steel arms £17 each plus £12.50 each for ball joints, £59!!!!!!!!!
A couple of other things need to be changed in order to use the steel control arms i) the rear body mount for the arm needs to be from a Gen 1 car ii) the anti roll bar to control arm brackets as need to be changed for Gen 1. I got the whole lot from breakers for £40. So changing to the steel arms cost £99 for the lot.
Pros and Cons of the steel arms
Lets start with the Cons:-
1. They are a very little bit heavier (about 200grams) and not quite as stiff as the alloy arms
2. The caster adjustment is much more basic and therefor more difficult to be precise with (but thats an issue for the alignment shop to deal with)
3. They don't look as good (but 95% of the time you wont see them)
4. You cant use the upgraded chassis bushes now supplied by Porsche
Pro's
1. Significantly cheaper and much more readily available
2. The ball joints are bolt on and easily changed
The weight and stiffness I doubt will be noticeable for a normal road user, especially as many people who race or track these convert to the steel arms. If you want them to be stiff they can be relatively easily box welded.
To compensate for not being able to use the upgraded bushing from Porsche I have fitted Powerflex Poly bushes all round and added a strengthening bracket to the ARB mounts. Should provide the desired effect.
In Summary
a) Retrograded from alloy arms to steel control arms
b) Upgraded to Poly bushes
c) strengthened the ARB mount with an additional angled bracket
d) Replaced top mounts and bump stops
e) Refurbed struts, knuckles, hubs, disk protection plate, springs, top mount brackets, and brake calipers
f) Changed the wheel bearings and track rod ends
g) existing springs and shocks refitted as they were in good condition (had planned to fit Koni adjustable sports shocks and M030 springs but this will have to wait unfortunately)
I pretty much did all of the above for the cost of one new alloy control arm or the refurb'ing of both of them, I don't think I will miss them.
Some Pics
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Strut and Hub Installed.JPG [ 215.01 KiB | Viewed 4642 times ] |
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Strut Lower arm and knuckle.JPG [ 209.36 KiB | Viewed 4642 times ] |
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ARB and Lower COntrol arm 2.JPG [ 153.43 KiB | Viewed 4642 times ] |
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Strut Mount.JPG [ 176.86 KiB | Viewed 4642 times ] |
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ARB Strengthening bracket installed1.jpg [ 206.65 KiB | Viewed 4642 times ] |
