Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

There was quite a lot of movement and knocks and bangs coming from the rear suspension, on top of which it was looking pretty skanky and unloved, so I removed it all to give it a thorough going over and maybe a couple of tweaks and upgrades while I am there (budget allowing).

I had suspected the Spring Plate bushings to be the culprit, and while not first class they were actually in better shape than expected. As were the trialing arm inner bushes and spring plate mount bushes, again all have seen better days. The mine culprit for the noise and movement seems to be the 2 sets of mountings, the metal plates are completely shot and the rubber pretty squishy and deformed (as you might be able to see in the pics below). The rear shocks appear to be the original parts!

I decided to purchase a new trolley jack and a couple of additional stands for this (and many other) job, so pleased I did, much easier to work under the car now.

Plan of action now:-
1. Clean up and refurbish all the main components
2. New mounts and bushings all round
3. New nuts bolts ect
4. If I can find one, replace my 23.5mm torsion bars with, 24.5mm ones
5. Replace Long Handbrake cable (much easier with everything out the way)
6. Refurbish and rebuild brakes, both calipers and handbrake
7. Replace final section of brake pipe and hoses

Will update this thread as I progress.

Great work mate. Will be very satisfying once all that's refreshed and back on the car. Oh what I'd give to have a garage especially tidy and carpeted like that

If I had a garage my mrs would never see me. She'd say that's win win!

Makes a big deference being warm and dry for the winter projects.

This thread takes me back

Beware some of the rubber mounts are really expensive .......
if they need replacing
I would recomend importing from the USA they don't corrode like the UK ones

Good tip thanks. YES, unfortunately they all need replacing and yes they are very expensive, will do some more stateside searching.

Hi, as already said..this thread takes me back too.

I have recently come across the German supplier WPO who operates in eBay. They make some of the tools needed for the engine belts replacement, so I have bought from them. They are listing a new set of rear spring plates and mounts: listing number 391342251087. I am uncertain if you can get these cheaper in the USA, but worth comparing if you are going to replace these.

Once you get the bug for cleaning/plating and painting you just cant stop! Have a look at kongsodoken's restoration work - it is really impressive (better than new!!!). However, my efforts have netted good results (I think):



However, over two years on the road and it is nowhere near as shiny now...

I also have garage envy... Good luck!

Rhett, nice work! looks like was a lot of effort but worth it.

What did you use to paint the trialing arms and other alloy bits?

Hi, thanks for the compliment!

After lots of cleaning with wire brushes, degreaser, and in some cases alloy wheel cleaner (acid basically!), I finished the alloy parts off with Holts Simoniz Aluminium Engine Enamel Paint 500ml spray. I chose to paint rather than soda blast and refinish as most of the parts, especially the big bits like engine and gearbox, were not broken down enough for that sort of process. I know many purists will have objections, but I think the final result is pretty good and hard-wearing too. It only takes a gentle clean to get it looking good and can easily be touched up too. You do have to have a pretty clean and grease-free surface though and that always takes elbow grease!

The engine was also painted with this and I have had no problems with overheating due to the paint as some might argue...


Bulk buy many small brass wire brushes, you will need them! Good luck..

Those German Spring plates are recast not new I have a pair for my 968, not looking forward to that job

Did you get them from WPO? looking at them just now as i dont fancy trying to refurb mine after fighting with one of the Spring plate mount bushes fod 5hrs.

Yes came from WPO, they are well made

Great, that's good to hear. They also make pretty good looking trailing arm bushes as well that are 30% stiffer than the standard ones and look well made. However, at 175Euros are twice the price of powerflex.

Made some progress today, managed to get all the alloy bits cleaned up ready for painting. Also some new bits have started arriving namely the new mounts. Took a few photos to show the difference between the new and old, hoping the difference to the driving experience will be as dramatic

Excellent!

Next winter...he says to himself