[Parenn911]

I'm in Dallas though.

Fun run to Dallas anyone .

Did you guys use a box knife to get most of the rubber off the spring plate?

Lee, I didn't use Chuck's technique because the pyro in me was just calling for the smell of burning rubber at 2 am . Instead of using a box cutter to remove the bushings which works just as well, I decided to use a torch to heat the inside of the spring plate covers until the bushings were hot enough where they slid right off. It's not the most environmentally friendly way, but it is probably the most fun part of taking apart the rear suspension .

On the angle calc... Did you get your car weighed before lowering it?

Nope we didn't weigh the 911, instead we guessed the weight. Using a stock SC's weight as the reference point, we tried to factor in all the things that I removed from the SC to save weight, A/C components, rear seats, etc. A good guess on the weight should do just fine in your case.

How did your corner balancing come out.

I didn't get an official corner balancing done, however when I took my SC to the shop to get it aligned, the mechanic said the ride height was lower on one side than the other. So he adjusted the a-arm and re indexed the front t-bars and made both sides level again.

Do you have any suggestions on shock abs. grommets. I have KYB rears and I suspect they are going bad since I get a suspension knock from time to time under dfferent load conditions.
There's a thread on Pelican that I'm watching. I have the same problem as the originator of the thrread except all of my suspension componets are from '78.

Lee, if your whole suspension is from '78 as far as you know, then I would definitely get new front and rear shocks for your SC before you lower it. The difference in handling with new shocks after it is lowered is amazing. Not to mention you might hate the fact that you lowered your SC if your shocks are worn out, the ride will not be smooth at all.
Good luck Lee, keep us updated on your progress.

[oneblueyedog]

Thanks Pari,

The shocks are about 2 years old in the back. They are seven months old in the front. all KYB. I had to replace them aftrer I bought the car since I think they were the Circa 80's shocks- leaky Boge-fronts. Leaky Koni's in the rear.

I'll get some new rears. I'll check the grommets too. Might try urethane grommets since the rear shocks are kind of new.

I'll check back and try to send some pictures.

One other thing. Did you jack the car up to where all 4 wheels were off the ground?

This help is great.

I'll take a road trip to VA sometime. The state has beautiful terrain.

DFW has beautiful, flat terrrain.

You're welcome anytime.

[Parenn911]

Did you jack the car up to where all 4 wheels were off the ground?

Yes, I removed all four wheels and had the 911 on jackstands. It made doing the front suspension a little easier . Since your shocks are rather new, I think you will be fine. Thanks for the compliment Lee. You should try to make a trip up to VA, keep tabs on the fun runs and upcoming events area.

[oneblueyedog]

I took of one of the spring plates last night. I had a little touble getting the Spring plate end free from the torsion bar. the far end of the torsion bar came out first. You definately have to remove the rocker panel top screws and the access disk on the body to clear the end.

I did scratch some of the paint from my torsion bar gripping it with some vice grips to pry the spring plate away. I was just going to repaint the areas and regrease. I'm also going to vaccum the tube as best as possible and fiure out some way to clean the inner splines. Any strategies?

I couldn't free the nuts to dissasemble the spring plate (height ajustment nuts). I'm taking it to a shop with an impact wrench to zip them off.

Internal heating method of spring plate works great! Hardly a chore cleaning the rubber bits off.

Going to remove the other side tonight if possible.

Dissasembly took about 2.5 hrs.

Lee78SC

[oneblueyedog]

No luck with the Impact wrench. Going to get a long pipe. Maddening!

[Charlie Stylianos]

Lee,

For those height adjustment screws, break them loose with a long breaker bar and a hydraulic floor jack while the spring plate is still on the car. Once they brake loose, it’s easy to get the remainder off when off the car.

[Parenn911]

Lee, from what I recall we put a boxed end wrench on the nut, and used a hammer to break them loose. If the spring plates are off the 911 then put them in a vice, and it will take some hard smacks with the hammer to break it free but it should loosen them. Also if you are dealing with rust, spray them with some PB blaster and then try the hammer method.

[oneblueyedog]

Thanks!
I did something similar and it worked. I put a 24mm combi spanner on the end of the breaker bar on the one I took off. It took a lot of force. About as much as a cam nut or pulley nut, but it came off.

I posted on pictures on Pelican
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showt...hreadid=179561

Dig those rusty spring plate caps.

The torsion bars gave me the most trouble separating fron the plates. I'm going to clean them with a bottle brush and brake cleaner on the inside. Then Kendall CV/bearing grease for the splines. I vaccumed out the tube on the first side too.

Thanks for the reply.

I need to figure out how to get pictures on NOVA.

[Parenn911]

Lee, did you ever finish lowering your 911? Do you have any photos of how it looks now? Try using imageshack http://www.imageshack.us/ to host your images. After you upload a pic it will give you a
[img]http:blahblah[/img] link that you copy and paste onto your post and the photo will appear.

[oneblueyedog]

Yes I did. I used the polybronze bushings. I used the spring plate angle calculator to estimate ride height. I went for eurospec,actually a degree less. It did not come out as low as a friend of mine's. He was set lower than eurospec.

I still have a suspension "bonk" and I'm following a thread on Pelican that solved it with rear wheel bearings. Its a slight sound that happens backing up and then taking off.

The guy that seemed to have the same problem replaced everything that was a pivot point on the rear suspension without solving it until the bearing R and R.

The bushings we a little more involved than I thought. They are tricky with all of the shim stuff. If it weren't for one of the bearings creeping around ( one of them on the inside!) and making the grease fitting difficult to access, I would have been much more happy with them. I also had to mess with end play washers. If I had not called Chuck about it I would have had about 6mm of slop in and out of the body.

I read later that some have JB welded the bushings into the body to guard against creep.

I like them but it was not an easy install at all. And at some point I have to take it apart again for the creeping bushing.