½cwt

2 hours ago, JonSta said:

You'd had it aligned before tho - did they moan getting it in? I had my citroen aligned the other day and they moaned like heck. It wasn't done that long ago but I hit a kerb during a sudden manoeuvre halfway across France in the peeing down. Blew the tyre. 4a.m. - dogs in the back, yada yada. 

Couldn't get front cambers to match quite though,  could be the cause.  At the service thy did say there was a slight knock on a front tuning fork but didn't mention it was bent!  Then again I didn't realise until the two were side by side as you only look at one at a time...

2 hours ago, edc said:

I know the tuning fork is less critical but surely you will notice a much better handling car when done. 

Sure hope so!

3 hours ago, andy340r said:

At least that's one thing that was easy then.  I've still not managed to get the drop links out!  I replaced the front and rear tuning forks and tried to get the links out so that I could coppaslip them.  Not budging.  The nuts came off but the buggers are corroded in to the hubs.  Impact gun, breaker bar, hammer.  Nothing.  Not looking forward to needing to get them out in the future.

These are notorious.  Just done the front suspension on my 986 and one too a magnetic induction coil (£170) to get heat into the rod (after cutting off the ball joint so you have the hex to work with with a breaker bar and impact wrench) so that it broke down the corrosion enough to turn it.  Once out and the hole was cleaned out of residue, the new ones have gone in with lots of assembly paste!

To give you an idea when I got the strut off the car I wedged it against a concrete step and even an 14lb sledge swung pretty vigorously had no effect.  I left the nut on to protect the tread and give a bigger target.

I've got the rears to do next weekend...

7 hours ago, JonSta said:

Ummmmm...... Did you do that getting it off? I mean I know you're tough 😗

😆 er... no!  It'll be interesting when it goes in for tracking with all the new bits on as to how much camber and track may be out by...

And the pictures to prove it happened:

Before, dull and rusty.

After, bright and shiny 🙂 

Oh and I'm pretty sure the one on the right has a problem... 😨 (not picked up at recent service or MOT!)

3 minutes ago, red rocket said:

Ah right. I've got a small tin of Optimoly I use on the wheel bolts but not sure there's enough to stretch.

Coppaslip would be fine all round I'm sure, anything would be better than dry!  You don't really need that much as a thinly smeared covering is all that's required and any excess gets squeezed out and wasted.  I just happen to have AL1100 from a former employer...

7 hours ago, 986T8 said:

You know you can put a thin wrench between the boot and the ARB on the other side, right?

I hesitate to say you may not have tackled this task on a seized ARB bolt....  if you have apologies.

A 17mm open ended is not up to the task of the torque required if these are seized in and will burr off the hex (if they are not seized, no problem and you are quite correct).  If you do burr it off the task would become a whole lot harder .  The starting point is cutting off the ARB joint to allow access for a 6 sided (not 12 point) socket on a breaker bar to avoid burring off this hex.  Lifting the breaker bar in a standing position what the assembly was still on the car was JUST enough to start rotation of this after lots of time putting shock into the 'bolt' with an impact wrench and a lump hammer on the other end.  Even when I got it off the car and positioned it against a concrete step, a 14lb sledge hammer did not budge the pin.  My impact wrench would not even turn it a little until after the heat treatment and even then only after more work with the breaker bar.  The only time a 17mm on this hex works it when refitting the new on to stop it rotating until there is enough load on it to use a ratchet or driver to fasten the nut.

1 hour ago, Halfordwill said:

Trouble with doing all this work is that there is not much to look at unless you are on your knees looking or taken loads of photos. 
Of course you do have that lovely warm feeling knowing all that work has been done 😁

And as I've gone for Koni Special Active shocks, some nice red bits to look at rather than black, when you take the wheels off.....

Reminds me, this all started when I found a broken spring when I went to paint my calipers back in April. They are still peeling and faded red.

Just now, red rocket said:

Preparing to do similar work on my 987. Interested to know why two different types of anti-seize?

Honestly, virtually sod all left in the Coppaslip tube so I was using it up and AL1100 is damned expensive and I've not got much left.  I thought the shock tubes were a lower grade issue.  Then again with work this major I'm probably not going to find out if either made a difference, 'cos it won't be me taking it apart again in 20 years when these new parts wear out.

1 hour ago, Halfordwill said:

Does sound like it was well seized, but you won on the other bolts that I had to cut off. 
make sure you use some anti seize for next time!

Copious Wurth AL1100 paste on bolt shanks and Coppaslip on the shock tube as the upright with the seized bolt put up a good fight getting that out too.  A lot of oxide residue to remove with a wire brush and emery cloth before refitting, shock dropped straight in.  Coffin arm bolts were a doddle, still had traces of green coating on them from when they were factory fitted.

Just the rears to do now...

10 hours ago, Halfordwill said:

Well done sounds like it’s going good. The best way I found for the drop links is to angle grind the link off exposing the hex bolt then put a breaker bar on it which will enable you to turn the bolt and break the corrosion in the casting then turn it anti clockwise preferably with an impact gun and wind it out. No more than a 10min job!

A lot more than 10 mins on one side on mine!!!!

5 hours ago, gIzzE said:

That is what was done on mine, but needed the help of some freeze off spray. 

Alas Plus Gas, freeze off and even 14lb sledge hammer once the strut was off the car.  No dice. 

My new magnetic induction heater arrived this afternoon and I found it to be a bit More Bletchley Park rather than Magic Bullet i.e. it shortened the war and made it less painful.  Still took 3 minutes on the bolt to get enough free rotation for my impact wrench (400NM) to be able to turn it, up to that point full force on the end of a 600mm breaker bar just about turned it. I thin I might have had a particularly well seized one!

Just working through the torque settings (Using a jack under the bottom pin to load up the suspension - pretty near to Z0 position if not perfect) , passenger side all back together waiting for the wheel to be fitted and the driver's side needs a couple of bolts torqued up then refit the disc & caliper.

Overall less of a slog than I feared given I broke off to do an hour's work on the step son's car too.

OK so passenger side all came off nicely loose fitted new coffin arm and tuning fork fitted n both sides and just finished building up the struts after giving the hub casting a good wire brushing before rain stopped play.  Extra brute force didn't make the seized drop link move (14lb sledge hammer) bring on the induction heater tomorrow! 🤞

Started the suspension overhaul with the front end.  Going well so far but I did have most of it apart back in April. Just pulled the trigger on a magnetic induction heater (Normally £180-190 on Amazon with Prime deliver and an extra £10 voucher so only £170 today 👍) so the drop link bolt I can turn with a breaker bar but not with my 400Nm impact wrench... with hopefully slip out tomorrow when it arrives.  In the mean time about to tackle the coffin arm and tuning fork.  When they are out with the upright and hub, I might try a bit more brute force on the drop link bolt, but the heater will be useful for the rears anyway.

3 hours ago, edc said:

Mine also passed its MOT today 😎 No Italian tune up needed 😄

No, but a good insurance policy, oh and a bit of fun.  Think you missed a trick there!

2 hours ago, Halfordwill said:

Other side coffin arm and track control arm fitted. 
Both control arm bolts were seized, if you took out the Cats you could use a G cramp press to push them out. I partially cut through the head end and used a breaker bar to shear it off then washers under the nut at the other end to pull it out took about 10mins so not too bad. 
Booked in for alignment on Monday 

Sounds like a good technique. Logged in my mind for this weekend!

3 hours ago, JonSta said:

Tell us if it feels better. Thinking of doing mine when it goes in for service. Not due but the shift is notchy when it's cold.

Made the 6 speed in my 986 S much less agricultural particularly when cold.  Bear in mind this oil has probably never been changed before as IIRC there isn't an official service interval for it so its what 12 - 15 years old and will be way past its best and design life.  FWIW my indy used Millers.

2 hours ago, Halfordwill said:

Got one side of the rear suspension done, new coffin arm and track control arm, whilst I was in there did the cv gaiters as they were cracking.
I had to cut the end of the bolt off the arm and then use some washers and the nut to pull the remaining part of the bolt out of the arm.

 Even then I had to use a breaker bar to wind it out it was stuck solid!

Just the other side to do now, hopefully it won’t be as bad. 

Good luck, I'm planning to do all 4 corners in the next few weeks, hopefully not too much time spent cutting bolts but who knows.  Might just be a case of if they really done want to move get on and start cut as I'll end up doing it anyway.

4 hours ago, edc said:

Have you got new top mounts? 

Front only, see below.  General consensus from what I've read is that the rears fair a lot better than fronts and I really don't want to spend any more other than possibly new bolts if I have to cut anything out.

5 hours ago, Sanky said:

I'm doing the same work in about £1600 so far, your not doing bad.  Good luck with it

This is on top of £450 on the front back in April to replace a broken spring (with 2 new ones) perished bump stops, top mounts and a track rod.  Figure included a new Makita impact wrench without battery that I already had....

4 new Koni Special Active dampers, ARB drop links and rear bump stops have been delivered today to go with the coffin arms and tuning forks that came last week.  Plus Gas soaking into all the nuts, bolts and joints as I write.  £920 into suspension refurb project....  Now (in no particular order) for the blood, toil, tears and sweat!  🤞 😨

2 hours ago, Berni29 said:

Hi, cool, but are you changing the struts?

Yes, struts, coffin arms and front tuning forks plus drop links all round. I want to do as much work as I can myself, the hobby aspect of the car as well as driving it.  They are happy with the plan.  If I can't get the pinch bolts out, they will and just replace with the new ones so the pinch bolt is still in place and it can be driven (about 8 miles), so I'll try these as first job on all corners to see if I can loosen them.  If not, off to the indy get the seized drop links only done (at £80 per hour), which I will then be able to remove again as they are freshly fitted and I can do they rest of the project rather than £80 an hour for this and other work that I can do myself.

A bit odd, may be, but its how I want to do it.

13 hours ago, Berni29 said:

Hi, thats a good idea, but it's not going to help for the droplink/pinch bolt if that is seized. But hopefully you will be OK!

All the best

Berni

This is more for the coffin arm, tuning fork and caliper bolts but you never know, however I reckon my luck isn't that good.  I have plan for that though. I know one comes our on the front because it did back in April (PO had it changed abut 5 years ago) so I have my local indy lined up to remove what I can't remove and change the drop links in those locations.  I'll temporarily tie up or remove the ARBs to take it to them if I get part way through and they are not moving but before I do too much damage. 

15 hours ago, beaks said:

used an impact screwdriver to get the jokers out chap - when I went to use my screwdriver if was one of those 'danger danger' moments so common sense prevailed on this occasion!

cheers for the tips though!

Good pint on the impact driver.  Another thought is that it is the slightly bigger PH3 not the usual PH2 head on these screws so using the correct driver tip helps a lot, as the smaller one can more easily start to burr out.

44 minutes ago, beaks said:

New brakes all round !!

A nice job to do - only issue was whoever put the little screws in the front brake discs last appears to have thought they needed to be beyond 'FT'...

These are often corroded into place or at least the head burrs out in many cars and to double the problem Porsche use 2 screws.....  They do go through a lot of heat cycles and often have a dab of thread lock on them.  Try tightening first before slackening and if it burrs out, drill through with a 4mm drill and you should be able to clear the remaining threads out OK (often turn out with the drill bit I find) and, if you have one, run through with an M6 tap.  Any decent replacement disc should come with replacement screws.

Took each wheel off in turn and soaked every suspension nut, bolt & bush in Plus Gas ready to start the suspension rebuild.  Will do the same again next weekend.  Best odds on minimising seized or works shearing bolts I hope. 🤞

7 minutes ago, the baron said:

Rain, snow Ice shouldn't matter these cars are not be be babied.🤪

Yeah, but in my case at least, the driver is!  I'm not into driving in biblical rain storms in anything unless I absolutely have to.

Anyhow I wrote the post more because I was proud of my 'flat six fix' alliteration (or whatever it is).  Hurbis eh?