Gramps

Hi All.

Has anyone out there refurbed their gearknob handbrake and gaiter?

My handbrake has a few "nail/ring" chips out of it and the leather gaiter doesn't look as "supple" as it may have once done so was looking at getting all 3 refurbed, maybe in alcantara?

Anyone got any advice of best options and where/cost.

TIA

Gramps

2 hours ago, bigrog said:

Thanks for that, can you also verify the reverse and fog light positions are on both sides?

I've got the same lights on my "white" edition. Yes there are reverse and fog lights on both sides. I took a couple of pics with them on but lighting was obviously pants. I can also confirm no probs with the lights. they are still working well and bring it bang up to date.

2 minutes ago, Jow said:

wow!

 

ye i found the same, i have a fork and i couldn't get it in there due to how the hub gets in the way.

 

good job getting it out buddy!

Both sides now ready to be put back together tomorrow when I've got all day and weather is going to be good. Happy days (I hope 😂)

On 2/13/2024 at 9:44 AM, Chris D said:

Bought a new ball joint splitter for the job. Couldn't get it on if I needed to though. I used the fork and a lump hammer in the end. As above, it wasn't getting re-fitted. 

It's all a faff but it's not hard so as long as you can afford to take your time you'll save a fortune in labour. 

My new ball joint splitter made by Neilsen. much better than my previous one. This one has a longer thinner section that allows you to get it inbetwee the arm and the rubber much better 

Sadly the ball joint didn't play game 

So damn awkward to get the ball joint splitter in there so ended up cutting the arm off, then straight in and popped out no prob

2 minutes ago, bally4563 said:

Get a pickle fork , forget ball joint splitter it isn’t as if you are reusing them

True, but not tried a pickle fork before so just went with what I was familiar with 🙂

3 minutes ago, ½cwt said:

I've got the Makita LXT battery system.  Their recip even without battery was just too much money!!  I'm obviously not a really hard core tool collector.

All my cordless stuff (not that much of it but what there is) is DeWalt, strangely enough bought for me by my son for Xmas birthday etc. The amount I've spent on new tools to tackle these jobs it would probably have been cheaper to pay someone to do it, but where's the satisfaction in that? 😅

5 hours ago, ½cwt said:

I have an Erbauer recip from Screwfix.  Cost about £50.

I was wondering  whether to go for another corded one but opted for a cordless in the end. My son, who hardly ever used to do any DIY now must have the biggest private collection of DeWalt cordless stuff ever!! But he earns way more money than I ever dreampt of  and give him his due he has got really stuck into the DIY now. But guess what he didn't have?  A DeWalt reciprocating saw, typical 🙄😂. So sod it, went for a DeWalt one 🙂

1 hour ago, Jow said:

good job Gramps! 

 

sounds like I had the same problems as you  my ball joint splitter also broke as well. 

 

once the main bolt is out the rest of it is fairly easy! and putting it all back together is easy enough!

Yeah, it's a pretty basic job, if only everything always went to plan 😂. New ball joint splitter turned up as planned, sad that you want to get out there and try out your new ball joint splitter, what a sad life I live. 😂

1 hour ago, ½cwt said:

@Gramps, I should have said, split the ball joint before removing the tuning fork doing the onboard end...  As the ball joint is being scrapped you can be quite brutal. I used the pickle fork type and a big lump hammer as my original lever type splitter wasn't big enough.  Have since used a lever type on one and they go with a hell of a bang.

Yeh they do go with a bang don't they. Done a few before which is probably why my splitter gave up the ghost on this occasion, bit of fatigue, plus I'd been using the "brutal" approach already in trying to get the fork part to go under the joint adequately. New splitter should be here today. Sadly the place I ordered the saw from called this morning to say they were out of stock, not surpised as they were about 1/2 the price of anywhere else, so yet another order stuck in elsewhere. Grandson minding duties today but did manage to get under there to check the rear coolant sleeves where the manifolds join the rear pipes. Order placed with Spyder for coolant pipe parts. Already got the main pipes and forward sleeves from Porsche as they were cheaper from there but the rest were cheaper from Spyder, who are not too far from me. Something to keep me occupied once the warmer weather comes. 

Well, half way there. Tuning fork just unbolted and moved out the way, seemed very loose vertically but couldn't feel any play in it. Then it got trickier. Main bolt was seized in the bush sleeve, ended up resorting to the reciprocating saw. I was working on the nearside as that was the one with play in the ball joint and attempted to cut through the the bolt nearest the front of the car 1st. Went in through the small visible section of rubber bush using the outer collett as a guide. Initially went in from above but seemed to be getting nowhere so removed the undertray to allow better access from below. That seemed to work better but still seemed slow but eventually the bolt head dropped out. hurrah. Then set about the "nut" side. Again went in via the visible rubber section and that side took just a few mins. Things were looking up.

Then tried to seperate the ball joint. A real pain getting the splitter in where the rubber gaiter is and then trying to get the top section of the splitter to stay on the top of the ball joint thread (with the nut flush with the top of the thread. So I turned the nut upside down so it had a greater surface area for the splitter to contact but I also positioned the nut so it was a little proud of the thread so the splitter had something to bite into and that worked a treat.

So the offside was now looking a lot easier as I had a plan. Wrong. Tuning fork came off ok so set about the main bolt, took me ages to realise the bolt wasn't actually undoing and the whole bush was turning with it 🙄😂. When I had a go at the nut side the nut came off no trouble. So a seized bolt again. No problem, know what to do now. Sadly the saw thought different and shortly after starting the cut it just started whizzing and no blade motion. Took it apart later and the main bearing casing had disintergrated, New saw ordered. So I moved on to the ball joint. Again a pain getting it in there to grip but eventually it did, only for one of the lower arm prongs to snap off. Time to call it a day. New ball joint splitter ordered.    

On 12/16/2023 at 8:47 AM, Jow said:

just an update, i have another mot on monday with a local garage instead of halfords, i had a word with the guy and asked if he could do the emissions first and he seemed find with it. so i'll take it for a spirited drive before hand hopefully that gets me through, if not ill sorn it and sort out the exhaust in spring

 

so any tips for getting it through? ill fill her up wit the esso 99+ fuel and red line it a couple of times, which is getting harder and harder living in wales.......

So how did it go? Just wondered as I've just had very similar issues with my 987.2 S 🙂

On 2/5/2024 at 1:58 PM, Chris D said:

I've just done this on my 2005 987.1 S.

Rears only atm. Took my time, over a few weekends / evenings in my home garage.

I replaced the coffin arms, tuning forks, tie rods and drop links. I also changed the ARB bushes. Spyder performance.

I fitted new bolts. I got the bolt kit from Spyder too although the tuning fork bolts can be re-used or get them from an OPC (£9 each for the chassis bolt).

Tuning fork M14 bolts - 160 Nm. Everything else was either 110 or FT.

Tuning fork bolts came off no issue. I re-used the nut and bolt on the coffin arm connection. Re-use the essentric washers on the coffin arm/tie rods too. You'll see what I mean. Put some copper grease, or ideally ali paste on the bolt shafts for the arms and drop links.

Coffin arm & tie rod bolts had to be cut off using a recip saw. I used 6 bosch blades in total. 225mm long.

Drop link - I learnt the hard way. It's easier (trust me) to drop the damper and undo the drive shaft hub nut and work it on the floor. You cut off the knuckle side of the drop link with a metal cutting disc (grinder) and use the 18mm hex that remains with a decent impact wrench & socket. Plenty of plus gas - soak overnight. OS took 3 hours with heat, plus gas & a lump hammer. NS took 3 mins using the former method.

With the strut off it's easier to cut the arms / bolts with the recip saw. Better access. I cut the arms in half before attacking the bolts.

As above - take your time.

 

That sounds like it was a bit of a mish. Will be attempting my fronts very shortly. Hopefully the rears will last a bit longer yet

49 minutes ago, Paul P said:

Recent experience with OPC and cross over pipes is it’s 2k ish   

Mine were done under warranty I picked up the parts costs for bits that weren’t (or couldn’t be made to ) leak.  Cost me about £300.  
 

if I was paying for the whole deal it would be going to Steve @ goshallwerks in sandwich  

I'm not holding out much hope, but thought I'd ask as it was in there anyway. Probably do it my self when the weather improves but might give Steve a call. He was quite reasonable for the pump, if I was going to go down that road. 🙂

9 hours ago, ½cwt said:

If the bolt is seized it will not turn more than a small amount. The alloy part of the bush, which is fixed in place by the rubber bush, is what is seizes in so the rubber can give a bit.  A quarter turn or more, or if it doesn't turn back when you take the pressure off the wrench and you'll be OK.

Highly unlikely you'd snap the bolts with hand tools (you will burr the hex heads off before the bolt shank yields), but if you did it could make getting it out easier.

Must admit I didn't turn it much, just wanted to make sure it moved, didn't note if the bolt returned, don't think it did so fingers crossed. Going into Porsche Tonbridge tomorrow to have the HPFP changed FOC, and for them to price me up on the cross over pipes. Be glad to get the HPFP sorted after all this time. 🙂

On 1/29/2024 at 7:38 PM, Jow said:

ye i was able to undo the bolts, but it was the corrosion inside the bush bit that stopped me for getting the bolt out, its tight in there! 

Sorry, I might've misunderstood. Was you able to undo the nut but not get the bolt out as it was seized within the bush? If seized within the bush were you still able to turn the bolt (and the bush , or it's inner sleeve turned with it) or did the bolt not turn at all? Just trying to prepare myself. I had a quick look at the other side today and it was a darn sight stiffer than the 1st, needed a hefty handle over the wrench for more leverage but did start to turn the bolt, hope nothing snaps.

As it turns out it had it's MoT today and despite the advisory last year there was no mention of any play in the balljoint this year, but I've ordered the coffin arms in readiness. It did fail on a bulge in one of the front tyres that I wasn't aware of and the guy done well to spot it, I had 2 new tyres waiting to go on anyway once I'd done the cross-over pipes and got the geo reset but they can go on now, and it also failed on emissions for which I'm waiting on a couple of new lambda sensors.

The car has never had so much attention 😂   

58 minutes ago, Jow said:

ye i was able to undo the bolts, but it was the corrosion inside the bush bit that stopped me for getting the bolt out, its tight in there! 

Know what you mean. Due to the lack of access to a couple of the nuts I went "in" from the bolt end and they turned ok, only minimal as I just wanted to make sure they turned, so hopefully they should come out ok. 🙂

3 hours ago, ½cwt said:

If the bolt turns you're OK.  You can usually get the nut off anyway but if it the bolt is seized it is due to corrosion inside the alloy bush.  Does take a bit of fiddling with spanners only to get at some bits.  Use ring spanners if you can, reduces risk of burring off the hex head if an open ended slips (and protects your knuckles from this scenario too).

Think I might need a decent set of "straight" ring spanners, mine are all angled which makes access a little more dificult at times, and I do like to add to my tool collection. 😁

10 hours ago, ½cwt said:

Shorter blade, fine tooth.  From taking a quick look at the Screwfix pages, S922EF was what I got I believe.

Bolts from Porsche is most cost effective if you are local to a Porsche Centre.

Don't necessarily assume you are going to need one.  My front coffin arm bolts came out fine even at 20 years old.

Thanks for that. I had a quick poke around under there today, gave a few bits a squirt of WD40 in readiness. Seems almost impossible to get good access for a socket and wrench. Sockets go on the arm to crossmember bolt ok but the diameter of the wrench then makes it impossible to get the socket cleanly on once on the wrench. But got some spanners in there and just made sure I could turn them and they weren't seized. So hopefully it shouldn't be too bad. 🙂

37 minutes ago, ½cwt said:

Screwfix...

The more you look the more options there are. Would you recommend the 225mm or 150mm blade and fine tooth or not fine tooth (EF or BF). If I remember right you're qualified to answer that 😉. Certainly more qualified than me 😌

3 minutes ago, Gramps said:

Just looking at Toolstation. They do 2, one 225mm in length and the other 150mm. Which would you recommend?

On 1/27/2024 at 9:54 PM, Jow said:

I've just replaced my front control arms, i went with spyder.

 

they are fine to do, the main problem is the bolt that attaches the coffin arm to the sub frame. i had to cut both sides off with a reciprocating saw ( i bought one for this job) i did try and try without but i couldn't see any other way. the rest of it is fine.

 

so you will need replacement bolts for the ones you cut. 

 

Where did you get your replacement bolts please?

4 minutes ago, ½cwt said:

Screwfix...

Just looking at Toolstation. They do 2, one 225mm in length and the other 150mm. Which would you recommend?

2 minutes ago, ½cwt said:

Get a good blade for it, the Porsche bolts are hard.  I used a Bosch Sabre blade on mine, went through in 30 to 40 seconds where a standard metal blade had hardly touched in over a minute and it the blade was blunt by then.  The Sabre did 4 bolts and still has life in it.

perfect timing. Just had another rummage and found said saw. will google the Bosch blade 👍

8 minutes ago, Jow said:

yep! I was going to be fine with a grinder but it wasn't to be. one thing to watch when using the recip is thet the plastic cross over coolant pipe is just behind the bolt you are cutting. I just put a piece of metal there to stop me from puncturing it as i've not long changed them

That's another job on my list, one of my x-overs is starting to leak 🙄. Tried looking for my reciprocating saw last night in readiness and do you think I could find it? 🙄 

11 minutes ago, Jow said:

I've just replaced my front control arms, i went with spyder.

 

they are fine to do, the main problem is the bolt that attaches the coffin arm to the sub frame. i had to cut both sides off with a reciprocating saw ( i bought one for this job) i did try and try without but i couldn't see any other way. the rest of it is fine.

 

so you will need replacement bolts for the ones you cut. 

 

👍It's surprising how often "reciprocating saw" rears it's ugly head when working on Porsche suspension 😂. Thanks for the heads up. I'm sure I've one stashed somewhere which I've used for branch cutting, might just have to source the appropiate blade.

8 hours ago, ½cwt said:

Spyder are usually at the lower end of the price range (currently £265 for a pair), Meyle (about £155 each on Autodoc) are another alternative.  OE from Porsche you are nearer £350 each. 991 341 053 02 is the part number you are looking to match. (Yes, I know it is a 991 part number but it has been up issued on the 987.2 and 997.2 to this.)

Thanks for that. Spyder are actually at the higher end of the market where I'm looking 😂, Ebay and the like. They've got a 10% off offer till end of the month so working out at £213 for the pair collected as they are local to me. Any advice on the removal and fitting? Will a wheel alignment check be required? I know the fronts are out slightly but the coolant cross-over pipes also need doing so was going to wait till that was done. Got 2 new fronts to go on once all completed. 🙂