DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Mine doesn’t have that O ring, guess many don’t!


Part 28 on here

IIRC you have to grind or cut the #28 collar off if scored.
Or don’t quite knock the lip seal quite fully home.

Mark, why are you changing everything on the front?

I think 28 isn't the collar - it's the O ring - 29 is the collar. It's displayed out of scale which threw me off when looking for an O ring

I'm doing it because I'm fitting tractive suspension all round and this comes with new front hubs/spindles - see picture on the previous page

Correct, the O (28) ring sits behind the collar (29)

Have you managed to remove the collar from the old spindle?

I’ve not tried Nige. From memory they aren’t easy to get off and I’ve got collar and o ring for the new setup.

Planning on selling the old setup - rebuilt bilsteins, coilover conversion and raised spindles - must be worth something

OK I went on holiday just before Easter and came back to find this box of goodies waiting for me



Mmmm - shiny



Looking through it all it seems to be relatively straightforward - you have a central unit that is mounted under the passenger seat which detects movement and decides what to do about it. Coming out of this are a number of wires:-

- wires going directly to each shock absorber
- wires going to the display unit
- power wires

I also ordered this


It’s an option control knob. I didn’t fancy the idea of changing settings on the fly by using a touchscreen so Chris at Centre Gravity suggested I go with the optional knob. You still have the touch screen but the knob also allows you to scroll through the available settings quickly and easily which you’re on the go.

The knob itself is connected to a plug that goes into he back of the control unit and the instructions are clear on how to do this



So the next question is where to mount the display unit? On installs I’ve seen on line the 3D printed a panel that fitted into the centre console. However I don’t have a centre console so that wasn’t going to work. I toyed with the idea of it hanging under the ashtray but felt that was going to be a bit rubbish.

Eventually I decided to replace the radio. My existing radio is entirely for show - all it actually does it actually as an on/off button for the actual sound system (the amp sits under the drivers seat). I thought I could replace that with the control panel

I help the control panel up against the radio and whilst it was a similar size it would need some work.

I couldn’t remember how I’d put the dashboard all together (it’s been a few years) so I looked back on this thread and found this useful picture



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So this weekend I started installing the wiring side and the changes to the dash.

I took the passenger seat out and this is how it looked before I started


That bar across the rear is used to mount the audioB1engine (I think it’s called that) Bluetooth receiving that takes my Bangin Choons from my phone to the Amp under the drivers seat.

I though about installing the tractiv sensor onto that bar but it’s a bit springy and I think it needs to be rigidly mounted

I decided to bolt it to the floor close to the middle of the car. I turned the cross-bar around so that my Bluetooth receiver was at the other end and and did a cut-out so it wouldn’t foul the tractive sensor

You can see it here


The tractive sensor and troll unit is at the top of the picture with the label indicating top side and drive direction.

I’ve started running the cables for the shock absorbers under the carpet but not taken them any further yet.




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OK so on to the display screen. I stripped off the bracket-weave covering on the dash to expose this


A bit of fiddling and pulling and I got the black plate out successfully


As you can probably seee there are 2 parts to this - the alu frame that sits at the back and a thin steel bit that slides into it and to which the basket weave is glued. It was this part I was going to have to re-make


Here you can see the original, the new one part way through and the display unit itself.

A bit more messing about and I got to this


I’m happy with that. There were 4 self-tappers provided with the unit and I wasn’t happy about using them. I wanted to use bolts (which will have to be M3). I then started to think how they were going to be pointed and realised and balancing a nut behind was going to be a complete pain so I started thinking of other ideas

Eventually I cam up with the idea o 3 relatively chunky strips of steel with threads cut into them




The two right hand bolts screw into one of these and the same on the left side. They are easier to hold than an M3 nut and once you’ve got one in place the second one is fairly easy to thread in



Here it is bolted into place and also with a hole for the knob. The panel has changed colour as I coated it with FE123 rust converter to give it a bit of protection.

Next it was onto the basket weave.

On the recommendation of Gary I ordered some brick weave material. I’d previously painted it read to match the rest of the interior but I’m planning on changing the interior again over the next year so I’m reverting to black.


It wasn’t too bad a job cutting all this out. Of course, mission creep meant I’ve needed to do the whole of the dashboard


I was still waiting for some fabric adhesive to be delivered but I assembled the main bit of dash without it - much of it is held in place by various fittings

I’m pretty pleased with it - when I get the glue in there it will smarten it all up.


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I’ve jumped a bit ahead of myself. I’m just back from a holiday in Japan and I have 3 weekends to get all the tractiv fitted ready for a setup session at Centre Gravity on Monday 18th May and then will be driving to the Austrian and Slovenian alps the following week-end.

Anyway, before I went to Japan I managed a day or two on it all

I fitted the rear shocks. ON face of it these should have been simple but there is this cable coming out of the top and I was concerned to make sure it didn’t get snagged or crushed as I was inserting the shock.



Working on my own meant I had to be imaginative so I came up with this option



The wooden tower is compressing the suspension to hold the shock in place so I could get the nut on the top. the thin white wire is used for pulling through electrical cable and is really useful - I attached one end to the tractiv electrical wire and then as I raised the shock I was able to use the white wire to keep it taught and stop it getting snagged.

All a bit of a ball-ache but I got there in the end. You’re left with these wires poking out of the top of the shock


I had a bit of an ‘oh shite’ moment when torquing up the bottom of the shock to the swing-arm. It just kept turning and not torquing. I think it was meant to be 125nm. Eventually I sussed this was because I’d got alumslip on the threads. Reading up on this you should reduce the torque by 10-15% to allow for this.

Instead I wiped off the alumslip and got it to 125. I was crapping myself for a while though - waiting for it to suddenly go loose as I stripped the threads. Anyway, didn’t happen.


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I also had to install the inner bearing race on the front hub. I found a bit of tubing that was close to the correct size and turned it to get it just right.



I popped the O-ring on and tapped it on with the metal tube - worked a charm.

Ok back to today now. While I was waiting for the fabric glue to arrive I thought I’d start fitting one o the front shocks.

It’s a bit nerve racking - whilst it’s fairly simple on the face of it, this is an expensive piece of kit and I’ve not fitted it before. I’ve only got one chance to get it right

The front units come fully assembled but obviously you need to take off the top nuts in order to fit them - so the springs decompress.

I bought a spring compressor to help with assembly but I couldn’t suss out how that worked and was concerned about damaging the springs.

Eventually I decided to take the springs off and fit the strut onto the bottom ball joint first - fitting the new pins to hold it in place and then applied some strapping to stop it from falling


I then added on the springs and the top hat




I thought I’d taken a picture of this next bit but obviously not. In order to compress it I put an able tie around the top had with two ties coming off that. Then I ran a strap through those to ties and under the bottom of the strut. I was then able to just compress it enough to push it up through the hole.

An additional buggeration factor is that they want you to put another tube through the hole. This involved me going up a ladder with a hammer but I got there in the end.

I ended up with this


And then this


…before calling it a day.

I’ll carry on with it next week-end. Hopefully I should get it all finished next week-end.

I’ll write up progress

Thanks for watching. Like, subscribe and hit the bell


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Interesting.
Will you do a bump steer check or relay on the old position of the track rod ends?

Great work Mark, you don't do things by half.

Excellent stuff. I can sympathise with the trying to get the struts in place after doing the shocks and springs on the 964. Spring compressors don't fit and that's irrelevant anyway as the shock expands. I ended up using ratchet straps, body weight, and speed.

misteralz wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2026 11:18 am body weight, and speed.

Similar to what us old ravers used to use