1987 3.2 Carrera Backdate project - Sladeys hotrod

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sladey
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Re: 1987 3.2 Carrera Backdate project - Sladeys hotrod

Post by sladey »

Hi Nige

No the A arms are all solid (all surface stuff) so not replacing them but I have cleaned them up and will re-paint them - probably adding stone chip as well this time


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Re: 1987 3.2 Carrera Backdate project - Sladeys hotrod

Post by Ian Comerford »

From experience it’s also worth adding cavity wax into the arms whilst you have full access. They do rust from the inside too.
sladey
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Re: 1987 3.2 Carrera Backdate project - Sladeys hotrod

Post by sladey »

Thanks - good call
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Re: 1987 3.2 Carrera Backdate project - Sladeys hotrod

Post by sladey »

As is usual whenever I (or most people for that matter) work on a car the ‘while you’re in there’ demons take hold.

Looking at the front brake callipers, which are boxster items that I installed probably 15 years ago now, I thought they seemed a bit grubby. They were second hand when I bought them and I’ve never done anything to them except fit them.

Image


When I spotted that one of the seals was split I looked into getting them rebuilt. Surprisingly I found a company fairly local to me with excellent reviews so it was off to BCS in long Eaton for a rebuild and bling refinish

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Looks like that pic isn’t as focussed as it could be. I’m really chuffed with them.

In the background you can see I also pulled the trigger on a new pair of (drilled) discs as well

Here’s a glimpse of them together further down the line

Image

Dayum!


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rhd racer
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Re: 1987 3.2 Carrera Backdate project - Sladeys hotrod

Post by rhd racer »

Look great.

They did the orange ones on my 964 - they really do a top job. They are still as good as they say I put them on, 2k miles and counting. They have done a few for Paul what’s his name off the telly bobs too
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Re: 1987 3.2 Carrera Backdate project - Sladeys hotrod

Post by PMNorris »

Love the brakes. Very bling
1970 2.2 911 T / Ex RS Clone, now more original looking, with 1979 3.2 SS engine
1988 3.2 Carrera Commemorative edition (sold)
sladey
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Re: 1987 3.2 Carrera Backdate project - Sladeys hotrod

Post by sladey »

Thanks

OK on to the next Gotcha

You’ll remember I bought a new pair of suspension struts

Image

Smart looking things and better than the previous ones as these have rather fetching bootees which should hopefully keep the weather out.

However as I went to fit them…..
Image

This is the head of the strut lined up with the RSR style bracket they are meant to slot into. Ain’t no way that’s going to fit in there.

So out with the grinder
Image

I then splayed the two sides out so I could fit the strut into the nearest hole and then put another one between the two furthest holes - the aim being that I clamp it parallel before I start welding it up

Image

And smoothed off..

Image

The clamping of the struts in there wasn’t as effective as I’d hoped - it’s now too narrow to fit it into the first (stiffest) hole, but I’ve always run it on the last (loosest) hole (Bootsy will be along any minute) so it doesn’t matter. If I decide I want to stiffen up the front in the future I’m sure I can re-massage the strut to make it fit in the right holes.


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Re: 1987 3.2 Carrera Backdate project - Sladeys hotrod

Post by sladey »

Gotcha number 2…..

You may remember I found a hole in one of the struts and welded a patch on - choosing to go for a patch so that no weld got onto the inside thereby making it hard to get the shock absorber in there.

Anyway, I got the shocks back from rebuilding

Image
Image

I was mildly annoyed that they’d done nothing to the outside but having read other reviews they don’t do this as part of the rebuild. I stuck a bit of epoxy mastic on the scabby bits at the bottom of the rear ones.

Then I went to slide the fronts into the suspension strut. One side went in fine but the other side not so good - there was an obstruction. This is the one I welded up but it can’t be me can it as I chose to weld a tab on instead of just welding the hole.

I measured the length to the obstruction and sure enough it was exactly where I’d welded the patch on. So that had gone well then

I drilled out the previous patch

Image

I then made sure that the shock fitted inside OK - no problems this time.

I then put another patch on - bit heftier this time though

Image

And welded in place

Image

I think when I did the previous one the metal was thinner than I thought and a blob of weld went through forming the obstruction. This one is much thicker and there is no internal bobbble.

I then poured some FE123 rust converter into the strut and swilled it around before draining it out - did a nice job of converting all the surface rust inside. I suspect it was only there because of the previous small hole allowing moisture in. Should be better now it’s properly sealed


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Re: 1987 3.2 Carrera Backdate project - Sladeys hotrod

Post by sladey »

Gotcha number 3 - more self-inflicted twattery

I was looking at the struts one day and tried threading one of the bolts into the holes. It seemed a little stiff. I know, I thought, I’ll run an M12 tap through it to clean up the threads.

The tap was a little stiffer than I expected but once I was part way through I had to finish it. It went all the way through and all was good until I tried again to thread the bolt through - now it wouldn’t fit at all.

Bollox.

On checking I’d re-tapped it with an M12x1.75 tap, and the original was M12x1.5. I did a search on google as to which was stronger, a coarse thread or fine thread which popped up the helpful advice that finer was stronger. In any event though I’d cut one thread on top of another - that surely wouldn’t be good.

On the plus side the bolt isn’t really doing anything important - it’s just holding the brake caliper onto the strut (via an adapter) so I thought it would be best to just pretend I didn’t see it and carry on


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1987 3.2 Carrera Backdate project - Sladeys hotrod

Post by sladey »

Only joking!

OK so in order to make this safe I decided to drill and tap it out to an M14 bolt - fine thread.

So I had to buy an M14 drill (for the adapter) but also a fine M14 tap (the drill size for that tap is 12.5 and I already had that.

The drilling and tapping on the strut went well and all was good

Image


However the bolt that goes into it passes through an adapter to allow me to run Boxster calipers at the front.

I was able to drill the hole in the adapter out to 14mm no problem but it’s a recessed hole, and the top of the cap head M14 bolt is (as you would expect) bigger than an M12 one.

So I ordered a 21mm drill bit to take it out to the right diameter. that doesn’t quite do it though, because the bottom of the recess has to be perfectly flat to allow the shoulder of the bolt to sit on it. If you just used the 21mm drill you’d end up with a chamfered recess and no-one wants that.

My solution was to also buy an M21 end mill. The idea was that the drill would start the hole off and the end mill would finish it off square

This is me starting the 21mm drill

Image

Next problem - the shaft of the 21mm end mill was also 21mm so too bit to fit into the chuck of my pillar drill.

So I decided to turn it down

Image

This wasn’t easy and was quite a slow process

Image

But eventually I finished up with a shaft small enough to fit into the drill

Image


And finally ended up with what I needed

Image

Top one is M14, bottom one is M12

Moral of the story is, check the thread size BEFORE you start cleaning out threads. That little bit of carelessness cost me a few hours of messing about and probably £40 - £50 of tools I’m unlikely to use again.

All part of life’s rich tapestry


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Last edited by sladey on Wed Mar 29, 2023 9:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 1987 3.2 Carrera Backdate project - Sladeys hotrod

Post by Gary71 »

These things are sent to try us… :)

I’ll just say it quietly as it’s too late now, but maybe a helicoil next time ;)
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Re: 1987 3.2 Carrera Backdate project - Sladeys hotrod

Post by Bruce M »

Gary71 wrote:These things are sent to try us… :)

I’ll just say it quietly as it’s too late now, but maybe a helicoil next time ;)
Image I’d have gone straight for the helicoil too. Partly because I’ve already got a M12x1.5 kit (it’s a common size). They are cheap as chips these days.
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Re: 1987 3.2 Carrera Backdate project - Sladeys hotrod

Post by PeterK »

Me too, but just think of all the fun (buying tools and messing about in the garage) that Sladey’s had doing it the hard way
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Re: 1987 3.2 Carrera Backdate project - Sladeys hotrod

Post by 911hillclimber »

Not just me that 'finds' these mini-adventures then.
I heard from others that Bilstien do not paint the parts which is irritating as they should have the right colours.

As Peter said, messing in a garage with tools, nice!
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sladey
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Re: 1987 3.2 Carrera Backdate project - Sladeys hotrod

Post by sladey »

Didn’t think of helicoil - that’s a good call - I did one years ago on a broken sump plug on my Mk II Jag.

Hey ho - Happy with the M14


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