924Board.org

[Slam]

Last night I put new struts in Mand's 924. After reading the posts here I figured the job couldn't be that hard.

Piece of cake. All went as advertised and I'm doing the 944 soon.

Some observations:

I removed the cartridge top nut before jacking the car - weight of the car keeps things compressed, but even when the car's jacked all the way up the cartridge is still sitting in the upper strut mount. Frankly, I wouldn't want to use spring compressors - they make me nervous (sorry, Gohim).

Keep a jack handy for raising and lowering the control arm when you reassemble.

I did remove the drop link retaining nut from the control arm while the control arm was supported by the jack. This makes it easy to swing the strut out of the fender. Don't reattach the drop link until after you've got the strut in and bolted up. Then jack up the control arm and the drop link will align well. In fact, jacking the control arm was the key to the whole affair. Up a little, now down a little.

Be careful of the brake hoses.

I found her strut mounts in good shape. The passenger's side strut I took out was completely toast - no damping at all - and the driver's side wasn't far behind. They were both American (Monroe or Gabriel, couldn't tell which) and I replaced with KYB. Got the KYBs for about $40 each new from the States.


'm sure those of you who've done this will have more to add, and I know I've forgotten things (it was last night, after all), but it's a small job that pays big dividends.

Thanks to everyone who posted their strut stories.
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'84 944 - kid blew motor
'83 944 - resting comfortably. For 12 years
'87 944 - sideswiped by trucker
'80 924 - gone
'78 924 - gone
'77 924 - rusting comfortably

[Rasta Monsta]

Glad you found it easy. After learning the method on Shaggy, I had Red completed in less than 30 minutes per side.

One thing to add though. . .it is very important to use a wood block when jacking on the control arm. It is a delicate little bastard.

I also hit the rubber strut top with some lithium lube to help it squirm around in it's mounting point.
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Toofah King Bad

• WeiBe (1987 924S 2.5t) - 931 S3

[Brockoli]

cool, good tips. I just ordered my bilstien shocks+other suspension goodies yesterday. Ill be doin them next week, hopefully these tips help me, im sure they will!
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'80 924 M471,Wideband O2, Full coilover susp,23/19 sways,Bilstiens,KLA Strut Brace,Roll Bar,Test Pipe,BBS RS, Willwood BBK

25% of a '87 944 Chumpcar http://straightpipe.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=2454

'79 924 Sebring Edition(Sitting)