First I would like to thank everyone for their answers in my first question. front suspension bushings

This is the plan Bilstein HD shocks front and rear, rubber sway bar bushings front and rear, poly-bronze bushings in the front, turbo tie rods, front wheel bearings and a strut tower brace.

This next part only if necessary, ball joints and rear sway bar mounts.

I am not going to change my spring plates, but I'm planning on putting Neatrix bushings on. My question is how hard and time consuming is it to change the rear spring plate bushings? I'm not going to be doing the work myself, but assisting to get a discount. The person is fine with everything, but a little hesitant with the spring plate bushings. He said if I didn't do them at this time and we do it later. We won't be redoing any of our previous work. So are the spring plate bushings that much of a pain to change?

I also plan on getting an alignment after the work is complete. I was told it could take a few days for the car to settle from the change in shocks. I'm going from Boge to the Bilstein HD's. I do not plan on having the car lowered to euro height. The car is used for street driving and an autocross event once per month.

Jerry Baer

1987 coupe

 

I consider ball joints a routine part of a suspension refresh, unless the miles are very low and the rubber boots are in great shape. Ball joints are cheap and yours are 17 years old.

Rear sway bar mounts are prone to failure. It's easier to be proactive and reinforce them before they fail.

Spring plate bushings are not a small job, but no big deal for an experienced pro. Do this now in combo with the front bushings. That way you will only have to set ride height, corner balance, and align once.

 

Jerry,

I am contemplating a similar suspension refresh. From my research, I have found out that every time you work on the suspenion, you should plan on an alignment and corner balance as the work will mess up the settings.

While I will be changing the parts in my home garage, I am planning on having my local porsche "tuner" do the Align/lower/corner balance work and he tells me to figure on 6-8 hours for the labor. Given the cost of this critical step, I want to minimize my total cost and so I will do ALL of my changes at one time so i only pay for one Align/corner balance.

I hear the rear bushings are not hard but very messy. You will need to cut/burn them off of the sprong plates. I figure on several hours of "fun" and if my child is nearby, he may learn a few new words.

Also, if you AutoX, reconsider lowering to Euro height and use of Sport rear shocks (Steve Weiner reccomendation). You should see significant handling improvements.

Best of luck what ever you decide.

 

Definately replace the ball-joints "While your in there."

 

yup, if you have the whole ball of wax, strut and A arm out why not change the ball joint. It's infinitely
easier than replacing ball joints while the strut is connected to the tie-rod end. I have that special socket to fit the ball joint nut if you want to buy it
no I didn't post to sell a socket.