vtrich

Hi,
So I am, for the first time since taking the car out of the barn, really inspecting my car carefully. Purchased in early Nov. so I basically drove it home and parked it in the barn. I find that it looks like the body of the car is slightly mis-aligned on the chassis. Right side wheels/tires appear to be in-board slightly,...say 3/8" and the left side appear to out-board by the same. The car is an '84 cab,...VERY low miles,...and I am pretty certain there has been no catastrophic accidents. I did have a ppi before purchase and nothing was mentioned about this. I gues my main issue is,...can this be fixed? Additionally, any ideas about how this happens?
THANKS for your responses!!
Rich

mo_gearhead

Well, to begin with there is no seperate chassis. Porsche's are, what most in the automotive industry calls, a "UNIBODY" type car.The body/tub is a multitude of pieces welded together to make a one piece unit that serves as the chassis and main body. If one side is that much closer to the tires than the other, it would be likely the car has been hit? How a competent PPI would have missed that is also scary!

vtrich

Thanks Mo,
I understand the cars are unibody construction,...I guess I was secretly hoping for some other response. I said I had a ppi, I did't say anything about competence, and I guess I am finding, like lots of things, there are many levels of service.

Can this type of thing be repaired, or does one just live with it?

Thanks again,
Rich

Marc Gelefsky

One thing to remember is these older cars were more or less hand built and tolerances can be off.
Have you had an alignment done to see if all s in "spec"?

art

I am pretty sure 914s have a 'normal' skew to the body alignment, so maybe these did also. Check the wheels to make sure they are matched offset, etc.

Peter Zimmermann

Rich: Marc's suggestion is right on. If you don't have a body shop that specializes in Porsche repair near you then find an alignment shop with quality equipment. When they get all four wheels pointing the same direction a judgment call can be made regarding if the car is bent. About your tire clearance, is it both front & rear, or just one end of the car? I had a customer come to my shop for service. He had just had his tires replaced and the tire store had put both front 6" wheels on the right side of the car, and both rear 7" wheels on the other side! You just never know...
Pete

ron mcatee

A friend had the same problem recently and we found that one of his 6" Fuchs was on the rear with a 225-50-16 and the 7" wheel was on the opposite side on the front with a 205-55-16 tire. Be sure to check them carefully.

vtrich

Hi Pete,
Thanks for you response. My car has the standard 6 and 7s and they are where they are supposed to be. I'll take you're advice and go to a reputable
alignment shop and let them check it out. It feels straight when driving. Although I know it is unibody,...for the sake of discription,..it kinda looks like the body was plunked down about .5cm too far to the right (passenger) side,
pretty much equally front and rear.

ron mcatee

I had a 76 912E that I bought new. It was never in an accident not hit any significant potholes. I put new spring plates and bushings on it and the shop called and said they couldn't align it due to damage at some time. i knew this was incorrect and went to the shop to determine the problem. Somehow the "unibody" frame had twisted about 5-6mm on the left front. They had to put the car on a frame sraightening apparatus and pull the left front down until it popped back into specs. After that was done, the alignment was a breeze. It was just a thing that happened , but was not caused by and accidents or mistreatment. You may have something similar , but have it checked to ensure it's straight.

TonyG

The alignment rack should tell the story (or at least part of the story).

TonyG