I stand corrected- I knew it was a '58 but must have mis-typed if I said '56... and yes, you're right it's not a tri'5... now back to our regularly scheduled Porsche talk...

 

You guys should get a room.

 

I stopped by the body shop again today. They are almost done with the second stage of filler, getting the final surface quality. Looks really good, and should be in primer in a few days.

 

One more survey of the wiring harnesses. I pulled off any non-stock covering, and then flagged all problems with blue tape. Then I chickened out and put the harnesses back in the box.

 

With the table cleared, I pulled out all the suspension parts, as they came off the car last September. (Except the front cross member, which was on the body during media blasting.)



I spotted a few problems right away. Some sloppy fitting around bushings, and a deformed steering rack bellows flange.



This car just keeps giving (or taking). I disassembled the front struts. The brake disks look pretty new, but are not factory parts. The struts also look newish, and not stock.



Unfortunately, the inside of the left strut has a bigger problem. The threads are worn off on one side. Best guess: the old strut got loose and wore against the inside of the housing.

 

I'd look for a good front suspension from a long hood 911 (and appropriate rear hubs and discs) and convert to 5 lug...

 

Stu, there you go again, just causing trouble.

 

I had a very busy day getting the suspension pieces apart.

Here's my solution for getting the fittings and bushings off the front A-arm: using my cheater bar for leverage, and just twisting the fitting off.



Once I got each end fitting off, it was easy to pry the bushing out.



I also pulled the ball joints. The tidy cotter pin looks original.



Other side.

 

Next up: rear springs and shocks.



Easy with spring compressors. These springs have green code stripes.

 

Then it was press time. Step 1: press out the rear hubs. I know my Jenga wood pile looks sketchy, but I was just mocking up some bracing. As soon as I put a tiny amount of force on the hub, it started to move so I went for it.




Like all factory trailing arms, mine have remnants of mysterious factory hieroglyphics.




On one side, the hub came out clean. On the other side, one bearing race came out with the hub.



That required an extra step with the press.



The bearing grease on that side was nearly dry and solid.



The final step was was pressing out the trailing arm axle. I first pressed one end in far enough so it cleared the bushing.



And then pried out the bushing.



I turned the trailing arm out, and pushed the axle in far enough to clear the other bushing.



Axle out!



So, now a table of separate parts.

 

Now you just need to find 914-6 stub axles... (luckily I found mine 40 some years ago when they still had "6" parts at the local dealer)

I'm just looking out for you.

 

So we just need a working time machine.

 

I finished removing all the suspension bushings today, with the strut top mounts.



It only took about 60 seconds with the press.

 

I remembered one more bit of sheet metal: the cover under the steering rack. This was pretty banged up.



After about an hour of hammer work.

 

I think 914 rubber sells the new rubber seals for both ends of that shield. That one doesn't look that bad. A little work and powdercoating and it will be better than new.