RM512

Shout out for Black Sea R&D. Just finished installing the super bearing kit and I could not believe how smooth the installation went. Getting the old bearings out was another story. For anyone contemplating this project, It is a lot of work but not terrible. But do yourself a favor and get the Super Bearing kit!

kirkandorules

On their website, they show a 3 bearing and a 4 bearing package for sale. How many do you actually need?

Otto Mechanic

Did you use the threaded rod removal method? http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/trans-05.htm I found the threaded rod at a local welding shop, not expensive and worked well.

I didn't have much trouble with it at all, but I used an air wrench to get them out. If I'd tried it with a ratchet I'd probably still be doing it. It's worth buying a compressor for the job if you don't already have one.

My car is an '89 S2, which means it has (had) a "split" torque tube. Under Constantine's direction I sourced a pre-89 solid torque tube from a Porsche wrecking yard in Emeryville CA (EASY auto parts), media blasted it and re-painted it, then installed the new bearings in the re-conditioned TT for peace of mind. All that really means I could have avoided removing the bearings altogether if the wrecking yard had pulled the drive shaft and bearings from it before they sold the TT, but they didn't.

Colin - I used the four bearing setup.

PS: I have a perfectly good spare drive shaft if anyone near Big Basin Park CA wants to pick it up. Free to a good home.

Tiger03447

Better check with Constatine to see which set-up is correct for your car. I used the 4 bearing deal on my '83 TT. Because 4 of them came out of it..I just presumed that the TT was original..It sure looked it when I pulled it out of the car!

Otto Mechanic

I'll second that. Constantine isn't going to sell you parts you don't need. Remember he sells these designs for a series of cars that cover over 10 years of production and he also sells them for a few different platforms, including my "other" car, the 928.

He won't steer you wrong. He's a good guy and I've learned a lot from him in just a few conversations.

RM512

I used 4 bearings. Otto, used the air impact for a while but my compressor couldn't keep up.

MistaX

Gave the '88 a tuneup. New plugs, wires, cap, rotor, the usual. Runs fantastic now.
Got new tires for it, Ohtsu FP7000's, 215/60/15 front 225/60/15 rear. Cheapest things that fit, but reviews seem alright.
Took the wheels off to change tires, and realize the passenger side rear caliper has no pads and no hardware. All the other calipers are fine. It's just that one. This car is bizarre.

I expected to drive it this weekend but that's obviously not happening.

JRP944

OhioMatt

Cleaned up the rusty battery tray...discovered a previous owner had done some patchwork with JB weld already but didn't treat the rust, so I hit everything with some Rust Bullet then some 'close enough' paint from Auto Zone. Ordered a new battery cover to replace the one that was missing and a battery mat. Should be good to go for quite a while.

tc944

Installed Passenger seat and harness.

Tiger03447

I tore into the front suspension yesterday and today..Removed the front rotor assemblies along with the front knuckles...Shooting for a bit of cleanup on the front knuckles as well as replacing the front rotors, and bearings and seals. Upon inspection of the passenger side spindle, it appears that some PO had galled the spindle at some point. A quick check shows (in Pelican) that the Left front spindle and knuckle are available for a whopping 1415.00, and that the passenger side is N/A at any price. Trying to find a front spindle with great surfaces is going to be tough. I'll check the later PET to see if the part #s are the same for the later cars, and then with fingers crossed maybe the 89 wreck I have will have a good knuckle that I can use. If not, it looks like some heavier options might be in order...hard chrome perhaps? Suggestions, please. Thanks in advance.

Otto Mechanic

Bad situation old bean. Where are you generally located? I'd suggest starting to look at local wrecking yards. What year is the car?

thomasmryan

kirkandorules

I think I recall seeing quite a few pop up for sale recently on the Pelican Parts forums.

We had one last (hopefully) snow storm yesterday, so I did one last "donuts in the parking lot" thing:


Most of that snow will probably be melted today.

Tiger03447

I looked at the PET for both the 83&85.5 and later cars. Seems that there are about 6 iterations of this spindle arrangement, with mine being the oldest-(83). So I will see it there are any electrical repair shops about that can do metal spraying to repair armature shafts. If not, then it's off to the Hemmings magazine for another source. I refuse absolutely to use bearing-tite from locktite to repair the damage. The shaft will be fixed..and properly. I don't know what changes that the various iterations of the knuckle were, could be length of the steering arm since power steering was introduced after my car was built..AFAIK. Also, perhaps that at some point in the later cars, did Porsche ever move over to using a double-row ball bearing that was pressed into the hub? Could also be that they changed the diameter of the bearing surfaces, necessitating a change on the inner race of the outer bearing..Just my speculation at this point.. Thanks for any and all info....