From my 83
So I noticed my left rear was sagging some and had no bounce. I removed the shock. It is a Koni number 944-333-031-00 like this one HERE
http://www.autoatlanta.com/porsche-p...=94433303100#a
I can easily compress it by hand and it does not spring back.

Question 1. Broken, right?
Question 2. Should I look into sending it to Koni for a rebuild? Any value in keeping it original?
Question 3. If not, should I buy the exact Porsche replacement or the updated koni shocks, like the ones HERE
http://www.koni-na.com/cat_search.cf...13&submit.y=15
Question 4. Right now the left rear trailing arm is supported by a floor jack. Can I remove the jack and let the arm down in order to use that jack to remove the other side while I wait for replacements? Will that hurt the CV axle? What will be left to support the arm?

Thanks. Brian.

 

Honestly, if it's an original part...it's 99% broken and past its prime.
I just did the suspension on my car..and substantially upgraded everything to a cup kit when I realized that it would have actually been more expensive to send my original m030 stuff to get revalved by Koni... and that didn't even factor in the ridiculous wait times for the transit of the parts that they were speculating.

In short.. i'd use this as an opportunity to upgrade your suspension with a good aftermarket kit. I really don't see any value in having them rebuilt then usually that process will cost the same as a set of new parts (maybe that was my experience due to my location in western canada.)

 

If the car is just for street replace the shocks with OE Boge, Koni, or Bilstein. As mentioned by rkp951 the rebuild will cost almost as much with longer wait time. Place a jack stand to hold up the side of car missing the shock. Then remove the jack. Of course you are using jack stands with a jack before sticking your head/hands/feet under the car, right? :-)

 

Ha. Yes the rear is on a jack stand. The jack itself is taking the weight of the trailing arm in order to remove the shock. I just wanted to make sure I wouldn't damage the CV axle by removing the jack and letting the trailing arm hang down. Thanks.

 

before you jump to conclusions, fully compress the shock and turn it clockwise. Then see if the shock is much harder to extend.

 

And here in lies the problem. I don't know one damn thing about suspension parts. Honestly, it feels about the same between set at max and set at min, but it is definitely dampening. Before I removed the shock, the left side sat low and had no bounce.
Could this mean there is a problem with the torsion bar? Do shocks have any spring-back force?

 

If you take the shock out, it should fully extend. It should take a fair amount of force to compress it fully, then it will extend again under its own force after you let go of it. If it's not doing either of those things, just replace it. If they are originals, replace them anyways. It's easy to do on an '83.

 

Mine doesn't rebound. It just stays compressed. OK, that makes me feel better because I already ordered the replacements.
Will the new one help the torsion bar lift the car? How does a broken torsion bar manifest itself. Would it be super obvious if there was a torsion bar problem as well? Thanks for the help.

 

If the shock does not decompress after you compress it it does NOT mean its worn...it simply means its not gas filled and its an oil only type shock. its normal that the shock is hard to compress AND decompress by hand...thats what it should do.

if the oil from the shock has come out trough the seals THEN the shock is worn. if you cant see any oil on the shock, its probably fine and the sagging is because of something else. the car should NOT bounce.

the shocks dont support the car's weight...the torsion bars do...how much is the corner sagging? pictures?

 

It certainly sounds like oil, and there is no oil leaking out. The shock is dry. When I say bounce I mean I can push the car down on the right rear and it comes back up. The left rear is low. When I push on the left rear, it doesn't go down any. So it doesn't "bounce" back up. I can't really push it down or lift it up on the left rear.
What else would cause this?

Stand by for measurement.

 

OK. I put the tire back on and lowered car off the jack stand in order to measure the difference. Keep in mind the left shock is off the car and the right shock is on.
The left rear now can be pushed down and returns back up. It acts the same as the right. Maybe the shock is damaged internally and was binding up.

I'm embarrassed not to have a metric tape measure. (Stupid Reagan) But the current measurements are left rear 26 1/8 and the right is 26 7/8, so the right is 3/4" higher.