Hi Brendan,

I've never seen a kink like what you've shown. That being said the bottom one in Stan's photo seems to have a similar bend like yours, but I swear all of the 928's I've seen are dead straight. Granted they've all been S4's. I don't see how that could be stock though, the blade part of the suspension acts like a spring in the actuation of the weissach axle. That's the part that "bends" to allow the rear end to steer. It would seem pretty difficult to engineer a bend on one side and have it act the same as the other.

Regarding the shock being out of alignment, Paul is right, you need to rotate it 180 degrees. The bottom eyelette is welding on at an angle which only allows installation one way. If rotating doesn't solve it, try swapping sides with the shocks.

 

I got the passenger side on, but its a hassle. Maybe just a combo of new bushings, and a shock thats not welded properly.

 

Stan, thats the kink, right there on the bottom one. Thats all I am talking about. A slight kink, and its supposed to be there.

 

Sorry B.C., I kind of rifled through the posts before my last reply. I see now that the misaligned pic you posted states in bright red letters that it is not a pic of your car.

Can you see the part numbers on your control arms, the last digit indicates what side of the car it belongs depending on whether its even or odd. If the powercoat covered the part number, maybe Stan can pull the number off the kinked one in his pic.

 

Its funny adam - I made it a point to find out the damn part numbers of these arms because they are 78s, and they are vastly different from the later ones in welding patterns and physical appearance. No numbers. The 78 body (and rear suspension pieces - is a very early car. Very. Alot of stuff just didn't have numbers, and other stuff didn't look like the pictures in the WSMs.

So no numbers.

 

This is baffling.
Like you stated, the PET doesn't show a part number for 1978 (starts with 1979), although the exploded view shows the left side, and it is straight in the drawing.



Projekt 928 has a pic which shows the evolution of the Weissach arm. It appears to be showing the left side, and it is straight as well. (See upper right pic).




Sorry that none of this helps Brendan, its frustrating to see this anamoly (and it's not even my car ), it would be nice to be able to get figured out.

Anyone with an early OB out there that can take a look?

 

Mine are straight as an arrow. If you mounted them incorrectly, the droplink mount angle would be wrong. Look at this angle. Imagine it inverted.
If you are having trouble mounting the shock on the one with the kink, then probably this damage has affected the geometry.

 

That angle I will buy as being the cause of the arms being handed, but not a kink in the vertical blade...
jp 83 Euro S AT 50k

 

I bent my left one when I hit a kerb a couple of years ago. The new one is dead straight. I think the blade might be designed to deform in such an impact to absorb some of the forces which would otherwise transfer to more critical (expensive) items such as the transmission. Just my guess.

Colin 89GT

 

Driver's side has a kink just like the one BrendanC has in the photo. I know because I just put shocks on this weekend. If you're having trouble mounting the shock, stick a large screwdriver through the hole and rotate it 180 degrees and try again. Also trying loosening up the three mounting bolts at the top of the shock and then put a small floor jack under under the shock to push it up into position so you can slide the bolt through. The nice thing with suspensions is that brute force is a perfectly acceptable means of getting them to do what you want.

 

Brendan,

I just checked my 83. Both are perfectly straight.

 

This is really wierd. Thanks guys.

 

Howell, what year is your shark?

 

I have two more sets in Guelph that I will check when I get there tonight.

 

While I still need to find this out, or at least confirm the info I have, please don't anybody go out and hurt themselves trying to see thier rear arms on my account. Certain models DO have a kink, I just don't know which side.

I also think that its an ignored issue when replacement comes around, and people just force the parts together - like I did - but for other reasons.

I specifically remember (separate issue) that the Bilsteins I had did have a much more pronounced "angle" to the bottom shock mount. I think that may be my issue, coupled with the fact that I do have the kinked arm on the correct side.