jwillman

I am replacing the aluminum lower ball joints tomorrow. The car tracks pretty well right now and would like to keep it close.

Any suggestions on how to keep it in the ball park alignment wise when changing out the ball joints? I was thinking I could just reinstallt the eccentrics in the same orientation and same lenght of ball joint center of bolt to end of lower arm but one eccentric each side has to be replaced with the newer style so not sure the orientation trick will work.

Thanks.

Mrmerlin

scribe a line around the old BJ and fit the new one to the lines, then get it aligned,
there is no telling the differences of the old to new BJ position.
also clean out the eccentrics and add some antiseize to the mating surfaces ,
this will prevent the adjusters from stripping out while the adjustments are made

GlenL

The aluminum and steel ball joints are too different to try to match any positions. The bodies are different shapes and the adjusters have swapped purposes. That is, on one the outer adjuster does camber and on the other the outer adjuster does caster.

Eyeball or measure the alignment to be close and then take it in for an alignment. Unless you can do a quality alignment you'll have to take it in. The problem here is getting the car to settle before the alignment so you don't get a bad alignment. So you need to get it close, then drive it, then get and alignment.

jheis

Here ya go:

https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...-carriers.html

James

jpitman2

Something similar to that link will work. If your alignment shop isnt too far away, close should do. Mine was a couple of miles away, and I had no issues. One simple way is to drop a plum bob from the end of the stub axle to the floor(wheels dead ahead), mark the spot; make something to point at the centre so you have the height as well, and adjust to that point as best you can. If the castor (caster?) is badly out, you will find you have either NO self centring (SCARY!), or very strong self centering.
jp 83 Euro S AT 53k

linderpat

also, you don't need to buy all 4 eccentrics - you only need two and can use two of the exisiting of the same size as the two new ones. But you cannot use all 4 original eccentrics.

jpitman2

And another possible saving - they call up later shock bottom mounts to go to steel ball joints, but the ONLY difference is the bolts through the lower arm are shorter, as the steel joints are thinner. If you are not bothered by the threads sticking out( I would be), or you can neatly cut them off as required, keep your old ones in place, and just bolt up the new joints. This saves you having to disconnect the shock bottom and the roll bar.
jp 83 Euro S AT 53k

jwillman

Thanks. I was able to find that in previous threads so onlt bought two replacements.

I also read that I could reuse the brackets so that is what I am planning to do.

Thanks all!

jpitman2

Sounds like you have done ALL the research, and are well sorted. Good luck with it.
jp 83 Euro S AT 53k

pcar928fan

Jim, you are making great progress! Glad our weather has been conducive to your efforts!!!

Dave928S

The previous owner on mine had a suspension collapse as a result of a BJ failure, with all the associated damage .... so a good move to replace those old BJ's with steel ones. As jp said .. sounds like you've already got all the right advice. Good luck.

Podguy

Harbor Freight sells a magnetic alignment tool. Put it on the disc and set it to zero. Lock it and take it off. Go about your work. When done set the disc back to zero and you will be close. Eastward also sells an alignment tool that allows you to set both caster and camber. Expensive but cheaper than paying for multiple alignments.

Good up grades while you are doing this work is to upgrade to S spindles and front brakes if the car does not have them. Also putting on shock or ride height adjusters is also helpful. If you get the front adjusters and the lower perch they will fit right on your shocks.

You can use a dremel or cut off wheel to cut the longer studs to size. Nice and required upgrade. The non S brakes are marginal at best.

Dave928S

Good advice ... but I went further with brakes.

As you have early non S spindles you can take the brake upgrade a step further and fit S4 Brembos, using the standard adapter available to bolt them on. Even with correctly functioning S brakes I still thought they were hopeless for the power of the car when pushed.

I also upgraded to adjustable perches which is definitely worth doing, to allow ride height adjustment to compensate for reduced spoiler wrecking height as a consequence of spring sag.

GlenL

Sawzall, baby. One thread below the bolt and let 'er rip!

If you go "brake happy" take a look at upgrading your car to S4 fronts. There's an adapter block to put those calipers on early spindles. Check for sources but going S4 would be more money but less work (I expect) and you get the sexy 4-piston calipers that look good behind open-spoke wheels. Mmmm... Sexy.

Podguy

The S brakes are more than adequate for the older cars. The adapter will certainly fit the newer brakes but you need different discs and have to give up using phone dials. The S brakes are cheap and bolt right up.