vanster

Great day today with everyone from the Nor Cal group. Good weather,
nice turn out and just wonderful people. Thank you Nicole and Bill Ball.
During our "fun run"
through the East Bay hills, I noticed in one of the very tight
turns I bottomed out or at least it felt like it. Upon our return loop while on the freeway portion I could tell something was not perfect up front.
Upon inspection I found that my drivers left front shock (Bilstein) had shot thru its perch. The large rubber donut is ripped apart.
Any clues why this should happen? I have about 4,000 miles on these without
any incident.

vanster
80 5sp

Mrmerlin

thats a strange failure mode,
it appears the top shock rubber support has failed,
is there damage to the underside of the hood??
did the tire run into the fender?
This might be the next thing that gets replaced at shock replacement time.
to fix it you need a new or used top spring/shock perch and the plastic dust cover.

Please post more pictures when you remove the shock from the car , thanks

blown 87

I have to say that I was a bit taken back when I did the first set of shocks on a 928 and found that there was no bearing at the top mount, many cars have a bearing there.

If the shock is tight, and new Bilstiens are, it puts a lot of force on the "Bearing plate" every time the car is turned.

EDIT, dumbass Greg was thinking strut, so never mind my comments, they do not apply here.
Maybe three beers are two much tonight. lol

James Bailey

Weird never seen or heard of that one !!!

GlenL

I believe that shock top is missing a large washer that goes inside the top, below the rubber part.

blown 87

I bet there is something going on with that shock that is keeping the rod from turning like it should.

cjn928

+1

Mrmerlin

Glen it looks like you might be on to something,
from the picture it almost looks like both the top and bottom washers are installed on the top?

That might account for the piston pushing through the rubber isolation pad, as there is also a step on the piston where the lower washer would seat it does look like the center of the plastic dust boot has sheared off as well


Since the shock only moves up and down no spring plate is needed there is no turning forces on the shocks

blown 87

Lol, I work on too many cars, sorry about my misque guys,
Stan is of course 100% right, and I should know better, am doing a set of 928 shock today, and will try to finish them tomorrow, on Manfred's car.

Manfred is going to be very pleased with it when he gets it back, so much powder coating and plating and other things being done, and so much that is being corrected on the car.

i am starting to think that the factory guys that put these cars together may not have really given a **** about doing a good job at times.

Bill Ball

Good eyes, Glen and Stan! Van, that coilover was not assembled correctly. I think I have some spare top mounts and associated parts. I can bring them over if you want to remedy this. Nasty looking damage.

GregBBRD

Yup, you got it.

You need to go back to whoever installed the shocks and get the missing parts...

Mrmerlin

from Bills picture it looks like part 2 and 2 are put together

velocipus

Yikes! I was two cars behind you Van... sure couldn't tell you had a broken shock mount.

Bill Ball

Yeah, considering the roads we were on, it's amazing it didn't shoot through the hood!

vanster

Thanks everyone....I will have to talk to the guy that installed them...get my money back...oops
that was me. The good news means that the right hand shock is incorrect as well. I am sure I did them both the same way. I will pull it out and look at it as well. I am somewhat stunned that I made this mistake ...oh well.
The roads as we all realized were a bit dodgy in areas and I didn't feel that something up front was amiss until we got onto smooth
pavement, then it took me a few miles to figure it out and then go back to the barn. No visible outside body damage.
Time to call Roger

Van