Babalouie

I agree, I have also read some magazines which describe the 964RS LSD as 40%, but then again I would place more credence in articles in Excellence, etc which say that it is the same unit as the Turbo. And I would also trust this Service Manual too

Babalouie

A couple of weeks ago, I replaced the headlight glasses, and also the various seals that go with it. But one part I wasn't really satisfied with, was how some parts of the headlight to fender seal bulged out. Being new and plump, it didn't quite sit in place as neatly as the old one did.


The fix for that, of course, is just to screw the headlight into place a little tighter, but I couldn't, for reasons you'll see below. The headlights are held in place by a single screw at the bottom...


...but rather than a nice, sturdy welded-on captive nut to screw into, there's just a flimsy thread cut into a sheetmetal bracket.


And unless you get the angle exactly right when you're screwing it back together, the threads will be damaged. Now, mine was semi-ruined when I took the headlights off (that's my story and I'm sticking to it ) but still had enough bite for the headlights to be reinstalled...but not really strong enough to be given a nice tweak to tighten them down all the way.

So I figured that one possible solution would be this, a nutsert (or rivnut as some ppl call them). They are like a rivet, in that you insert them into a drilled hole, and when it's collapsed against itself with a special tool, locks it in place.


And the tool you use looks very much like a big version of a normal rivet tool.


First step is to drill out the remains of the thread, to the 7mm size that's required for the M5 nutsert.


Pick all the bits of old thread away with pliers and deburr the hole to make it smooth


Now the next bit is a bit tricky...the bracket is very close to the bottom of the headlight bucket, and so to allow the nutsert to fit, I had to grind a flat into it.


And the nosepiece on the tool had to br ground too....


So that the nutsert can get right in there at the right angle.


Done!


Afterwards, the headlight can be screwed down nice and tight.


As a solution, I'm not sure if I can recommend doing it this way, as there's quite a few "point of no return" and "little margin for error" moments Also if youre nutsert tool is too bulky, then it won't be able to get in place to do the job.

But...for what it's worth, now there's a nice solid steel thread in there and the headlights can be screwed down properly. I guess if you were to attempt to do this, get the cheaper, light-duty nutsert kits rather than the more expensive ones which might be bulkier.

boxsey911

Well done on that job and great photo records as usual. I had the same problem with mine. My indy also fixed it with a rivnut (I had no idea what to do about it at the time). Instead of grinding the rivnut, he gently bent the tab inwards, put the rivnut in and then bent it back. I agree that it's not a job for the faint hearted!

ScottR

Good work, great fix. I discovered rivnuts earlier this year for another project - they're awesome - made me want to look around for more places I could use them!

alexjc4

I think there is meant to be a welded on nut on the tab, but they rust off over time.

I also fixed mine with a rivnut (aluminium), on one side I needed to make a new tab for the rivnut to go into and riveted that to the headlight bowl.

Re the rubber seal, make sure you don't have it inside out, the old seal will have been molded into a profile somewhat different from a new one, so it can be hard to stop the correct way round. if you visualise the cross-section as a triangle; the long flat side presses up against the headlight bowl, from memory.

VR6-er

Nice fix.

If you're in climates like the UK, best to get something on any exposed metal surfaces to stop the worm getting in.

Babalouie

Had a great time at a trackday today.

The 964 seems to be quite transformed after a recent wheel alignment, which found that the wheels were pointing in all the wrong directions. The front had a whopping 6mm of toe-out, which would explain the double-whammy of the twitchy, oversteery turn-in, as well as the corner exit understeer at the last trackday. And the rear had 2mm of toe-in, which is half of what it should have been.

At the moment, the suspension has been aligned 3mm of front toe-in, 4mm of rear toe-in, and about 1.2degs of negative camber all round.


And now it's MUCH more comfortable to drive. It's a lot calmer on turn-in (I'm not having to do a little flick of oppo on turn-in into the slower corners, unlike before) and the tail is staying put up until the apex, where I can put on full throttle and it'll come out of the corner in a gentle oversteer, which is now quite predictable in that you can tell just how far it's going to go. Before, you can hear in the in-car vids that I'm feathering the throttle on the fast sweepers, but with the new setup it's taking full throttle before the apex on Wakefield's two sweepers quite comfortably and is heaps easier to read. The previous alignment setting really were miles out, but I'm surprised at how much of a difference it's made.


But while it's more balanced and feels like it's faster, the best I could do today was around 1'12.7, which is a bit slower than the 1'12.5 at the last trackday.

Ah well. Because Motorsport.

I don't think there's even enough dorifto action to make a short goof vid, like last time Normally I'm not one of those guys who's fussy about alignments, but it's certainly made a big difference to the 964. Really, really enjoyed driving it today, it's no longer feeling like it's on a knife-edge, it's now telling you that you can really lean on it and trust it. The only problem is that with its new found balance, it's using the tyres better and I'm staying out for longer during the trackday sessions.

And as a result, the brakes were found wanting today. The pads and discs are stock at the moment, so some sort of upgrade sounds like a good idea, so if anyone has any bright ideas they would be welcome.

Kills bugs. Fast.


Really enjoyed the car today. Very happy

Vandit

I'm not sure if you've discussed it, but can you tell us more about your fire extinguisher mount and setup?

Babalouie

I can take some pics of the setup. It came with the car, though, so TBH I haven't really looked into how it's made It's also in the way of the passenger's knee, so I dunno if that's such a great place to put it anyhoo

Vandit

Okay, yea, that doesn't sound ideal. I know Rennline sells a nice solution but it isn't cheap.

anto1150

Kevin,

IMHO you're carrying to much toe-in all 4 wheels. As a result, you're probably experiencing a very stable car, but ruther lazy when turning. Plus it's probably dragging quite a bit.
If I where you, I'd go down to +0,5 each front wheel and +1 to 1,5 each rear wheel. Works great on my car!

It would be interesting if yoy could take some thread temperature readings right after a track session... That will tell you everything!

Ciao

sml

why do you move your hands all over the steering wheel for no reason?

you approach a high speed corner, and rather than leaving your hands at the "10 & 2" position, you grab the wheel like you are at a motorkana.

i've never seen any professional racing drivers do this (nor the weekend track guys unless it is their first day out).

why are you still doing this? i told you to stop last time and drive normally.

here is just a random video .. start at 47 seconds ... i dont see his hands moving everywhere on the wheel for no reason.


fastest lap ever at bathurst? where is all the crazy hands over the steering wheel like your style? ...

Babalouie

Sml, I know you mean well, but it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks (20+ yrs of bad track driving habits here)

Anto, I think we might have a difference in terminology, my toe figures are "combined", so when I say 4mm or rear toe in, I mean 2mm per wheel

JohnMetro

^^^
Hi sml, I think it's important to highlight that the examples you use to illustrate you point, ie. V8 Touring Cars, have incredibly short-geared rack ratios, ie. you could turn the wheel lock-to-lock without taking your hands off the wheel! Less than a single turn lock-to-lock. You are correct, professional racing drivers don't need to move their hands at all, but they don't need to!

Our friend Kevin is driving a road car, different beast altogether!

Marc Shaw

As an instructor for both PCA and BMW Clubs, I would be correcting him on his hand positioning and excessive movement too (as well as his seating position because, based on how far he is reaching, I think his seat is too far back) but, while he can expect some feedback for having posted the video, I don't think he actually asked for criticism of his driving style.

Marc