993Dave

I'm slowly working my way into the world of DIY. I can see the slippery slope from here, but so far I've confined my work to non-mod maintenance, which is more than I've done with other cars I've owned. Today's successful project, albeit minor, was to replace all four hood struts. The Pelican guys got the parts to me in a couple of days, and the how-to at P-Car.com is exactly right.

To make this post somewhat useful, allow me to provide a bit of advice to those who, like me, are relatively new to working on cars:

Do not, do not , DO NOT attempt a job like this one, which involves confoundingly small clips and pins in rediculously hard to reach cavities of the car, without an extendable magnet and mirror. I cannot emphasize this enough. You will drop something, and only the magnet will keep you from forever cursing the parentage of the sadistic German who rendered access to the inner mounting points of the struts nearly impossible for someone with adult-sized hands and arms.

Or maybe I'm just a klutz.

TheOtherEric

Did you put a towel down underneath the work area? Having some kind of a catch can prevent lost parts.

993Dave

Yep, I used a towel; I heard about that trick here. Unfortunately, it's hard to get the towel to cover all those far nooks and crannies, which is, of course, precisely where the little parts like to go. Even if the towel works, you still might need to use a magnet to retrieve the part, since the act of pulling out the towel may dump whatever was caught down into the engine well anyway. Fun!

Chris W. - '96 Targa

I dropped one when replacing mine. Magnet couldn't find it, so I used a small "C" clip (purchased from a Lowe's home improvement store) to replace the factory retainer.

-Chris

solsrch

Love 911s, keep waiting to own one that has a more reasonable design for the strut mounts. Since I have no intention of getting rid of this one, I guess it will never happen.

Father of 3

what was harder, front or rear? I have a set of rear shocks in my garage awaiting a free moment.

mr_bock

Good info. here as I will need to do my front struts soon..... I hope these are the easy ones!!!!

jnor10

I just did my front strut mounts. Very easy...Best to practice manipulating the metal retaining clip before install. If you insert a small tipped screwdriver between the plastic grooves of the front struts you can either rotate the clip or if you just "push" the tip between the plastic grooves, the clip will open symetrically which I found easier for the install. Easier for it to snap back into position once seated on the lower mount.
A few other notes:

On the drivers side I disassembled the pollen/cabin filter. Make sure the plastic tab on the filter is facing up as it has to fit into a recess on the plastic fan shroud in order for the assembly to re-fit properly.

Install the upper portion of strut first, as, if you mount the lower piece first you cannot get the hood high enough to clear the upper mount. You'll need to support the hood with a helper or a piece of wood.

I didn't disassemble anything on the pax side, plenty of room to work here.

Easy job, I'm glad my hood no longer falls on my head when I'm storing/retrieving my suitcase etc......!

Jeff

993Dave

Access for the front struts is much better, but you have to pre-set the locking tabs. The p-car.com directions are very good; it's actually a pretty easy process once you get everything set. I disassembled everything that those directions called for, which was easy and provided just enough extra room to get the job done, although I suppose it could be done without taking the pollen filters apart.

The rear struts ... well, it's a little easier to see the far mounting point, but it's a lot harder to reach. Plus, you have to mess with the little locking tabs that are easy to drop. Also, at least in my case, the sound insulation made removal of the pins difficult.

It's worth the effort, though.

ecobb993

I tackled my front struts a year ago. Pelican Parts sent what appeared to be identical replacements but the clip arrangement was much different. They just snapped on; didn't need to fiddle with the locking tabs as described on p-car. The struts removed did have the clips illustrated there (and were 964 part numbers).

Must be a new "improved" version.

Good luck!

paradisenb

I've done them twice. Once on the 911 and once on the 993. The 911 was easier. The towel a must. Extra clips strongly advised. I now have a few in inventory. Flashlight - Magnet and most importantly -PATIENCE. This is a relatively simply DIY but can be a TPITA.
Heres to all you guys who have successfully completed this little job

FO3; The backs are much more difficult.

kkim

Some notes and observations from when I changed my hood shocks about a year ago when I first got my car....

https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...ghlight=struts

Marc in AK

I just did my boot shocks this morning. The replacements from Pelican were slightly different than my originals in their lower clip...I too removed the Right side pollen filter...otherwise......done in an hour and what a difference!!.....no more holding the boot open with the top of my head while putting CD's in the changer! AK

Ray Calvo

After having to replace the ones on my old '76 and '84 911 probably every two years, I am surprised I have not (yet) had to do this on the '95 993 (altho they DO feel a bit weak now; will prob. do them this year). Not looking forward to this job after doing the others; things seem more crowded on the 993.