Harry L

My understanding has always been that there are RoW M030 Monroes and U.S.-spec M030 Monroes.

However, p-car.com suggests that the rears are different, but shows the same part number for the fronts.

I will check Streather's 993 book.

Harry

Leon993

Rob, consider Billsteins, I love mine!

Ed Hughes

I wonder if the FSD's are available yet. I ordered a set in May, and when I was advised in late June that they may not be available until October, I went the Bilstein route.

IXLR8

I drove a 993 that just had HDs installed and the ride was very nice (less harsh than my stock OEM shocks), and those were the ones I was considering, but after reading a few reports on here of the link mounts rotating, I decided otherwise. That issue could have been installation error, but till I see them, I'll pass. Plus I don't mind stock ride height for its advantages.

Ed Hughes

What are these issues you refer to? I've not seen anything bad written about Bilsteins here...

IXLR8

Not the shock itself, but the mount for the sway bar link not staying in place.

There have been two members that have mentioned the issue.

Here is one...Bilstein Thread Link

FisterD

You need to set the locking rings with a hammer and a drift punch, not the spanner wrenches, and you will be fine. No big deal. Bilstein makes a nice product.

Ed Hughes

Oh sure, that I'm aware of. Makes perfect sense, and to not do that WOULD be an installation error-not necessarily a design flaw.

Gonna put my FD Motorsports-sourced Bilsteins on the rear tomorrow, and hopefully get her back on the ground!

IXLR8

If Bilstein supplies a spanner wrench with the shocks, then I would expect to use it and torque them to whatever Bilstein specifies. After all, that is why they have square slots in those collars. A hammer and punch on my car? That mechanic better start running...and damn fast.

Ed, does the Bilstein kit supply a ring spanner and do they specify a torque?

Ed Hughes

No, and no. Buy new lugnuts, and they don't come with instructions on proper torque either. I've bought a few sets, and haven't received a torque wrench either. Heck, there are 20 of those suckers on each of our cars-I'd say tq settings and a tq wrench are pretty important.

If perfection of design were such an issue, why would any of us own a 993? Or, if this shock was such a bad design that destroyed rear components, there would be a lot of used PSSX, HD's, etc offered up for sale.

Taking a drift and hammer to tighten a locking collar on my rear shocks won't keep me up at night. Try rebuilding an air-cooled Porsche 6 cyl engine without a hammer/mallet at some point in the process.

Gunter

If the lock rings for the Bisteins are alloy, I'd recommend a brass punch.

Slotted lock rings are quite often tightend with a punch and hammer to lock up the inner race on big bearings in industrial applications. There is usually also a lock washer with a tab going into the key-way on the shaft and the outer tabs go into one of the matching slots on the lock ring after solid tightening with hammer and punch. It's pretty well standard practice.

C36 Canadian 993 lowered by PO, see picture.

I have a 030 option code identified as: Sports Suspension Group.
What exactly does that mean?

Are the springs reusable if I want to install Bilstein HD struts and shocks?

Or are the springs replaced? With what?

110k km (70k miles) but suspension is still remarkably solid.

IXLR8

True, but the supplier (Porsche) of those lug nuts does specify a torque in the repair manual. Neither do the valve cover screws, but that torque is in the repair manual. I don't need to use a torque wrench, but I choose to.

I never said it was; I stated that "the issue could have been installation error".

Although in Ryano's thread I did state "Poor design in my opinion. Something that should not rotate should be keyed". In fact even MarkD stated, "I agree, keyed would be better... or a set screw like KW uses. Silly Germans" and they sell them. Some have even recommended and use a collar on either side of the perch. Why would they if it isn't a possible issue.

Possible solution...MarkD mentioned that KW uses a set screw. If the collar is thick enough, one could drill and tap a hole in the collar for a small set screw that would lock the ring in place. Downside is it would mark the threads on the shock....don't know if that matters at that location.


I guess that is why I spent some 4 hours getting one of the seized-in-place screws holding the front brake air deflector out of the control arm...otherwise I would have needed to drill it out. Less brute force...more thought.

FisterD

Those bolts are not threaded into the control arm. They slip through it and have a nut on the other side. So if you snapped it, it would simply fall out. Replace with a new bolt and nut ($2.00). No drill required. 5 min fix.

Ed Hughes

Not every hammer stroke requires brute force, including setting these collars.

IXLR8

I know; I already had the other three of them out. It seems to happen to those bolts sometimes. I know Andreas had the same issue with one.

Yes, provided the nut was seized to the bolt, you can snap it off, but that was not the case. The nut came off without issue (my 993 is rust-free).

The problem was the bolt going through what was once a clearance hole in the control arm, but thanks to aluminium doing what it sometimes does (the shank of the bolt was fine), the bolt was seized in the control arm. The bolt would move, more like twist within the linear region of the material, a few degrees at a time with sounds of fingernails on a blackboard. In the end, a hydraulic jack and pin punch got it out with plenty of ratcheting back and forth...like I said...about 4 hours...but no damage. A drill bit run through the hole cleared out all the white powdery stuff that caused the problem. Then new bolt slipped right in.

Thanks to a lot of patience, no brute force and lots of finesse and thought, a drill was not required.