Just need to rant. getting the strut with the spring back into the car has been the biggest pain in the ***. My other cars have been 10x easier.. all the instructional videos i've found are for c2's, so I went into this thinking it would be a piece of cake. But now I'm left with a torn axle boot and a strut/spring i can't get into place..

 

If you loosen the inner bolt for 3the lower control arm and disconnect the drive shaft at the front differential, it is easy to pull the front strut down enough to get it in the fender well. If you don’t disconnect the driveshaft it is possible to pull the inner CV joint apart. Then you have to remove the front axle to reassemble it, ask me how I know.
The axle nuts are one time use and torque to 340 ft.lbs.
Good luck with the reassembly.
Mark

 

I disconnected the driveshaft at the diff, and i had the lower control arm loosened- the problem is (besides the torn boot/cv joint).. with everything in the fender well theres not enough vertical space to assemble.. i cant get the top of the strut rod into the top hat

 

Are you trying to install the strut in the strut mount? I installed the top hat/ strut mount on the shock and then installed the entire unit in the wheel well. New strut mounts made a big difference.

 

If your strut mounts are old replace them with 997 parts.

 

Two comments.

1. You should be taking the entire strut assembly out as a unit, top hat and all, then using spring compressors to disassemble and reassemble them. Trying to line that stuff up in the car, especially getting the spring to seat correctly, is going to be nigh on impossible.

2. The headlights come completely out of the car with 1/4 turn of a wrench. Then you can refinish them on the workbench without worrying about the paintwork.

 

This is the safest and easiest way. Your local AutoZone will lend you a spring compressor for free too! Just go in and ask for their tool rental menu.

 

with the spring off I can compress the strut and get it to come out of the wheelwell under the fender, and then use my spring compressors to assemble the spring and top hat.. but then I cant get it back into the wheelwell, the added height from the top hat is too much. I just need an extra inch to clear it

It looks like theres only 1 bolt holding the strut onto the strut mount.. thats the only thing holding the strut onto the car. If i undo this bolt, will the strut slide down and give me clearance? It seems to completely wrap around the strut and theres some metal brackets on the back, so i'm not sure if it allows the strut to slide down or only up and out. Does anyone know?

 

You're off to a good start. Lovely looking car! As a DIY guy who also came from mostly FR cars, working on a 911 is a whole 'nother animal!...

I knew from the initial pics you were in the PNW, where exactly though? I miss that place, a 996 C4 would be a blast

 

Yep I'm in Seattle for now, curious to see how the 4wd helps.. last winter I couldn't get my m3 up the driveway lol

 

Ok front's are done! Rears were 100x easier to remove, getting it back in though seems to present a problem...

That is, the bowl around the bottom of the strut doesn't clear the two parts the lower strut bolt goes through... when I compress the bottom of the strut with my jack, it ends up catching it and raising the hub with it.


How do I clear this? Am I supposed to raise the hub a bit with a second jack? I've ordered a scissor jack to attempt this tomorrow, but I'm wondering if there's actually something else I'm doing wrong..

 

Always love the warm yellow of Billys !

 

911s can do very well with good tires. 255 or 265 winter tires should work indeed. The 345 summer tires on my old rsr tribute were another story, they were so wide they could float on a single snowflake.

 

Remove the ball joint or pull the bolt on the lower control arm. The ca will swing down enough to bolt up the shock then jack it up to reattach.

 

This right? It doesnt go any lower than before... and the inner control arm bolt doesnt want to budge