Andy Brookes
Poole, UK
9WERKS Radio
Model 993 CARRERAYear 1995Acquired SEPTEMBER 2018
Gustavo is back on the road. Woo-hoo! After months of preparing parts, getting components made, sending bits off to be refinished and buying new elements, it was finally time to put everything back together. I was feeling a little daunted by the prospect because it had been a good while since I’d stripped the underside of the 993 of all its suspension parts. Could I remember where everything was meant to go? Had I bought the right parts? Were all the parts going to fit? The list of worries was long…
It all came together over about a week. It took me a whole weekend and three or four long evenings into the early hours to assemble everything. I did make a few mistakes, mind. The anti-roll bars were the source of two problems: I assembled the front one upside down, which meant near-enough full disassembly; and the rear got in the way of installing one of the bolts that holds the rear-most link, so I had to disassemble that once or twice! The time difference between stripping and refitting really didn’t help in these instances.
The details are forgotten. I carried out alignment of the suspension by eye.
My first drive was to the MOT station about five miles from home. I was pleasantly surprised the car actually drove in a relatively straight line without trying to kill me! Lots of ohhhs and arrrrhs from my MOT man resulted in the pass I was hoping for. I was a little more confident on the drive home. Things were looking good. The suspension felt good, not too firm while handling the bumps nicely. The gear shift felt fantastic: click-clack, just like I wanted. I didn’t have any of the underbody panels or the gear lever gaiter fitted, so I could see the tarmac and there was loads of road noise coming up from below. I’ll have to get that all assembled to see what difference the gearbox mounts inserts have made to noise levels in the car.
Next up was a full alignment by Scott at Bahnsport. He was pleased to carry out the work on a car that didn’t dirty his hands or have seized-up bolts that needed dislodging. Afterwards, I could finally drive the car with some confidence, knowing that everything was torqued up and ready to go. I was very happy with the results of that journey home. Now it’s time to get some miles on the clock and see if my combination of suspension modifications add up to my idea of what I wanted my car to drive like. Bring on the Sunday morning blasts and longer road trips.
Peter Wilson
Adelaide, Australia
Model 930 3.3Year 1980Acquired 2011
The plan for this month’s column was to wrap up the dent and rust repairs to my sill cover that I had commenced last month. Unfortunately, the sill cover is still sitting on the bench with one patch tack-welded into position, but most of the fabrication still outstanding. I’ll get back on to it and complete the story with pictures sometime soon I hope.
However, I’ve managed to gather the remaining parts for my front suspension rebuild to correct the road camber-induced veering under brakes. Over the past few years I’ve replaced the ball joints, Bilstein strut inserts and rebuilt the steering
