2001 Boxster S

[ATM]

Trying again but this time with a 15mm spacer. I might try again but with 2 x 15mm spacers to give me 30mm total.

I did also think about shaving a bit of metal off the toe arm ball joint mount where it fouls but that's probably not the best idea. Maybe I could investigate none standard toe arm options to see if any of these have a lower profile ball joint mounting.

[ATM]

[ATM]

Took about 40mm of spacers to get the toe arm joint to sit outside the wheel

[ATM]

ATM on Monday 10th April said:

Hardtop is now off

Good News

I found some more damp today. Same place as before just behind the driver seat so where the 2 carpets meet, floor and bulkhead. This proves it is not the hard top. To say I am pleased is an under statement.



Bad News

I found some more damp today.

[ATM]

ATM said:

Another little project of mine is trying to squeeze a 16 inch wheel on the rear.

It doesn't fit. It fouls on the toe arm.

poppopbangbang elsewhere said:

That's tight! Something with a rose joint as the outer link will likely be your best bet as the joint body is pretty skinning in Z and you've got plenty of room for the fastener:

https://suspensionsecrets.co.uk/product/suspension...

You could modify the stake collar to bring the joint up close to the upright (as there is very little misalighnment to compensate for there) but in doing so you will also be impacting the bump steer.... how much is calculatable once you know the reduction but it'll be pretty small given the short distance we're talking about here.

As a package check I'd probably order a cheap joint from McGill and mock it up with a bolt and washers to look at the maximum packaging height available - remember wheels move about on the hubs so a fag paper/blonde one is not going to be sufficent clearance as it's good practice to allow for an amount of wheel bearing failure/aging etc.

So I have ordered a Fluro joint only for measuring or mocking as suggested and here it is..

[ATM]

So I did a quick check to see if the rose joint will gain me the 1 or 2 mm I need [guess] to hopefully allow a 16 inch wheel to squeeze on.

So across the width here of the circular section it's hard to measure accurately without some kind of vernier but using some crude tactics I think that standard arm is around 41mm. The rose joint is more like 38mm.



The biggest difference is in the thickness. I didn't measure it but hopefully it's obvious from the pic. Standard arm is much thicker here.



So based on this crude measure or comparison I think I'll go ahead and order the tricky adjustable rose jointed arms. Worst case I'll have adjustable arms and the 16 inch wheel still won't fit. I can live with that or use the arms on a different car.

[ATM]

Putting the Recaros back in for a little trial fit. I have adjusted the seat mounting slightly so the seat is even lower than before.

I might even remove the steering wheel and swap over with a Momo.

[ATM]

TV8 said:

Great running thread. I saw your pictures of the wheels on boxa and thought the rear wheels of your car and mine seem quite narrow. I have bought a set of these wheels now and the rears are properly enormous, at least on the set I bought! Are your rears 9Jx17?

Depends which pics you are looking at. I dabbled with 4 x fronts at one point. So all 4 corners were wearing 7x17 and 205 tyres. Car drove absolutely fine and felt quite good. Sure if provoked it would slide a little but you needed to be really brave and I'm not that brave. Link below. Wheels look much more inboard at the rear obviously.

But basically yes now it is wearing the correct 7 front and 9 rear. If anyone has a set of these wheels then the sizes are the same as yours. No copies exist that I have found. Everyone has the same Porsche wheels or probably made by BBS - not sure. I have 3 sets now.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[ATM]

TV8 said:

It was the pics of the gold wheels, which are the 9J rears if I am understanding correctly.

Yes you got it

These wheels come in no other sizes. Every set is the same.

You can fit a 10 inch rear on these cars I'm sure of that. You may be able to get more wheel in there but I'd be guessing.

[ATM]

Finally got the car our of hibernation and drove it.

[ATM]

ATM said:

Took about 40mm of spacers to get the toe arm joint to sit outside the wheel

I've managed to secure some 30mm bolt on spacers.  So now I can try one of these with the 16 inch wheel. I expect it wont work and I will need even wider. Maybe a combination of the 30mm and a 15mm will do it.

[ATM]

So with a combination of 30mm and 15mm I bolted the wheel on. I did up the bolts quite tight just to ensure the spacer wasn't slightly out of alignment. Obviously I couldn't spin the wheel. There is maybe 1mm of room between the toe arm ball joint and the rim. Tried to take a few pics to show the clearance or lack of. Also to show how far out the wheel is poking from the arch. It's difficult to judge without a tyre and with the car in the air but I think this would work without rubbing but its getting close.

[ATM]

ConnectionError said:

Why do you want 16" wheels to fit?

Smaller wheel means bigger softer tyre wall

Basically the opposite of massive wheels and low profile tyres

[ATM]

nismo48 said:

ATM said:

ConnectionError said:

Why do you want 16" wheels to fit?

Smaller wheel means bigger softer tyre wall

Basically the opposite of massive wheels and low profile tyres

Good call

I'm kind of committed now because I had the wheels refurbed. I could of course bin them and move on with my life. I'm trying to invest a little bit more time here to see if I can make them work after all rather than just give up at the first hurdle. I'm not ready to admit defeat just yet.

[ATM]

My icarsoft v2.0 arrived today so I have cleared the air bag warning light. This has been illuminated since I removed the side air bag and powered up the ignition without thinking.

[ATM]

Progress has been made

Loosened off the big drive shaft nuts

Got the car up and on axle stands using the rear jacking points

And got the wheels off and in the shed

Happy to leave the car like this now for a bit while I attack some of the jobs in to do

Mainly

Gearbox mounts

Drive shaft gaitors

I don't think there is anything else

Some of the exhaust brackets are missing so I could do these also

In case anyone is wandering, no there is no left hand thread on one of the drive shafts as both are standard thread

[ATM]

[ATM]

Engine mounts now off the car. Not the simplest of jobs. Worse on driver side as very little access. Had to remove the little cover plate thing which goes round the gear shift cable mounts. And also removed the heat shield from the cat - same side. Passenger side was really easy by comparison.

[ATM]

Read a few comments from people saying you can bend the brackets if you just try to brute force off the big nut without using something like a vice. I don't have a vice. So I used a 24mm open ended spanner to hold the bracket. Slotted on perfectly. Then the persuader did its thing.

Bad news
I don't think the stiffer upgraded solid rubber mounts I've bought will work. Far too much play. The original mounts have a square shaped section which slots into a perfect sized square hole in the brackets. They fit very snug with zero play even without the nut in place. The new mounts don't have this square. And the bolts provided are quite a bit narrower than the hole or tube they bolt through. Therefore I think there is the possibility they will flap around from side to side.

[ATM]

snotrag said:

I remember fitting the aftermarket RS mounts and there is a very specific set of washers and spacers that you use to install them. You've got those... Right?

No

I bought these

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234268687380