alu 944 trailing arms to 1303 chassis

[trevorbrady]

I'm curious about what to do about the inner mount bushing. The early aluminium 944 trailing arm has what appears to be a pressed in steel/rubber bushing with a 12mm (approx) bore in the centre. The VW one has an all-rubber one with a 20mm (approx) bore in the middle.

What to do?

I remember reading somewhere that you simply fit a VW bushing to the 944 arm, but I think this might only apply to the early 944 steel arms...

any pointers appreciated...

thanks

[zen]

hi trevor. there is a post on here with some pretty detailed info. that is what i used to make my decision. what you say does apply to ally arms also. there are a couple of options:

1. leave the bushing on and convert to a 911 torsion housing cover.
2. remove the bushing and go to a T1 bushing.

i have heard several ways of removing them. i used a hacksaw to cut away some big chucks and then used a propane torch to heat to a bubble and use a wet cloth to turn and pull it off. pretty easy. if i can get the coversion done this next week, a tech article will be coming.

[boygenius]

I just used a flat blade screw driver to work one side of the bushing out and then knocked the other side out with the handle of the screw driver. Took 2 minutes.

[scottystraub]

you are talking about the trailing arm bushing right? the inside dia is different , smaller on 944, bigger on vw. there is also a rubber bushing on the spring plate, the 944 and vw have a different length and the stock vw cover will not fit over the 944 rubber bushing on the spring plate. i am also doing this swap and any info is welcome!!
thanks

[boygenius]

I was talking about the trailing arm bushing and yes the VW bushing is a direct fit. You will need to remove the inner spring plate bushing and replace it with the VW one. Like Zen said a torch is a good way to get it off. I used a sawzall to get most of the bushing off and the torch and a screw driver to scrape off the rest. I then used a 3M rust removal fiber wheel in my electric drill to get all the old rubber off. As for the outer bushing you can replace it with VW or you can use the 944 torsion housing cover with the extra support cut off for clearance. Or you could use the 911 torsion housing covers. I used the 944 covers trimmed down since they came with the rest of my parts. Hope this helps.

[boygenius]

Scottystraub.


I have plenty of pics of the conversion if you need them.

[zen]

doh. can you tell i'm tired. totally missed the original question. i was speaking of the spring plate. the trailing arm is straight replacement like the other said. here is one pic with the original coming out and another with a urethane bug bushing installed.

[trevorbrady]

Zen, that's EXACTLY what I needed to know! Thanks.

Thanks to you guys as well for taking the time to reply. I will be faced with the 944 springplate installation soon, I'll bear your pointers in mind.