[968Syncro]

<b>Rxter wrote</b>: "Roland you'll have very little excuse for Paso this year. Your car will be rocking."

Joe, I might really enjoy the trip to Paso this year -- let's hope the belt demons that hang out in those parts have moved on to ..... Antarctica perhaps.

<b>Johann wrote</b>: "Roland, do you think this issue was caused by your car's off road adventure a year or so ago? I remember your front end had some damage?"

I have a very strong suspicion that the broken bolt for the steering rack might be a left over from that event, but of course I can't prove it. As above, both of the bolts on the left side of the rack were not functioning, one came out, the other was broken off. So perhaps during the accident the one bolt broke, and then with time it caused the other bolt to come loose and fall out. Or due to some reason, the one bolt came loose and fell out and then the extra strain on the one remaining bolt caused it to break (less likely in my opinion).

I had one other problem months after the initial repairs which I suspected was also from the accident. I had a broken transmission mount and it didn't become noticeable until some months of driving the car thinking all the repairs were complete. See here: http://www.968forums.com/index.php?showtopic=6300&hl=. I am pretty easy on the car, I can't see how a transmission mount would just crack/break without some unusual circumstance.

All this fun started about 2 years ago, I posted lots of messages about the repairs I did between late Feb. and June/July 2008. For example: A bit of the story: http://www.968forums.com/index.php?showtopic=5215&hl=. My temp ride: http://www.968forums.com/index.php?showtopic=5880&hl= . I had a lot of fun repairing the car and bringing it back to life, so if you are interested in more of the story search around for some of those (lots of lessons learned, learned how to paint, etc.)

The interesting thing about these left over repairs reminds me of the discussion I had with the insurance company. They decided to total the car even though the damage seemed repairable within the value of the car. I thought this was odd, and they finally explained that they don't like to take the risk of finding things that were not immediately detectable. They said that with this type of car/accident they will find things once they start taking things apart, and it is just easier for them to total it out and not take that risk. Maybe that is what we are now seeing.

In any case, one of the things I love about this one is the combination of silver ext., classic grey interior, coupe, and tiptronic. I can't say I've ever seen another one in that exact combo (I think we start to love what we have!) and that was one of the reasons I've kept repairing this one. And with all the repairs I am still very well within the $ that insurance gave to total it.

Roland

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[968Syncro]

Ok, so I picked up the car last night. And pretty quickly started to panic.

Work performed:
new steering rack, a high pressure hose, some misc parts.
4 new Konis on all corners (yummy)
4 wheel alignment.

But then it started to handle very odd, the steering wheel had resistance and funny forces going on, especially at slower speeds, and turning corners. It was very hard to characterize last night, and got a little scary since steering was not reliable!

Today:
- Called the shop with all kinds of theories: struts incorrectly modified, suspension geometry out of whack, wrong shocks installed, alignment went bad, parts not properly tightened, yuk, and other panic [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ohmy.gif[/img] . Pretty much the response was maybe things are tight, new parts, shocks need to settle, same with the new rack, call us in a few days. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mad.gif[/img]
- Emergency call to Dr. Flash for some emotional counseling. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img] (thanks again for the help flash!).

Drove to lunch meetings and it became clear. There is a binding in the steering wheel at about 30 degrees to the left of center. When I turn the wheel all the way left or right, each time the wheel passes that position this binding happens -- needs much more force to turn it past this spot than the rest of the rotation.

Went back to the shop, showed them the problem, they could feel it also, will have to bring it back next week. One thought is that the u-joints in the steering shaft are somehow out of alignment due to R&R of the attachment point to the rack. I seriously doubt it is a flaw in the input shaft to the steering rack.

Also, I did measure the height of the front of the car. It is much higher than before, some preload in the gas of the Konis certainly the reason. I measured 25 & 15/16" which is correct enough based on the 26" number flash gave me.

Well see next week, I am sure all will be well.

Roland

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[banditsc]

Could be a bad rebuilt rack, it happens sometimes.

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