Suspension refresh questions

Naturally aspirated tech and talk
spacecad3t
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Well, this is fairly hilarious. Its been pretty warm here and on my first test drives with the larger sway bar, nothing felt off. Today it got a little cold and I started the car to find it suddenly had a loud vibration. Im looking, pulling on things, nothing is loose. Then I look under the car and there it is- AC bracket ear rubbing on the sway bar.

I knew I need motor mounts, but I guess this means I really need motor mounts. lol
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Last edited by spacecad3t on Thu May 07, 2026 8:22 am, edited 1 time in total.

#81

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jeyjey
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At some point in previous ownership my hot side motor mount was replaced with a Meyle while the cold side soldiered on with the original Porsche. When I got the car, the Meyle had already collapsed. The cold side original was still going (though I replaced both of them).
'87 944 NA
'68 Series 2A, '96 E36 M3, '02 Vanquish, '15 Flying Spur

#82

944m3
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spacecad3t wrote: Wed May 06, 2026 4:43 pm Well, this is fairly hilarious. Its been pretty warm
here and on my first test drives with the larger sway bar, nothing felt off. Today it got a little cold and I started the car to find it suddenly had a loud vibration. Im looking, pulling on things, nothing is loose. Then I look under the car and there it is- AC bracket ear rubbing on the sway bar.

I knew I need motor mounts, but I guess this means I really need motor mounts. lol

IMG_2940.jpeg
A good reason to bring out the grinder to play with :lol:

I think I had to something similar.

#83

spacecad3t
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944m3 wrote: Thu May 07, 2026 8:17 am
spacecad3t wrote: Wed May 06, 2026 4:43 pm Well, this is fairly hilarious. Its been pretty warm
here and on my first test drives with the larger sway bar, nothing felt off. Today it got a little cold and I started the car to find it suddenly had a loud vibration. Im looking, pulling on things, nothing is loose. Then I look under the car and there it is- AC bracket ear rubbing on the sway bar.

I knew I need motor mounts, but I guess this means I really need motor mounts. lol

IMG_2940.jpeg
A good reason to bring out the grinder to play with :lol:

I think I had to something similar.
LOL thats my plan for now... Tho I dont have a grinder, I'll be using a meaty file, only need to remove 4mm I guess, the 21.5mm bar was not doing this.

#84

944m3
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A grinder is an essential tool with these cars….along with zip ties lol

#85

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zooklm1
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spacecad3t wrote: Wed May 06, 2026 4:43 pm Well, this is fairly hilarious. Its been pretty warm here and on my first test drives with the larger sway bar, nothing felt off. Today it got a little cold and I started the car to find it suddenly had a loud vibration. Im looking, pulling on things, nothing is loose. Then I look under the car and there it is- AC bracket ear rubbing on the sway bar.

I knew I need motor mounts, but I guess this means I really need motor mounts. lol

IMG_2940.jpeg
I have been concerned about my mounts for a while but have not taken the time to try and measure them. This gives me an easy reference to failed mounts without bothering to do measurements.
Thanks for the inspection aid.
Lee

#86

spacecad3t
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zooklm1 wrote: Thu May 07, 2026 10:13 am
spacecad3t wrote: Wed May 06, 2026 4:43 pm Well, this is fairly hilarious. Its been pretty warm here and on my first test drives with the larger sway bar, nothing felt off. Today it got a little cold and I started the car to find it suddenly had a loud vibration. Im looking, pulling on things, nothing is loose. Then I look under the car and there it is- AC bracket ear rubbing on the sway bar.

I knew I need motor mounts, but I guess this means I really need motor mounts. lol

IMG_2940.jpeg
I have been concerned about my mounts for a while but have not taken the time to try and measure them. This gives me an easy reference to failed mounts without bothering to do measurements.
Thanks for the inspection aid.
Lee
I have also read somewhere that, "if the oil pan cooling fins extend below the cross member", which mine do- but I also notice this is the case in nearly every photo I see of someones oil pan... so not sure how accurate that one is either.

#87

spacecad3t
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Crawled back under the car to remove the sway bar and remove some ear. Im not getting the vibration now, but its very interesting how much tolerance and gap exists at different points.

This was before removing some material, there is a very tiny gap, which wasnt there yesterday.
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Material removed, much bigger gap. The car is on blocks, the suspension is loaded and level.
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After a test drive, and the sway bar settling, much less gap.
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Im not getting any of the vibration/chatter I was yesterday... so the redneck in me wants to call this "fawkin mint" until I swap the motor mounts... but the OCD in me wants remove more material lol.

#88

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jeyjey
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My inner OCD always beats out my inner red-neck.

(You know you're a red-neck when a close relative's last words were "hey, watch this".)
'87 944 NA
'68 Series 2A, '96 E36 M3, '02 Vanquish, '15 Flying Spur

#89

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walfreyydo
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Your sway bar supports appear to be bent forward, you may consider repositioning them so they are perpendicular to the frame, as they are supposed to be. That may also provide you more clearance between that AC compressor and the bar...

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#90

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