2003 suspension in a 1997?
 

Hi all,

Anyone know if the struts and springs from a late 2003 2.7 will fit/work ok in a 1997 2.5? Have the possibility of getting a very cheap fairly low K's set but want to check they'd be a straight swap first.

Thanks,
Adam

Pretty sure they will but the 2003 will be about 400 lbs heavier so it will probably raise the car ride height & definitely not as designed by Porsche.

I didn't think about the weight difference. Maybe you could swap the original springs over.

Why do you think the 2003 is 400lbs heavier? The only difference in weight between a 2003 and 97 is the top is slightly heavier. Everything else is basically the same. An automatic will be heavier than a 6 speed and a six speed will be heavier than a five speed.

Thanks for the input guys, I'm trusting Woody on this one! :)

Follow up question, am I mad considering putting in second hand suspension parts?

These I've been offered have about 30K miles on them, rubber all looks good in the photos, and the price for all 4 as complete set still assembled with springs, mounts etc as they came out of the donor is approx $500 US.

The other option I'm considering is to buy Steved0x's (who's been amazingly patient with my dithering around by the way, thanks!) brand new Koni FSD's, which are also a great price, but when you add shipping half-way around the world come in at around twice the above price, plus I'd probably still need to get various new top bits etc.

Considering mine are 20 year old 65k mile originals, anything's got to be better... right? Thoughts?

Do you really need new struts with a car that only has 65k? That seems awful soon to be replacing them. If you were replacing them to upgrade or if you had more miles on your car then I would understand. I vote for the Koni's. If you're going to go through the effort, you might as well get new and upgrade at the same time. I don't think you'll see or feel an improvement with those used struts. I guess it also depends on your budget. If you can only afford the 30k struts, then that's better than nothing. 30k struts should still be good ,but I only recommend used suspension parts if you're on a budget or only replacing a broken/worn out part and want to somewhat match your other old suspension.

IF you go with the 2003 used suspension, I'd really consider buying the upgraded rear suspension members from Woody. This piece was reinforced for 98 which allowed 18 inch wheels option. With the suspension removed this would be an easy exchange for a stronger piece. An upgrade of this sort would justify the rebuild.

@itsnotanova - tbh I'm not 'sure' I do need new struts, the car feels like it's bottoming out and making nasty shakes and noises over even small bumps and holes, which we have a lot of here with our crap roads.

Assuming it's got to be either the struts, springs and/or the various arms causing it, thought I'd try the struts first as they work out a bit cheaper than new arms all around, if that doesn't help then do the arms next. It does make more sense though I guess to upgrade in the process, instead of just replace with slightly newer.

And yeah, the 'budget' is more about me being tight and not wanting to pay half what the car's worth to fix the ride, lol.

@911monty - are you talking about part #1 or #4's in this diagram, or something else all together? 986online.com- Boxster Diagram -Porsche Boxster Parts And Accessories

The part I am talking about is part #2 in your diagram. This piece was reinforced for 1998 models and 18" tires then became optional.

I am not trying to talk you out of those Koni FSDs. I think they would be awesome.

1997 is def the lightest box produced.

If I remember correctly the strut hats or strut towers in 97s were different from the rest of the boxsters. They were changed in 98 or 99. Could be the design or the bolt mounts but 100℅ there was a design change

It could be as much as 400 lbs heavier. Since OP did not list specifics I used worst case scenario from factory curb weights. Early '97's did not have airbags or Bose stereo's with amp's & subwoofers. Lots of ways for the 2003 to gain weight.

I would check these, #8 in this diagram, when they go bad it causes all sorts of thumps and clunks, and if it really goes bad, the back wheel can move around in unintended ways fore and aft.

Rear Axle Wheel Carrier Control Arm Wheel Hub

Same goes for the front, part #3, although usually it seems to be the ones in back that go bad and cause all the noise:

Cross Member Wishbone

To contrast with this, on my Boxster with 120,000'ish miles, I was running on the original OEM suspension. It was a little floaty but not noisy or bottoming out. I was getting some clunks and noise, which was solved by the installation of #8 above.

http://986forum.com/forums/diy-project-guides/60057-rear-trailing-arms-replacement-guide-diy.html

I would be more suspicious of some of these other things, and less so on the struts. Unless you can see/feel oil leaking from them, they are probably still OK.

I agree with steved0x.

if you have noise at lower speeds and bumps problem is mostly no8 in the rear.

I removed the front ones first. Openend the top side – pretty dry, no grease in. Put in around 15 ml gramm grease in each side with a syringe. Turned the joint 90 degrees. Assembled them and put them back in.

(Btw. it's important to use the right torque specs if you put them back in. And i saw a video of a guy from UK who troqued the bolt and not the screw. So sometimes the DIY is causing the problems. ;) Make shure you have the right tools before you start.)

Put the car back on the road. Better but still noises. And from that moment i could identify that the noise was coming from the back.

So when i did my axle boots i also did an overhaul of the rear ones. In my opinion they get toasted by the engine heat. There was more grease inside, but the grease was old and hard. And the rubber was also harder. Same procedure as with the front ones.

Noise over cobblestone at lower speeds is gone.

It's a shame that modern joints can no longer be regreased easily.

Regards, Markus

Just a follow up on this, I finally got a new set of Koni FSD's installed. Was cheaper by about 50% to buy them in the UK (High Performance Car Parts, Koni Suspension Kits, K And N Filters, Alloy Wheels - larkspeed.com) and ship them to Aus than to buy them anywhere here, crazy. Anyway, the ride is much improved! Thanks for the help and suggestions all.