This is a cross-post from Rennlist:

I was advised that the spindles on my 1986 944 Turbo (with power steering) are a weak point, and should be replaced with spindles from a 1987 or later Turbo/S2.

I did that (along with the hubs and rotors), and lost all my negative camber.

Since I was planning on replacing the control arms anyway, I replaced the arms with Racer's Edge long arms today. Well, I've got my neg camber back. Along with some serious toe in.

I don't have enough adjustment on the tie rod ends to get the toe back to anything approaching straight. The tie rods are about an inch too short.

Anyone have any advice? Will the tie rods/tie rod ends from a later vehicle work?

Thanks in advance!



Update:

Karl responded to my email last night and will be exchanging my long control arm for a short one. (He is a stand-up guy!)

That will solve my tie rod problem.

However, now I'm back to my camber problem. As I've thought through the geometry, it seems to me that the later spindles must have their strut mounting bolts aligned to provide about 5 degrees more positive camber than the early spindles, to account for the longer control arm (I'm figuring the strut defines a circle of about 20" radius, and the long arms are about 1" longer than the short arms).

How can I get this 5 degrees back? (and more really, this is a DE/Track car). I'm thinking that I will need to get camber plates. But, will that get me 5 degrees?

Thoughts?

I have an 86 951 and I have also installed 88 spindles, rotors, tie rods...but when I did this conversion I also installed late style Moton struts, negative camber is normal.
I have also installed 951 spindles on a 87 N/A car and ran into the same toe in problem you had. We installed tie rod ends from ERP that are intended for a 996/997 car that incorporate a rose joint in the outer end and are much longer. Greg F

First of all I believe the spindle issue is worst on the cars with spindles that have the speedo cable running thru them. Sorry I didn't answer this sooner but I think you'll need the longer control arms. To use the late spindles you must be using late struts.
You'll neeed camber plates and to move them to max negative camber. This is the only way to get camber if you don't use the longer A arms. This probably won't be 5 degrees though. As Greg said some struts will help. I've noticed Ledas, JRZ, and Motons do have more adjustment than stock or Konis. You may also try the Ingalls "crash bolts" from Tire Rack or "Evilbay".
If you still have a toe problem the only way to for you to get it back is probably the late model tie rods or the ERP tie rods, but they are not rules compliant as neither SCCA. PCA, or the Cup allowances permit them.

R.L. Mitchell