Did Porsche ever install a steering damper on the early 911 or 912?

[L.a.Brooks]

I recently had to move one of my storage units parts from one location to another. I had that unit for the past decade plus. As I exhumed all of the parts I discovered a few parts I haven't seen in a decade This included a couple of very early 911 steering racks that had both ends of the damper mount - the stud built into the housing and a receiver flange that is attached to one tie-rod mount. I know the later racks still had the stud for awhile, but the flange disappeared in 1966 I think. Both parts are shown in the early parts books.

I took several racks out of car with the full mounting provision, but never took one out with a damper.

Did Porsche ever install them?

[NeunElf]

Yes. As far as I know, on every car.

There's a damper on my car (301382, probably built in May 1965) and there was recently a thread at the Technical Forum "steering damper" Quite a few folks are looking for replacements.

[pss]

check this one as well
http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...65-cars/page32
Post 316 shows my 300700 has the damper, but the cast of the steering house only allows for LHD steered cars, which was changed later. I have no knowledge of cars without any.

[adam912]

I bought my '66 912 in 1970. As far as I know, it never had a steering damper on it, but it does have the brackets.
Nobody's asked the question, so I will: what problem or bad handling behavior was the damper supposed to fix?
I've driven cars where the band-aids were literally life savers (ever driven a Morgan with loose front damper blades, for example?
The oscillation at speed can literally rip the steering wheel out of your hands)

I've never experienced any handling instability , whether on street or track, with my 912. So what gives with the steering damper?

cheers
Adam912. Out.

480K miles, 2.2L of T4 FUN power!

[edmayo]

My best GUESS is that the early non-adjustable fronts may have had a problem the damper was trying to fix, but it was no longer needed when they made the front struts adjustable, and /or the bumper weights.

[pss]

Interesting, sounds logical. Seems like you've cracked it. In another thread I saw a steering rack without any damper mounts, supposedly it is from 1967. My 912 from MY65 (like all cars I know from MY65) definitively has a damper, but also the early struts of course.

[NeunElf]

I did a little research. The hardcopy parts catalog has more information than PET and includes the note "bis Fahrgestell Nr./up to chassis No./... 305100" which would be the start of the 1967 model year. It also gives the application as "911."

The shop manual has a section for the 1965-1967 front suspension. The first illustration shows a front suspension with no damper:



Later in that section, there's a drawing that shows a steering rack with provision for only one damper mounting stud and a picture of a steering rack with provision for two damper mounting studs.



As far as I can tell, all the photos in the 1965-1967 section which could show a steering damper do show a steering damper.

There's also a supplement for 1968 front suspensions. Paul Frère noted that the '68 front end had less castor. It has an overall drawing with no damper but with ventilated discs (which weren't introduced until 1967):



I couldn't see a steering damper in any of the pictures of the 1968 and onwards sections.

[LongRanger]

Another thread . . .

. . . trying to locate a Koni, Boge or an aftermarket steering damper for a ’66 without much luck #901.347.501.00 Has anyone had a Koni rebuilt? . . .

http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...mper-for-%9166

[Jim Breazeale]

I recently had to move one of my storage units parts from one location to another. I had that unit for the past decade plus. As I exhumed all of the parts I discovered a few parts I haven't seen in a decade This included a couple of very early 911 steering racks that had both ends of the damper mount - the stud built into the housing and a receiver flange that is attached to one tie-rod mount. I know the later racks still had the stud for awhile, but the flange disappeared in 1966 I think. Both parts are shown in the early parts books.

I took several racks out of car with the full mounting provision, but never took one out with a damper.

Did Porsche ever install them?

Yes...................

Look at the cool grey boots. All the early racks (that I have seen) came with grey boots.

Regards

Jim

[Robert-Jean]

My '66 912 originally had a steering dampener but I removed it during a front-end rebuild. Is there any advantage of running one, or was I right to do away with it?

Correct, no need for a steering damper if your 912 has adjustable struts.
John explains why.