Génial Spencer !!! :)

Monsieur Pomme De Terre,

To quote Etta James, "At Last".... So cool that this ice blue 965 is now not only past all the nail biting stuff ("Will it blow up?") but also proving itself as a useful means of transportation, albeit one with Lockheed Starfighter-like performance. I now command thee to commence forthwith a trip to the continent, take in Spa and the 'Ring, then some Alpine passes, all with the GoPro rolling. I look forward to more driving impressions. Be well, John

Congrats! What a journey!

Thanks lite!

Merci mon ami! Cela a certainement été une "aventure" monumentale :eek:

Thanks brainz! Yeah, not a journey I ever want to repeat either!

Hahaha!!Lol @ Monsieur Pomme de Terre!

I have to say, when Matt and I were talking a few months ago about what we were looking to achieve from the engine rebuild, he did say "you don't want any more than 500hp do you? That'll be scary crazy on our roads! No, seriously Spence, you don't want any more than 500hp, trust me..." (or words to that effect)

I thought at the time "No, bollocks to that, I want ALL the horsepower, thanks all the same. 544hp on Engine #1, I definitely want more than that this time please"

Upon reflection, no, you really don't need more than that here. Wide open boulevard roads or autobahns? Yeah, go for it, but as all the magazine journo's have said for years, British roads are unique in their variety and quality (not great quality, especially after winter has had it's game with the surfaces).

Also, despite it being slightly less than engine #1, it actually feels WAY stronger once the turbo's lit. Of course, it's still one of the unknowns as to what caused that engine to smash its rings and to ovalise the cylinders so quickly. Neither do we know when it did this - so its absolutely likely that those few last runs I did were probably not 544hp at all.

It would be interesting to now look at the turbo itself; I was quite surprised how it didn't reach full boost until about 4,000rpm. I was expecting it to spool up a little quicker, although neither do I want it to feel like a twin turbo motor; that kick in the back from a single pump is (after all) half the appeal of going for teh last gen single turbo's 911's. The way it boosts could be a function of the headers I'm running, but I also know that the GT35R which I'm using has moved on somewhat in the last 8yrs, so perhaps a mini-phase 2 projectette some time in the future?

ETA - I'm taking Rachel on a surprise long (birthday) weekend break over the summer Bank Holiday in late August, to Bruges. As we live on the coast we're going to road trip it via Eurotunnel. My natural inclination was to go in the M5, but what the hell, the 964 makes for a far more memorable journey! So, we won't get to Spa nor the 'Ring, but it will be going to Belgium in a few weeks. I'm excited already!

Hi Spencer,

I am very happy for you, I also hope to have mine finished this year! To replace your "old" GT35R turbo you could in the future put maybe a GTX3584RS, Chris knows it well he could give you advice about it. :)

Hey Pat,

Yes, I may well look into doing this at some point once as "Phase 3", once all the suspension is refreshed, geometry done, etc.

I am quite surprised how high up the rev range the boost comes in actually; it's not "laggy" in the 80's old skool sense, but I think it would be interesting to get it making that boost a little earlier. Potentially not *that* expensive to do either.

Just a quick update.....

A week or two ago, Troy from Northampton Motorsport very kindly dialled back into the car to make some changes to the idle strategy.

[background as to why this was necessary...]

Myself and Rachel had an absolutely great weekend over in Belgium (in fact it was so great, we've booked up again to stay in the same hotel but this time a few weeks before Christmas; should be very cold and festive with their Christmas markets). We didn't use the car much once we arrived into the centre of Bruges, we parked at the hotel and then walked everywhere until it was time to return on Monday evening. We certainly got some very nice comments as we were driving through, rumbling along the cobbled streets in 1st gear (slowly of course with all the pedestrians and cyclists). What wasn't so good was the return journey. The weather was super hot all weekend, so the AC was on full-blast, however, one little finishing job from the dyno was the idle control. We enabled some settings in the calibration to smooth out the throttle application (it was already very good though), but this seemed to then cause the engine to go into a "hunting" cycle - or what Troy referred to as a "hysteresis condition" where it simply couldn't catch itself, sometimes getting steadily worse until it stalled. Despite spending over an hour trying different things, we couldn't fix it a few months ago.

With the AC on (creating more load) the engine was stalling extremely easily, especially with the single-mass flywheel. In the long Eurotunnel queues at Calais this became embarrassing - absolutely no warning and no way to catch it, at one point it stalled 4 times just trying to leave the passport desk (also with the AC off).

So...Troy was great, carving out a couple of hours during the day a few weeks ago. Some calibration comparisons between idle control in the running-in map and the final map revealed that we actually didn't change that much, so we reverted back to those original settings, disabling one of the filters used on the eGas settings.

It now idles beautifully, back to how it was, and I have to say, if the throttle is more sensitive, then it's perhaps my imagination. Rachel and Lucy say it feels as smooth to them from the passenger seat.

My next job is going to be to finally get the tacho working. This has been a perennial pain in the bum. The MBE ECU from a few years ago worked out-the-box, simply connecting the tacho input wire to the ECU o/p, no hassle. Not so the Syvecs. Looking at the electrical diagrams for the MBE, it appears there's a built-in 1kOhm pull-up resistor, so I'm going to try this on the Syvecs and see what happens (it seems to be the common consensus from various people as to being the likely fix).

A quick job I did the other day was another oil change. I had plenty of oil which I bought for the dyno day, so thought I'd flush it through and make sure everything looks ok (it does) and open the filter casing. Not that I'm paranoid, or anything.

Just waiting for some nice autumnal days so that we can take it out for another drive, but at the moment it very much looks like wet and windy weather is here for a while.

Hi Spencer,

It’s great that everything is going well now, your story had at one point cooled me down a bit to spend one day my Titine at the EFI, there it gave me confidence again!
Being surrounded by very competent and friendly people helps a lot and especially you had a good dose of temerity!
I want to personally thank you for taking the time to explain everything here in almost every detail, your progressions, your failures and successes, thank you very much, Spencer! :)

Hey Pat!

I know, this saga must make very strange reading to everyone, a rollercoaster of success and frustration. I have to be honest, I'm still not considering this a "completed project" for a long time yet - I want many thousands of miles completed, a number of oil changes done and some borescope inspections made. Only then will I relax and consider it complete.

No need to thank me buddy, although I'm glad a few of you are enjoying the read. I started documenting this hoping that somebody out there can take my thoughts and experiences and apply them to their own projects. You never know, even if it's just one bracket that somebody re-uses, then it's been useful. It's also very therapeutic for me to sit down and brain-dump the updates; it's a very valuable way to spend some time thinking things through, and on numerous occasions I have had that "Eureka!" moment whilst typing, and gone back into the workshop at 1/2/3.00am to do something!

At some point, I'll pick it back up and start documenting the chassis refresh and upgrades. Not sure when that will be, I need to save up some £££'s first. My time these days is also extremely limited, with a new (very demanding) job and spending as much time as I can with Rachel....and actually enjoying driving the car!

Good stuff Spenster. Got any cool pics from the Belgium run? John

Hi John, argh, alas I don't I'm afraid - well, I have lots of pics of Bruge, but not with the Porsche. Rach and I went up to Brands today for the final showdown, title deciding rounds of the British Superbike championship (which was excellent, and the result we were both hoping for....Scott Redding doing the business, a man from yours and Rachels neck o'the woods in Gloucester)....anyway....we were talking about the upcoming return weekend back over to Belgium and did kind of wonder why we weren't going in the Porsche. Hmm, good question...I just assumed it'd be better to go over in the M5 with its winter tyres fitted - but I don't think the chances of snow there is very high at all...so I may have a second bite of the cherry to get some pics in a few weeks time.

Car again ran faultlessly. I'm coming to the conclusion its definitely a "happier" engine running on max boost; it just seems to spin up nicer and sounds smoother. I don't think the wastegates dumping to atmosphere directly is a great thing; when they start dumping, it's quite a coarse noise and I'm not convinced that it's particularly befitting of the car. I may well look into either feeding them into some kind of silencer, or just bear it in mind for when I do eventually order a new exhaust system from Chris, and see if he can route the exit into the overall system. Again, over the last 5/6/7 years or so, in the UK there's a real hatred of anything loud; much as I like stuff loud, neighbours are really starting to give me crap over the noise this car makes. Overtaking cars on full-chat and wastegates screaming I think is also going to start attracting the wrong kind of attention.

I had some time playing with the car yesterday...finally...I've been considering swapping back to the OE amber indicator/repeaters/reflector panels on the front. The original units have been sat in my workshop for months; I swapped them to aftermarket clear units approx 2 weeks into owning the car. That was a long time ago now; as well all know, the affection for aircooled cars since then has risen massively, as well as the whole culture of "Young Timers" happening (well, it has over here in Europe anyway). So...I spent about an hour switching them back....and ABSOLUTELY love them, a decision unanimous with my buddies and Rachel. Chris was ever the diplomat and said he liked both, hahahaha!!

Some pics snapped on my way up to Brands early this morning..

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...d/IMG_8201.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...d/IMG_8207.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...d/IMG_8204.jpg

...to me, I think it gives the car some definition, a few features that make it look proper old skool.

After then washing the car, it sat in the nice dry and warm and well lit garage...it was too much to resist for me to then clay bar the bodywork and give it a fresh coat of Dodo Juice carnuba wax (Dodo Juice is my pal Dom's company, great products). That ended up being a 2.30 am finish, with a 7am alarm call for the trip up to Brands Hatch....zzzzzz

Going to start turning my attention to the suspension soon; it's feeling so nicely planted with the Guard differential - night and day different, and that's with the original Boge dampers (!!!), and some unknown geo setup. If the car feels pretty damn good now, I can only imagine how good it'll feel with the KW V3's installed. I want to get all the parts together before I even start tearing stuff down, otherwise it'll become yet another protracted project. The decision now is whether to go Elephant Racing bushes (expensive and the wrong side of the world, but I think undeniably excellent?) or Super Pro, which I have used to some degree on my old GT3 (but iirc only to replace two bushes in the coffin arms)...a LOT cheaper and readily available from many vendors here in Blighty. It's easy to go OTT, but I have to remember that this is a road car - I want it to be sharp but not bone crashing. I can soften things right off with the KW's, so perhaps I'm overthinking the bush and bearing changes?.....thoughts welcome.

Hi Spencer,

What happiness! You have to change your neighborhood but don’t change the personality of your Titine! :)
For the suspension might need to do a mix of Elephant racing and KW V3, if you do things thoroughly (as usual :) ) It’s going to cost you a lot of money. The parts are not given and even less the customs fees, I have already researched it well And it got me cold!

Hi Pat! Hahaha, Rachel (who speaks some French) and I were Googling at 3am this morning, what "Titine" translates to....am I correct in saying it's kind of an unofficial and affectionate alternative for referring to a car? Less formal than using "voiture" perhaps? (and very different from tetine, haha, which caused us to raise our eyebrows and laugh)

On the suspension discussion, yes, Elephant is a brand I've been looking casually at for a couple of years, in fact I got lucky 3-4 years ago and bought a set of new ER adjustable top mounts from a guy in the UK who had changed his mind on 911 ownership when the values started to go up....however, I'm not convinced they're going to work with the KW's despite Elephants website saying they can be used with aftermarket coil-over dampers. There's simply no way of centralising the damper without using the top spring mount. If you use that, then the damper rod isn't long enough to go through the spherical bearing on the top mount. If you remove the spring perch, then there's no way to locate and hold the spring centrally, and it's interfacing directly to the underside of the top mount - not good. I think I have two options:

1) Make something to get it to fit; a new design top spring perch perhaps?
2) Sell the Elephant Racing top mounts again, and buy the KW top mounts. They're not as adjustable as the ER setup, but perhaps good enough.....oh, and they're bright purple (which is not a good thing)

Maybe now is the right time to start posting up some initial pics....

Take a look at the lower bolt sizes on your front struts spencer .
I remember reading the 964/5 kws where really designed for 993 models , or the previous generation running 993 evo front uprights .
Ask the question first , to avoid any down-time .

With regards to the tops , iirc they’re shorter struts and designed for rs type monoball top mounts which put the joint lower in the chassis . (Same as all aftermarket adjustable top Mounts)

I have an h&r kit running stock top-mounts and a jrz kit running rennline topmounts if you need any pics .

Hi Ian,

Thanks, yes, I had read about the bolt diameters, and from what I gather, KW have (somewhat begrudgingly) supplied sleeves to accommodate the difference. Worst case, I'll spin up some sleeves out of stainless on my lathe ;)

If you are able to send across some pics, that'd be super useful, thanks; the Rennline setup is perhaps more relevant, as I'd like to see how the tops of the springs interface with the top mounts. Thanks!

Hi Spencer,

Yes, you and Rachel clearly understood the meaning of the word "Titine", phew! :D
On my 930 I had to manufacture for my rear shocks "aluminum bilstein handsets" custom top heads. :)

Hmm, I'm going to have another look at the top mounts and the dampers and perhaps do something similar. I'll see what grades of aluminium billet are available to buy to ensure something suitable for this purpose. Did you use a particular grade of aluminium for your custom top hats?

Hi Spencer,

It was made to measure by a specialized company, I don’t know if it was a special aluminum. :)

Does Rebel make parts for the 964? I used their stuff on my ye olde SC and its luvverly.
I've forgotten from the beginning of this thread but has the car been repainted or is that original paint? Sure looks nice. John

Hey John,

Thanks! I'm sure that almost all of the paint is original, but I can see evidence where somebody has had a go at fixing the usual scuttle panel, where the 964's (and others?) start to rot at the base of the windscreen. It needs doing again to be honest, a little bubbling starting to come back - no worse now than when i bought the car, as it's always kept in a dry garage.

I''l look into the Rebel stuff, thanks for the tip ;)

Cheers
S

Hi Spencer !

At "Rebel" the PSS10 Bilstein for your car are much more affordable than the KW V3 for the 930!
I want to say good for you! :)

Hi folks,

Before I get on to writing up the suspension project, just a quick update on the cosmetic work; I was so pleased with the refitting of the indicators a few weeks ago that I thought I'd also investigate switching out the "brake ducts" as well. They're not genuine Porsche 964RS items, and I hate anything fake, plus they're not actually doing that much. They certainly aren't feeding air to the calipers. The RHS dust is feeding the end of the oil cooler matrix; bearing in mind that this is a road car, most of the engine temp heat build up is when stationary in traffic queues, in which case the ducts are doing absolutely nothing. If I do need more cooling to the oil cooler, then I already have an output form the Syvecs built into the chassis harness to take control of the cooling fan. I'll simply remove the stock fan control harness and let the ECU take charge. The LHS duct is probably more useful insomuch that it's vaguely pointing in the direction of the AC matrix!

So, out they must come. But to do so, the front bumper needs to come off; unlike proper RS ducts that fix from the front, these don't have a screw. Upon inspection they've merely been bonded in (kind of) with a dollop of Tiger Seal onto the spring clip! [shudder]. Thankfully none of the original mounting holes or tabs on the bumper moulding have been butchered.

A new set of fog lamps ordered and collected, I'm now just waiting for the in-fill pieces that sit either side of the lamps. These and the correct fixings are on order with my OPC, along with a pair of new side repeater indicators (I had 2 slightly different colours; no idea which is correct, so a nice new pair are on the way). I've also ordered a pair of under-bumper trim panels. Mine just don't fit into the bumper that well, perhaps the plastic tabs have been stretched. They've also taken a battering over the years with speed bumps so thought I'd get a new set to complete the front-end makeover.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...F4E0234F81.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...s/IMG_8346.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...s/IMG_8345.jpg

Testing, testing....

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...s/IMG_8349.jpg

Hoping to get these by the end of the week, install and get the bumper back on along with a little "smile" correction on the front slats.

Project 2 - Suspension Refreshing
 

So, although I've had some of the parts for a while, they've been sat in my home office until the engine project has been completed, hence no writing up of anything so far.

I have been pondering things though - great distraction on some of the more boring conf calls. As mentioned a few weeks ago, my biggest head scratcher is trying to get the Elephant Racing top mounts to work with the KW V3 dampers/struts. And then I had a "eureka" moment last week. This isn't going to make much sense without photos, suffice to say that I have some old GT3 suspension items kicking around, including a pair of top spring perches with a shallow - almost flat - conical profile, which are going to be re-used on the front struts once I've modified them in the lathe.

One thing I know that needs addressing is that the front struts need some kind of axial bearing plates in the assembly somewhere, to prevent spring wind-up when cornering.

1) ER sell a bearing assembly that's 2.25" diameter, sitting between the top of the spring and the upper spring perch. It doesn't look to be sealed from ingress, simply a needle roller bearing plate, with hardened washers sandwiching it.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...2000.00.38.jpg

2) Rebel Racing make a very nice pair of replacement top perches, with a recess machined into the top face that sits up to underside of the monoball. In this recess sits a similar bearing/washer assembly, but smaller diameter (ID = rod diameter) and also weather sealed with a rubber o-ring. Nice setup and reasonably priced.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...2000.02.13.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...2000.02.33.jpg

3) KW's own monoball top mounts have this axial bearing built into them, easy fit and forget solution, but would mean starting again and not using the ER top mounts (which are really nice)

I decided to give the helpful chaps at KW's UK office a call today, who then suggested that they had a cunning plan; intended primarily for use on 996 GT3's (the coincidence is uncanny - those top perches I'm re-using are from my old 996 GT3) are a new spring height platform that has the bearing integrated into it, and again is sealed. Perfect!

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...20adjuster.png

Remove my stock spring platforms and refit with a pair of these. Problem solved. £58.50+VAT each and they're also in stock in Germany.

I'll post more photo's of the challenge I've been mulling over tomorrow when I go back down to my office - it should make more sense then!

KW Suspension vs Elephant Racing Top Mounts
 

Ok, so a few photos to illustrate last nights write-up and introduction.....

Firstly the rear damper.

The unit as it comes from KW, with the top "collar" for a stock installation.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...n/IMG_8365.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...n/IMG_8366.jpg

However, by not using these collars, the OD of the lower half of the top mount sits inside the spring; a little slack perhaps, and I'm not happy about the top of the spring sitting directly against the top mount for two reasons:

1) There's only 3x point contact areas, where the spring sits on the underside of the pressed in studs

2) The steel spring, unless retained a little tighter is likely to move and rotate in operation, and probably scratch the anodising on the mount, looking scruffy and compromising its weather protection. Somehow it just seems not-quite-right.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...n/IMG_8368.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...n/IMG_8367.jpg

So my plan of action with the rear dampers is to make a nylon insulator that will sit between the spring and the mount. It will have 3x reliefs machined into the face that sits against the mount, to clear the stud faces, as well as a 10mm high diameter that will take up the slack and hold the spring concentric to the mount. Simple enough, I just need to order some suitable material.

Now onto the front struts - this one's a little more involved.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...n/IMG_8371.jpg

The top of the rod engages into the front monoball just fine; the diameters are correct (OD of the rod versus the ID of the recess in the mount bearing).

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...n/IMG_8373.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...n/IMG_8374.jpg

The thread protrusion, without a spring perch installed, is also fine....

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...n/IMG_8375.jpg

However, a few things need to be addressed:

1) There is no built-in axial rotation capability of the monoball bearing; this needs to be incorporated elsewhere in the strut assembly, to prevent the spring from winding up when steering.

2) A spring perch does need installing, to hold the spring central to the damper rod. (Oddly, the advice I received from ER a few months ago was contrary to this, saying it's not vital to do so!)

3) Using the stock perch which comes with the strut of course engages onto the step at the top of the rod....but that then prevents the rod sitting up into the recess of the mount, therefore not allowing the thread to protrude. Any perch has this problem; it seems you either fit a perch OR you have it engage correctly into the top mount; the two are mutually exclusive.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...n/IMG_8376.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...n/IMG_8377.jpg

The plan, therefore, is to open the ID of the perch to allow it to slide down onto the larger diameter of the rod, allowing the rod to engage into the mount, as ER intended. However, by using the stock perch means that I'll lose a lot of height adjustment, it's a very tall conical perch.

So...the GT3 perches I mentioned yesterday. Of course, they're meant to install into a 2.25" spring but the added bonus is that they're quite a flat top, unlike the conical KW perches.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...n/IMG_8378.jpg

They still only slide down as far as the step in the rod, same as KW's, but my plan is to bore the ID out to that of the damper rod. I may go slightly larger than this diameter, then make a plastic sleeve insert to make it a snug fit. This will ensure no metal-to-metal contact, not that I think it would be a problem but again it just seems "right" to me. Perhaps I'm over-thinking it, and aluminium/steel would be fine. It's not going to be travelling up and down but would be rotating with the steering.

To alleviate spring wind up, per yesterdays post, I'll be using KW's own lower spring height adjustment platform that has an integrated bearing system, which will replace the stock platforms...

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...n/IMG_8379.jpg

These have now been ordered and are about 3-5 days away.

Bonsoir Spencer,

Your KW kit is great, what is the tare of your rear springs in kg? :)

Bonsoir Monsieur Pat!

The tare? Does that translate to the spring rating? If so, then KW don't actually specify what the ratings are in the specifications but the numbers printed on the springs are:

Rear = 90-250 (I presume this is 250mm length, 90kgs/198lbs)
Front = 30-200 (I presume 200mm and 30kgs/66lbs)

There are also helper springs for all 4 dampers, marked as 10-60-80 (Front) and 20-60-80 for the rears. Both are 80mm long, not sure what the "60" refers to, and I guess 10kg and 20kg respectively?

I should also point out that the guidance from KW (after speaking with their tech support yesterday) is that the helper springs are installed under the main springs for the rear dampers, and above the main spring for the front struts. No idea why it's different front to back. A Google search seems to indicate the favoured position is to mount the heavier main spring at the top to assist unsprung mass; I can see how this *may* make a difference, mathematically, but then I would counter that by arguing the CoG would be higher. Anyway, I'm sticking with KW's guidance.

Thank you Mr Spencer ! :D

It’s strange, I find that the value of the springs is low, it seemed to me that these (the springs) had to contain approximately the mass of the car "per axle", for example at the rear (2x450kg) and for the front (2x350kg). They’re supposed to replace the torsion bars, right? :)

Fair point, but don't forget that's the mass to compress the spring a given amount. After doing a few minutes of Googling, I stumbled on a Q&A transcript that was done with one of the guys at KW in the US. There's a question in there re spring rates, and the answer was quoted back as Newtons per mm compression.

So, if these markings are in Newtons rather than kg, then 90N = 9.18kg-force per mm of compression. Multiplying that up to a 1" compression = 233kg/inch (514lb/inch) for the rear springs, assuming linear compression.

For the front, then 30N = 3.06kgf per mm compression; converting that gives 77.7kg/inch (171lb/inch) compression.

Of course, this also ignores the helper spring rates.

Thank you Spencer !

Even taking into account the conversion N to kg I do not find the values adapted to the weight of the vehicle, They seem too weak. :)

Quick update - the rotating spring platforms arrived from Germany earlier today. Beautifully made, as to be expected from KW, and a very nice - but quite tight - rotational feel to them; they definitely feel very much weather sealed!

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...n/IMG_8389.jpg

And installed onto the struts....(stock platform next to it)

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...n/IMG_8390.jpg

Next job will be to modify the old GT3 perches, and make some nylon sleeves, plus make some insulator shims for the rear dampers.

Sir Spencer, any misgivings about the colors/colours KW selects for its parts...all that purple? Would they do them in, say, black or gunmetal, or is their coporate scheme all that's available? Kind regards, John

Hey John,

Nah, I can't see KW bowing to the whim of a garagista wanting a colour change - I'm sure it could be done by my local plating shop if push-came-to-shove...I guess it depends on how easy it is to disassemble the monoballs, seals, etc from their housings.

I think for the time being though, I have a solution that keeps my Elephant Racing units as Plan A.....although, still no reply from Chuck or anyone else there. It does compel me to start looking at alternatives for all the other items I need, I have to say. On the other hand, I'll be buying through Chris so that will remove the frustration.

I started following Rob Goughery's very long suspension teardown thread over on Rennlist a few years ago. With my project going through it's engine issues I did lose track of where he got to with the numerous 964 refurbs he was doing, but resumed my reading a couple of weeks ago, as well as getting back in contact with Rob (great guy, very helpful). If only I'd read one more page than I got to, before scratching my head on how to make KW's work with ER top mounts - he went through exactly the same issues a year or two ago (with similar levels of help, reading between the lines)....He solved it in the same way as I'm planning but he's used axial bearings very similar to the Rebel Racing ones, i.e., machined into the top spring perch's.

I have to say, I'm really looking forward to starting this now. Driving the car with Rachel over the weekend after a few weeks of it being safely parked in the garage (we've had atrocious weather here recently), I came to a couple of conclusions yesterday.

1) It still does need some engine calibration refinement. I do think it's over-twitchy on the throttle with the un-filtered setting. Makes it extremely hard to drive smoothly or slowly. It's not a deal breaker, but something I'll come back to next season with Troy - there's always improvements that can be made, just depends on how much money you want to spend on it.

2) The suspension is, despite my positive comments previously, crashy as hell, especially over our country lanes. New dampers will be very welcome, as well as measures to counter bump steer (ER do nice looking steering arms that address this)

Is this car apart or can we drive it on Thursday night?

I'll text you.

:eek:

Yep it's drivable....er...you're in Blighty? Sure, shoot me a text John!!

Evenin' all...

The suspension project is now officially underway!

It's been a busy winter with "other stuff"; new toys arriving in the garage, work is busy as usual, etc etc. But finally I've turned my attention back to it with a good old workshop tidy-up yesterday and a few hours making bits today.

The shopping list of Elephant Racing parts is now with Chris, and fingers crossed this should be winging it's way over to me in the next week or so.

So...why the sudden frantic activity? Well, Dad and I have been working on the first phase of a house project, specifically decorating that requires a 360º scaffold construction around the property. Unfortunately, the easiest way to access the property is through the garage and workshop and of course, the car needs to be somewhere else whilst these guys do their thing and construct it. Because of the construction (I've had it built before, about 14yrs ago, when we decorated it last) I know that it needs to be built in front of the garage door, so of course, the car needs to find a new home for a few weeks until the work is done. Currently, the plan is locked in (thanks to Dads project management work) for early May once the dreadful weather we're having has hopefully gone.

Long story short, I'm on pain-of-death to screw this plan up by not having the car mobile in time. Either that or leave it until the scaffold has come back down again in June (probably), which then means not having the car on the road during the summer. And missing Le Mans. Again.

So, it's now underway although nothing has yet been removed from the car - just prep work this weekend.

The machining work today was to resolve the previously described issue of KW front struts and Elephant top mounts to play nicely with each other. After the week I've just had, getting back on the lathe was exactly the therapy required - great satisfaction and fun modifying the GT3 spring retainers.

First job was to make the plastic sleeves, which came out really nice using a length of Nylatron. These slip over the larger diameter of the damper rod. Next job, open up the ID of the retainer, and machine a counterbore to receive the "top hat" sleeve. Again, chuffed that this was such a nice snug press fit, no need to bond them in place.

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As you can see, they slip over the damper rod per the plan, and allow the top mount to drop onto the shoulder of the rod, exposing the full length of the thread through the top of the mount.

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The nut is only done up as far as the nylon insert - there's a good 6-7mm of thread left to tighten against....

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I've maybe lost 10-15mm of spring height adjustment, but even so, I'm sure there'll be plenty, as I'm not dropping it as low as it'll go - UK roads, let's not forget. If it won't even get to the same height it is now, then I'll just get some shorter springs or forego the helper springs.

The next job will be to machine some spring inserts to use on the rear springs/rear top mounts, to hold the springs central but also isolated from the anodised body of the mount. I'll need to order some more Nylatron for this, as it's way bigger than what I have in the workshop.

In other news, the new H&R anti-rollbars arrived on Friday. Nice looking bars, and 2-position adjustable for front and rear. The H&R's are 24mm (Front) and 26mm (Rear) versus the stock 964 Turbo bars of 21mm (Front) and 22mm (Rear). UK roads, in my experience, tend to respond pretty well to soft damping and then let the ARB's do the roll control. Setting the dampers to hard is just a nightmare over here, but the Turbo is a heavy old girl, so needs a bit more control than the stock bars were offering (I think). Having the adjustability front and back will also allow me to set it up for my taste in under/oversteer. This setup also comes with it's own bushes - another thing I don't need to worry about ordering elsewhere.

A new bearing and bush removal kit is supposed to be on it's way, but despite anticipated delivery last Thursday, it appears to have got lost en route. Hoping to have that midweek, which paired with my hydraulic press, will make life a lot easier removing and installing the bushes in each arm, as well as the spring plates.

Glad to hear from you again ...
I was starting to get nervous and wonder how all was going...!!
But as usual, u r fire walled...!!
Carry on... hope the house gets completed on time or early so u can go to Le Mans...

Thanks Tweaks! Yeah, still working away on it, it's just that time is limited - very long hours at work, lots of travelling and then the other family activities. Hoping that this project is done a lot quicker than the engine though - a lot of the chassis work (brakes and general cleaning up) was obviously done a few years ago as part of the rebuild, so that'll save time. I'm really hoping that the suspension refurb can be done within a few weeks, once everything is ordered and with me.

The next ponderingment for me is whether to buy my own plating kit. It's not something I've ever done before, so quite keen to give it a go. From what I've seen on one of the YouTube channels I follow, it can be very successful. If I do buy the kit, it certainly won't be the most economical way to get it done, but I will be able to do it very quickly and not at the mercy of the local and busy plating shop...sometimes a good 2-3 weeks turnaround. More investigation needed.

Hi, good to read you Spencer again! :)

Spenny, good to hear from you. Sorry that I don't have anything illuminating to say other than Hi and keep up the good work.

John