lowering the front

[C. Clark]

Hello,
I know among the purist this may be unpopular...but does anyone know how to lower the front of a 63, T6?
Chas.
356
912

[Jump2xs]

Hello Chas, It' very easy to lower a 356 front end. First get your shop manual....don't have one? quick get one before the Porsche gods frown upon your greasy face, because it will be when your done with this job.

Jack the car up and get the wheels onto some sturdy ramps or platforms....this is important because the best way to lower the car is with weight on the wheels. Measure from the wheel center to the inner fender for reference.

Put some safety glasses on and crawl under the greasy jungle. In the center of the upper and lower torsion bar tubes you will find two sets of screws with lock nuts. You must loosen the lock nut (lower I think) and capture screw, then loosen the adjusting locknut and back the adjusting allen screw off a few turns. do this to both upper and lower torsion tubes equaly. The car may drop when you turn the adjustment (upper allen) screws...this is a good thing. Leave the screws slightly loose, crawl out from under, and wipe off the greasy crap and grime that's on your face and in your nose. Now gently bounce the car up and down untill it settles out...it should be lower. If your happy with the results go back under the car and tighten the lock nuts. A rookie can probably do it within 45 minutes---buy a shop manual it will make more sense.
If your good with math, from the shop manual drawing, and the thread pitch you can calculate how many turns to get so much drop...I did the math years ago but forgot the formula...I do it now by instinct.

[Jump2xs]

Chas, I forgot to mention that the apparent limit that the car can be dropped can be extended by removing the lock nuts, capture screw, and lock plate, then you can use a dremel type grinder to lengthen the slot that the capture screw fits through. I've never done this but it looks easy. I guess you'd need to support the car if your going to remove the capture screw all the way.

To grind the point some more, the manual has an excellent illustration which will show you how simple the set-up is.
Oh yeah, the alignment can be affected, but I never noticed anything when lowering within the factory limits.

[C. Clark]

Thanks Jump, I figured it out last evening after reading a section in the 356 Registry manual, one turn drops the nose about 3 degrees, so I turned the allen set 1 1/2 turns and it was really obvious what had happened. Took about 15 minutes. I like the look better.
On my 69, 912 it's much easier, take the weight off and turn a 19mm set bolt to whatever you like.
Thanks for the reply,
Chas.
63/356
69/912