911 alignment

warpspd · 05-04-2004, 08:04 AM

What sort of alignment specs should I give the alignment shop to do my car. Can you raise the ride height any without re indexing the torsion bar? My car is about a 1/2 low on the driver's side...

djmcmath · 05-04-2004, 08:19 AM

You may or may not be able to adjust ride height without re-indexing. It depends on where it is right now. There's maybe 2 full inches of adjustment range at both front and back, so if you're indexed at the bottom of that range then you're fine.

As to the specs? You'd be just as well off to ask what tires for an '85 Carrera, or whether or not chipping a car is worth it. This has been discussed fairly extensively here, and depends largely on your preferences and driving style. For example, more camber (to an extent) is great for corners, but bad for tire wear. Higher ride heights are really good for going over speed bumps, but less good for hard corners at the track.

I'd recommend a search for "alignment spec*" in the 911 technical forum. Seems like Wil Ferch and Early_S_Man have some particularly insightful posts on the topic.

Dan

masraum · 05-04-2004, 08:28 AM

If you change the height on one tire you can/will completely throw off the corner balance of the car which can be bad.

thrown_hammer · 05-04-2004, 08:34 AM

Depending on the year of your car you may HAVE to reindex the rear bars to adjust the ride height.

djmcmath · 05-04-2004, 08:38 AM

Oh, right -- good point, Shawn. The early cars didn't have the neat-o adjustable rear arms. The fronts have always been easy, though, right?

thrown_hammer · 05-04-2004, 08:41 AM

Yeah the fronts are adjustable on all. I am not sure when the adjustable rears came online....maybe '83 or 4?

Slider79SC · Slider79SC's Garage

I think they came around in 78 or 79. I have a 79 and the adjustabel plates.

warpspd · 05-04-2004, 11:59 AM

I think I am SOL on the trailing arm adjusters. Mine just have the two large bolts for camber adjustment not the other two near the front with the nice eccentric bolt for adjustment of height. The problem I am running into is that the rear tire is rubbing just slightly on the fender. I might be able to adjust it with an alignment because the other side seems to be fine. I have a 76 3.0 carrera and went with 17 X 9's on rear and 7.5's in the
front. I did not use a spacer in the front and used 1.5 inch in
the rear. I dont think that I could go with a smaller spacer in the rear as I do not have a whole lot of room to move inward. I would say less than 3/4 inch of room between the tire and
nearest thing that I could touch with my fingers. I am posting some pics of the rear tires/wheels and fronts. I think that the front could actually use some 6mm spacers. I remember reading somewhere that you dont have to go longer studs with 6mm
spacers. I am going to go with 6 or 4mm. Tell me what you guys think??

sorry about the length of this post and hogging of bandwith... just looking for some insightfull help from the always knowlegeable pelicants

thrown_hammer · 05-04-2004, 12:06 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by warpspd
sorry about the length of this post and hogging of bandwith... just looking for some insightfull help from the always knowlegeable pelicants

Never Ever apologize for posting pics. We live for this stuff.

warpspd · 05-04-2004, 12:36 PM

ME TOO!!

warpspd · 05-04-2004, 10:47 PM

anymore insight after the posting of pics?...

thrown_hammer · 05-05-2004, 05:02 AM

I have the same rubbing issue. Driver side rear rubs. I have 16X9's on the rear with SC flares. I rolled the fender lip and gave it a good tug with my massive guns and got another 1/8" of clearance. No more rubbing. I even threw down some "controlled" oversteer this AM with no rubbing. Friday I am getting it aligned a little more agressively though. Try this link for alignment specs.
http://www.dorkiphus.com/porsche/modules.php?set_albumName=album04&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php