adjusting rear ride height of 87 911

[vwmiker]

ok,

so i keep reading how to change torsion bars, but all i want to do is lower the rear a little, maybe 1.5inch maybe less. At the moment my car is on jack stands as I am replacing brakes, rotors pads calipers but I broke the brake line at the caliper. So I have ordered ne lines from dealer but have a few day wait. So........why not lower the rear. How? Diagrams would be great!! Pictures!!

Mike
vwmiker@yahoo.com

[toolman]

There are many articles on how to do this, use the "search" feature at the top of the page.

[djmcmath]

Rear ride height is slightly more involved than front. Technically, it isn't that hard. In reality, it can be pretty nasty. First, there's the tools -- you'll need a fairly skinny 24mm and 36mm wrench for getting on the ride height adjustment bolts. You loosen the two bolts on each side, which can be a hassle if they haven't been touched in 18 years, then move the two parts in relation to each other to provide more or less preload on the torsion bar.

Then you put everything back together, set it down, and check your corner balance, which will be wrong, unless you've managed to change both sides by exactly the same amount (which assumes that you had them both exactly right to begin with). Use the Ferch method to come up with an approximation of your corner balance, then pick it back up, pull the wheels back off, and adjust accordingly.

If your desired adjustment is outside the adjustment range of the adjusting bolts, you'll need to pull the spring plates to re-index the torsion bars -- which is way more fun than just tweaking the adjuster bolts.

Bottom line, I'd say that if you have 3 days while you're waiting for parts, you'd better wait on this project...


Dan


PS -- search for "rear ride height adjustment" yields:
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3
That should get you warmed up. Let us know if you have any questions after those.