Carrera lowered - sorta. Help please.

[defcon65]

Back from the alignment shop, got rid of the 'rally car' look in the front, but they were unable to do anything to the rear. The guy said he couldn't get to the bolts or something, I think they lacked the proper tool or knowledge, or both. Now it has that jacked up Nova look. Guess I'll have to address the rear torsion bars myself - just how much of a PITA will that be? Can it be as simple as backing off one notch of the spline, putting it back together and using the eccentric bolt on the trailing arm for the final adjustment? This is something I've never done.

Joe

[livi]

Apart from the Paris-Dakar look, which I like BTW, your car looks fantastic! A black 911 is hard to beat.

[oneblueyedog]

It's not an easy job. It takes some special tools for the height adjustment bolts. The adjustment bolts are for fine tuning the corner balance. You may be able to lower it a tiny bit without re indexing the torsion bars. It probably won't be enough.

Lots of threads to read about this. Especially how to cange out the bushings. Old cars sometimes have corrosion that makes the job even more maddening (like getting the springplates off the torsion bar).
It is essentially backing off a spline, but which one depends. The splines are different on the inside and outside to give a more precise adjustment.

These are hearty parts to mess up though.

Looks like your front is at Euro height.

[wcc]

Don't want to be a smart ass, but do a search there is TONS of info on this. Also, when you're done you'll need an alignment so that sucks cause you just got one. When I did mine I centered the eccentric bolt, used Thom & Wil's angle calculator to set the angle and fine tuned it with the ecc bolt. It wasn't a bad project for me, but I have heard of people having all sorts of problems.

Your car looks nice and when you get it set to Euro ride height it'll look even better!

Good Luck!

[defcon65]

Thanks, Markus, I've got the Cibie roof lights and brush guard on order.
Blueye - is the 'special tool' that flat, open-ended wrench Pelican sells?
Bill - I've looked at alot of threads concerning everything torsion bar and trailing arm, do you recommend one in particular? I'm assuming I'll need to buy one of those magnetic level/protractor things. Where can I get a decent, cheap one? HF?
As soon as my knuckle-dusters heal from the shock and tie-rod replacement, I'll be ready to blood-let again. Working on this car has been alot of fun!

Joe

[wcc]

Get the angle thing from HF. It's cheap and it worked good.

Here are some threads with some links in them too.

Help! Rear Ride Height

OK Im gonna try this ride height ajustment thing but I need help

Here's a link to Thom's page:
http://rennlight.com/howto/torsion/index.html


I searched using 'height'. You could try 'lowering' or 'ride height', just get creative on what would get you more hits.

Those links I gave you and the links nested inside those threads should cover just about everything. When I did mine I pretty much just used Thom's page. It has directions and the calculator.

Here's a link to that wrench:
Ride Height Adjustment Wrench

[oneblueyedog]

Blueye - is the 'special tool' that flat, open-ended wrench Pelican sells?


Yes. You'll see why when you jack the car up. It has to fit in a sliver of a space.

[defcon65]

Thanks, Bill - Thom's article is exactly what I was looking for having never attempted this. Where can I get the 'Park Bicycle Tool'? Is this better or much cheaper than the Pelican one? Will a bike wrench be tough enough to do the job? Just curious.

Joe

[wcc]

You're local bike store should carry it. You could get two that are longer but I just got one and adjusted the 15mm to the right size. Here is a link to what I have:

http://www.parktool.com/products/detail.asp?cat=50&item=RW-3

I would slide it on the bolt head and used vice grips to hold it to the spring plate. It is more than adequate for this project.

[defcon65]

Thanks, Bill - I found one locally for $15, but the short length of the RW3 plus need for modification is convincing me the $30 Pelican tool might be the bargain after all. I've regretted buying lesser tools in the past. I'll study all the threads you linked me to before I buy a tool. Thanks again for the help, I'm starting to understand what this procedure is all about.

Joe

[slow&rusty]

Sorry if I sound blunt....but any one with a 3/8" ratchet and 12mm socket can lower the front even with the weight of the car on the wheels.

The rear requires these two special tools AND some planning and THOUGHT!!!!:
1)

2)

Here is me using it a few weeks ago:


You have to use the Ride Height wrench to disconnect the arms on your car as per my pic above.

The torsion bars HAVE to be removed and turned or "re-indexed", I turned mine one notch and love the new lower look. I tried to make my own ride height tool out of flat stock steel and failed miserably, noithing like having the right tool for the job.

Once I had the right tools it was pretty simple and took approx. a full Saturday to get everything perfect - but its pretty easy work and straight forward and hey not even all that greasy either. Sounds daunting to remove the torsion bars but really its not all that bad.

Once you start ask away with questions.

Yasin

[defcon65]

Yasin: thanks for the pic, the fronts were done by the alignment shop via the simple adjustment you described. The rears will require the special tool and gauge. I'll take you up on your offer when I get into it. BTW, what year 911 is pictured there?

Thanks for the reply,

Joe

[wcc]

Originally posted by defcon65
Thanks, Bill - I found one locally for $15, but the short length of the RW3 plus need for modification is convincing me the $30 Pelican tool might be the bargain after all. I've regretted buying lesser tools in the past. I'll study all the threads you linked me to before I buy a tool. Thanks again for the help, I'm starting to understand what this procedure is all about.

Joe

No problem, glad to help! FWIW before I did my project I researched a lot and found out that some of the $30 wrenchs that Pelican sells were bending on the user. Hence the modified bike wrench came to be. But it's up to you. Do what you feel comfortable with.

[AtomicDog]

How thin is thin? I could fab 36, 32, & 24mm wrenches in the time it would take for delivery. I just need to know what thickness of plate to get...

32mm for the TTRs, BTW.

Chris

[wcc]

I'm not sure but it's pretty thick.

[defcon65]

I've not seen one close up. In the photos they look like they are maybe 3/16" thick. Not sure of the steel alloy or hardness. Some have inferred they bend easily.

[slow&rusty]

No probs glad to help.....

My car is an '89 930.

The wrench is at least 5mm thick if I remember correctly. Has to be strong enough to turn those big bolts and not bend...I paid $30 from Pelican for it. A great tool to have. I tried modding a big Craftsman wrench and did not work then went to several bike shops and modded their crank tools and that did not work and THEN made my own and that was even worse....

Like I said nothing like having the right tool for the job.

Here was my orniginal thread:
Had A Frustrating Day Lowering Rear Of Car..Question

After I lowered it and put new wheels:
Car Finally Lowered + New Sneakers Installed...PICS!

Hope that helps. Once you get into it, its not that bad at all.
Yasin

[ianc]

Actually, the flat 36 doesn't have to be that strong at all. There are two bolts there (as pictured on arm 1 above). The inner one (to the left) is the clamping bolt, and the outer (to the right) is the eccentric. If you loosen the clamping bolt enough, turning the eccentric is very easy and doesn't require much force. Don't loosen too much though or the eccentric can actually pop out of its hole.

If you can locate a bicycle wrench locally, great. I tried three separate bike shops looking for a headset wrench and was told they didn't have any available, as most newer bikes dont' use them.

I found one on ebay for around the $10 mark.

ianc

[tonypeoni]

I tired this 2 weeks ago and ended up raising the back end of my car. Its not as easy a some will lead you to believe a porsche tech will get you 800 dollars to do this for the labor only!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[rfuerst911sc]

I left the lowering to the pro's, I'm an avid DIYer but I know my limits it's some of the best money I've spent.