Finally, Wevo parts for my own car....... SPS install

[Tyson Schmidt]

The before shot. Notice the 964 oil tank installation. (never have gotten around to posting a thread on that one)



The Elephant Racing Poly-bronze are currently installed, which are great, but the Wevo SPS has some distinct advantages. And of course, I got a great deal on them since I now work for Wevo.







With the old springplates out, and the opening cleaned of all the dirt/rust, It's time to fit the inner bearing carrier. I scribe a mark on the carrier, and tape a mark to the car so I can keep it indexed properly while shaping the carrier to fit the opening.



Checking the fit of the cover to the mounting spuds. Luckily, mine are flat, and straight. Usually it's necessary to straighten them to line up properly with the holes on the cover.


I'm also lucky, in that I only required shimming on the lower rear mounting point.



One thick, and two thin shims makes it perfect. After tightening everything up without the torsion bar in yet, it moves freely with no pre-load whatsoever.




Here's the right side completed. An added bonus was the fact that I can install the torsion bars after verything else, which made it possible to install the SPS without having to remove the oil tank. Normally, with a stock spring plate, the torsion bar would have to go in first, which would've required more room to get the spring plate over it.



Left side nearly completed



Now all that's needed, is to put the angle finder on the springplate, hold the spring plate at the angle that I measured the old one, and slide the torsion bar in. Mine are hollow, making it even easier to turn to just the right position that will alow it to slide right in at the appropraite spring plate angle. Fine adjustment can be made with the adjuster screw to get it perfect.

I always hold upward pressure on the spring plate during all angle measurements to take out the slop, and make it as accurate as possible.


Note: Due to the lower amount of stiction in the SPS, it will actually raise the ride height by 10mm typically. I compensated by reducing the spring plate angle by .5 degrees.

[randywebb]

Thanks, Tyson.

What are the advantages for a street only car?

[jester911]

Very nice Tyson, what would those run for us mere mortals?

[Tyson Schmidt]

Originally posted by randywebb
Thanks, Tyson.

What are the advantages for a street only car?

Well, I am a big fan of the Elephant Racing Ploy-bronze solution, but the SPS does have some advantages. No maintenance, smoother action, (I was actually quite surprised by that, since the ER set-up was such an improvement over stock) and easier adjustability. It's also less work to install, since you don't have to remove any rubber bushings and clean and prep the old spring-plates.


The thing that really surprised me on the test drive, was that my 80% LSD with high pre-load, was no longer causing inconsistent handling.

The complete lack of friction really smothed out the small suspension movements, so much so, that the inside rear wheel was making better contact with the ground, which kept the cars attitude in a corner much more consistent. Before, any throttle input or pavement undulation would alter my car's trajectory, and I'd have to compensate.

It would likely be much less obvious on a standard diff. But I'm very happy with it. I did notice that afterwrds, it feels like I need to adjust the rear shocks a little firmer to re-balance the handling. I really wasn't expecting the difference to be much compared to the ER set-up.


For a street car, it is definitely a smoother ride, while still keeping the handling. It definitely gives you all the benefits of stiffer springs/shocks, but with less of the ill side-effects. I'd say it gives nearly as much improvement over the ER poly-bronze, that the ER poly-bronze gives over stock. And that's not taking anything away from Chuck's excellent product. I plan to use his poly-bronze bearings in the future anyime the customer choses them.

[Tyson Schmidt]

Originally posted by jester911
Very nice Tyson, what would those run for us mere mortals?

I'm not sure, actually. I think they are $980 for everything, IIRC. Pelican carries them, so they should be in the catalog.

Sounds like a lot of money, but if you factor in the spring-plates, (which are included, and easier to adjust than stock units) and the reduction in labor hours to install, it looks very attractive. (not too hard on the eyes either!)

In all honesty, I installed them on my car more to represent Wevo, and wasn't expecting much, if any improvement over the Poly-bronze bearings. But I was pleasantly surprised.

[Dutchie]

Looks great Tyson ! those welds are a work of art the man who did those can be proud

[don911]

Tyson,
I couldn't find these on pelican. I have polybronze bushings in the garage ready to install. Your comment about zero maintenance and easier instl has me interested. Where can I get more info on these? I've never seen them on wevo website.

[Tyson Schmidt]

Originally posted by don911
Tyson,
I couldn't find these on pelican. I have polybronze bushings in the garage ready to install. Your comment about zero maintenance and easier instl has me interested. Where can I get more info on these? I've never seen them on wevo website.

If they aren't in Pelican's catalog, I know for certain that you can call them and order them. We do business with them all the time.

Sorry about the website. The new website is nearly done, and will have all the appropriate updates soon.



Hey Noah, the best way I can describe the upgrade is that with stiffer torsions and shocks, you still get all the roll control, anti-squat, quicker transition and stability benefits that those provide, with less of the ill side effects cause by the spikes in loading in the frictional surfaces, or the distortion of the rubber bushings.

It's just so smooth, that it's indescribeable. Ask anyone who's got them. I can't wait to try turn 8 at Willow Springs with these things on my car. No doubt the bumps in the middle of 8 will be much less unsettling to the car. Or turn 2 for that matter.

If you eliminate the spikes in tire loading, you increase the tire's grip, and improve the predictability of breakaway. Not to mention the improvement as it relates to the LSD and how it affects the attitude of the car like I mentioned before.

[rexav8r]

Tyson, you dirty RAT !!!!

That's fantastic !!! Nice write up too.

First, I was a bit surprised to see that you were using non-adjustable spring plates with the poly-bronze, before swapping over...

I just put Neatrix on mine last spring. (I've got non-adjustable plates too.) I wanted to go ER, but had to limit the budget somewhere as I pretty much did the entire rear suspension and part of the front.

How does the torsion bar fit in there "after the fact" ? I know that there are different number of splines between the inner and the outer end of the bar, but is there a different diameter too ? Or do the splines line up enough to slide it through ? Regardless, I know that's how you did it, and it seems to me that would be the PERFECT solution to design ! What you couldn't (or didn't want) to adjust out with the set screw you could easily re-index the bar without a complete dis-assembly, which is a pain !!

Is there then a retaining cap or plug that goes on to keep the bar in position and gunk out ?

That's AWESOME !

[Tyson Schmidt]

Richard, those are factory adjustable spring plates on my car in the before pic. Problem with those, is that they require special wrenches, and the car needs to be raised in the air to adjust them. And since they are an eccentric, there is no direct correlation between the adjuster movement and the height change.

With the adjuster screw style on the SPS, you can change the ride height in the future without losing the corner balance, so long as you move both set screws the identical amount.


Yes, the inner splines are smaller diameter, so the bar slides right in after the fact. What's nice about this is, you can change out your torsion bars at the track very quickly. Mine are hollow, so I was able to stick my finger in the hole and pull it back out. But even with solid bars, you simply push one side in, and that pushes the other side out. Then when you push the new one in on that side, the other one can be pushed out.


You're right about re-indexing to get the adjuster screw in a normal range. It's important not to have it set too far out once it's finally set, or it could lead to problems as the spring plate flexes during suspension movements.

[rexav8r]

Sorry, stupid mistake on the old spring plates.

Man, those with hollow bars is the way to go !! I didn't even think about the possibility of swapping out bars so easily !! Going from street to track would be pretty much a 5 minute task it seems. Once the bars were indexed anyway...

Is there some type of plug or pin that holds them in once installed ? I know people take pretty good precautions to keep the torsion bars (not to mention the tube) corrosion free.

[Tyson Schmidt]

Yes, there is a cotter pin on each end to keep them in. As long as you grease the splines, you'll be fine.

I think Elephant Racing has caps for the hollow torsion bars they sell. I got my bars from them.

[Don Plumley]

I see you are exercising the garage - you'll be ready for me on Wed?

I took care of the bad toe-in and lowered it about 1.5" to get it in the right neighborhood. She's waiting for your evil touch...

[Tyson Schmidt]

Originally posted by Don Plumley
I see you are exercising the garage - you'll be ready for me on Wed?

I took care of the bad toe-in and lowered it about 1.5" to get it in the right neighborhood. She's waiting for your evil touch...

Great to hear Don!

As you can see, I'm setting up the scales today. I'll definitely be ready by Wed. to set-up your 993.

You must be like a kid 3 days before X-mas, eh?

When you get here, I should have you drive my car and post your impressions here.

[Don Plumley]

Originally posted by Tyson Schmidt
When you get here, I should have you drive my car and post your impressions here.

I should probably bring some Depends!

[Tyson Schmidt]

Originally posted by Don Plumley
I should probably bring some Depends!

You scare yourself while driving?

[Jeff Alton]

Tyson, not sure I understand how less friction meant the ride height was raised. Should it not be the other way around? Would the friction not lead to an increase in spring rate of sorts (for lack of a better term)? It would seem to me that if you remove the friction you would see less resistance suspending the car and a lower ride height.

Cheers

[304065]

Well I now have the first item on my list of next seasons mods.

[Tyson Schmidt]

Originally posted by catca
Tyson, not sure I understand how less friction meant the ride height was raised. Should it not be the other way around? Would the friction not lead to an increase in spring rate of sorts (for lack of a better term)? It would seem to me that if you remove the friction you would see less resistance suspending the car and a lower ride height.

Cheers

That's what I would've thought too. But remember, the friction tends to keep it where it last was, so when the suspenion compresses, the torsions are working against gravity, the weight of the vehicle, and the stiction of the suspension to try to raise the car back up to ride height.

I set the spring plates .5 deg lower, and the car still seems higher than before.

I'll freely admit, it seems counter-intuitive at first.


Oh, and John C., you won't be sorry!

Hayden actually had to talk me into swapping from the Elephant pol-bronze to the Wevo SPS because I thought it would be a lot of work for nothing. But now I'm really glad I did it.

I was actually going to remove my 80% LSD and lower the pre-load on it because I didn't like the handling characteristecs, but now with the SPS, it feels just fine. i really wasn't expecting that one.

[Jeff Alton]

OK, that makes sense, thanks for the explanation!

Cheers