Another 911 lowering question
 

I'm in the process of lowering the rear suspension in my 1987 Carrera. The torsion bars are stock and I recently installed Bilstein HDs all around. I'm trying to get the back to Euro height - approximately 25" at the fender lip.

Here is the question. In order to achieve 25" on both sides, the right side swing plate has a slightly more shallow angle than the left side. Is this a problem? I have the ride height adjustment bolts set to center on both sides. Are the droop angles supposed to be the same on both sides? When the droop angles are set the same on both sides, the right side is about 3/4" higher than the left. Is the left torsion bar shot?

It may not matter but the fronts are about 25 1/2" on both sides.

Randy

I had this very same problem a few weeks ago and could not find any reson for it but, it was obvious at least one torsion bar was previously removed in the past. Finally just decided to change each droop angle the same increment. Came out perfectly the first try.

So when you were done the car was level but the spring plates were set to different angles, right?

Randy

Randy,
Depending on how recently you installed you shocks you might want to wait a bit. After installing my HDs the car was raised about 1/2" from previous. Within about 4 weeks it settled somewhat.

Ulrich

Here is what I remember:
The two-piece torsion plate is set so that the smaller plate is centered on the larger plate by the eccentric height-adjusting bolt. By centering it, you can go up or down later during corner balance. Tighten both bolts.
Now index the T-bar for the desired height on a level surface.
The final setting is determined by the corner balancing and the eccentric bolt is used to finallize height and weight.
Without corner balance, the fender-lip-height means very little.

Randy,
You want it exact, really exactly right?
Once you mess with the height adjustment, front or rear, to get things back to exactly as they should be you need scales to reset the corner balance.
Most of us don't have scales. So we take the car to someone with the equipment to properly set the corners.
Now there is no reason you can't adjust the rear heights to get back to the rear euro heights as measured with a tape.
Just don't worry over the relative position of the adjustments.
Might not be a bad idea to have the car checked by profesionals with the proper equipment.
You'll be surprised how far from correct a 24 year old can be.
Setting with a tape may look ok, but the corner weights will not be optimum.
It takes the proper equipment and trained people to get this right.

Thanks for all of the advice. I plan on having the car aligned and corner balanced by a professional shop here in Las Vegas. I just wanted to have the initial settings close so I can drive it to the shop. In all honesty, I also didn't want the mechanic laughing at me for having the suspension completely screwed up when I brought it in. ;)

Now all I need are new sway bars, strut tower brace, new torsion bars, polly bronze bushings, roll cage, safety harness, racing seats, and driving talent. All in good time....

Randy

One of these days I'll figure out how to corner balance with out the high priced equipment.
There must be a cheap load cell kind of device that could be used.
Hey, welcome to the fun,