Torsion Bar Advice

rsa · 11-01-2006, 07:00 AM

In an effort to spend all my kids college funds I need your help.

Little history. Last year I rebuilt the rear suspension and upgraded to 29's. At that time I planned the car to be street/DE and ugrade the front suspension this year with 22's.

Anyway, now that I have caught the DE bug, I must upgrade the front bars to match the rears. 77 911S now mostly DE and very little street.

What is the downside tohandling if I go with 23's so I can upgrade the rears in the future to 30's or higher?

Thanks

charleskieffner · 11-01-2006, 07:15 AM

your kids will be self taught by you sitting in a very expensive space challenged 911 taking college classes! just like mine!

there is no down side to suspension goodies except of course the bucks. as its been stated here over and over, p-cars have more than enough horsepower for most of us and handle damn well w/no modifications more than most drive them. but as you, i have a problem also w/track time and cant get enough! but after doing torsions/spring plates,turbo ties,bushings,hollow adj.sway bars,wheels,tires,weight reductions.....................it handles like a "FREEKING SLOT CAR". and its fun!

Wil Ferch · 11-01-2006, 07:30 AM

normal convention has been to go 22/28 pairing....with a later trend to "up" the rear-end sizes. So....we're seeing 22/29 and 22/30 with relatively "no issue".

If you have 22's in the front, I wouldn't be afraid of going 30's in the back from 29's.

I posted an equivalent "wheel rate" chart here some time ago if you care to search, but this should be OK, as-is. You can always fine tune roll response with adjustable ( or upgraded) anti-roll bars.

23/29 would induce a bit more understeer.....

- Wil

charleskieffner · 11-01-2006, 07:34 AM

now you have seat of the pants scientific evidnce. and wil ferches totally scientific approach! what more can you ask for before spending more bucks! only here on pelican!

pelican should probably be blamed for the present state of our kids educations! not the dems or republicans! LOL!

Wil Ferch · 11-01-2006, 07:38 AM

as I said before, Chuck...you're quite a character.....

- Wil

rsa · 11-01-2006, 08:33 AM

Off to beauty school they go. Thanks Scott

charleskieffner · 11-01-2006, 08:48 AM

got mine outside here at airport scrapping paint..............10 minutes ago older one stated, "if you pay for classes next semester, i'll go to school". had to turn around and walk away before i busted a gut laughing!

petevb · 11-01-2006, 09:40 AM

FYI, I've got a pair of hollow 31mm rear bars I'd trade for your 29mm bars (assuming they are hollow too) if you wanted to do it all at once...

rsa · 11-01-2006, 10:24 AM

Sorry they are solid.

don911 · don911's Garage

I recently changed from 22/28 combo to 22/30 in my 87. It's a great combo in my opinion. However, it's hard to compare. Even with all the lightening I've done, my G50 and 3.2L make the ars end heavier on mine.
My opinion, you'd be fine sticking with the 29s you already have but it depends on how you want the car to handle.

jaydubya · 11-01-2006, 12:02 PM

23/29 will give you lots of understeer so you'll need to run a metric buttload of rear swaybar to keep the car neutral. This can be very hard on the stock swaybar mounts...

Depending on where you are taking this car, eventually you want to go to 23/31 or 23/33 for heavy track use.

I've had 22/29 on my car for about 10 years. They have been fine and give the car a decent balance. However as I have pushed the car harder and harder, it's become clear that I need more spring rate. I'm in the process of upgrading to 23/33. Not sure I would want those rates for the street though.

If this is a dual purpose car, consider getting a 22 mm front and leaving the rear at 29 (or upgrade to 30). You really can't get too much rear spring rate on our cars with torsion bars. Otherwise, go big.

Don't forget to get matched shocks.