Need Help Lowering 911SC

[HDBrown]

I studied the easy to follow directions in Wayne's 101 Projects for lowering a 911. Mine is an '81 so I have the adjustable eccentric bolt on the spring plate in the rear. The car is level, just on blocks to facilitate working on it.

But when I got into it I ran into two problems:

1. The front appears to be lowered all the way down (see attached pic). I can raise it higher by rotating the 11mm adjustment bolt clockwise,
but can not get it to go any lower. In fact. It ended up higher than when I started!
I tried to push up and down on the bumper to get it to settle and had a driver in the car while adjusting.

2. What size wrench or tool do I use on the backside of the 2nd bolt from the front on the spring plate
- the one that adjustst the height after I loosen the front bolt?

Thanks!

[Danny_Ocean]

FWIW...you need to drive the car a little while for the suspension to "settle" before you stand back and look.

[Joe Bob]

Drive it to settle the suspension. Be advised that adjusting the front or rear ride height will change the alignment specs.

Lowering the rear further than the limited adjustment of the eccentric bolt requires re-indexing the torsion bars. A lot of posters have replaced the spring plate with aftermarket ones with a wider range of adjustment as well as the bushings. Most likely THOSE are original and are in need of replacement.....

AND while some are in there, they take the opportunity to install larger t-bars....it's a wiggley can of worms you can open up......good luck.

[tonythetarga]

+1 what Mike says.
For the fronts, you have to get both wheels off the ground and on jack stands. Remove the adjuster nut completely, remove the torsion bar end cap and readjust so you have more lowering ability. Start high which allows you to back the threads on the adjuster to lower. Thats much easier than trying to raise the weight of the car by tightening the adjuster.

The rears are completely different and much more difficult as the spring plate has to be removed from the trailing arm and the torsion bars pulled and reindexed. You should search this and read up. get yourself an angle reader and set the height according to your car weight and Euro ride height. Search Wil Ferch's name and the spring plate angle calculator on this board. You'll get a Rennlist link, plug in your numbers and find the angle.
You should replace the bushings while you have things out.
This is not an afternoon job the first time around.

[Jeff Higgins]

Your photo of the front torsion bar adjuster bolt shows it cranked all the way up, not down. The more tension you put on the torsion bar by rotating the ear on the adjuster upwards, the higher the front of the car will ride. You have it set to ride as high as it will go in your photo.

[HDBrown]

Thanks to all for your input. I've researched removing torsion bars etc and am not ready to do that yet. I wanted to see how low I could go by just adjusting the index/ eccentric bolt first. Understand I should get an alignment and do bump steer kit when done.

Jeff says that it is as high as it will go, but it is as low as it will go. If I rotate the front index bolt counter clockwise (loosen) it will continue to back out, but the "ear" will fixed against the top of the housing. If I rotate the index bolt clockwise (tighten), the "ear" will rotate counter-clockwise (down) and the front ride height will go up. If I understand Tony correctly, the "ears" come off and I can reposition them to get more downward adjustment?

Does anyone know what size the #2 eccentric bolt is on the swingarm? The nut is 24mm, but the bolt is larger than 30mm.

H.

[Dixie]

The front.
The front is easy. One (or a combination of the following) will do the trick. Turn the set screws, remove the donuts from on top the struts, re-index the bars a spline.

The rear:
The rear is more a PITA. Porsche built the car so the ride height can be raised, not lowered. (The idea being the car would settle with time.) You'll need to pull the spring plate, re-index them to a mid point, then calculate the desired spring plate angle, and reassemble everything.

Also be sure to factor in the following related items:
* Parts you'll discover are shot.
* Parts that you break.
* Tools you'll need to buy.
* Corner balance and alignment.

[dbrisson]

Your right, it wont get any lower unless you reindex. Backing the bolt out goes lower.

When I did mine I reindexed both sides so they are the same. Just jack up the front remove the adj bolt and it will slide right off. Then put it a 1-3 notches down and try again. I wanted my adj as close to the middle when I was done.

Also I would measure when the car was first released off the jack and then back it out of the garage and back in again and then measure.

I did get an alignment shortly there after since I did the rear to and was sure I messed up the camber.

[dbrisson]

.

[tonythetarga]

Originally posted by HDBrown

Does anyone know what size the #2 eccentric bolt is on the swingarm? The nut is 24mm, but the bolt is larger than 30mm.

H.

They both should have a 12mm allen head. If you plan to make any changes to the rear spring plate, use a pencil or other marker and score the trailing arm inside the spring plate and also mark the eccentric bolt position. (use an arrow to indicate which side is up or down so when you re-assemble you want things back in the same position.
Your corner weights and toe/camber will be all messed up afterwards which is why you need that done. (after your ride height re-indexing is done)

[slow&rusty]

Please do a search under my username "slow&rusty" I was here last spring and removed my T-bars and re-indexed them and have a few posts with details on them, that will be handy for you. Once you get into it, its not bad....but the fronts are so easy, the rears are compartively more of a pain.

Definitely corner balnce and re-align when done.



Yasin

[Gunter]

Hank:
Stop what you're doing and study some more.
You're opening a whole can of worms here.
First decide what hight you want?
25" front and 24.5 rear is a good setting if you install the bump-steer kit on the front rack.
If you go lower, you'll have issues with handling/performance.
Then decide what alignment you want.
Camber front 3/4 deg. and rear 1 deg., Toe-in front 1/16" and rear 0 is a mild setting for the road.
Unless you fully understand the principle of the 40/44 splines on the rear T-bars, do not attempt re-indexing.
The rear is a beach.
Read and study some more.