Ride height problem

[faraji13]

Just installed the Speedlines on my 78 911SC. Fronts fit great, fill out the wheelwells, all that good stuff. Rear right side however is scraping the fender. The car is running some pretty big spacers (came with the car) and the tires are 285's. Car was lowered by previous owner and I would like to raise the ride height a bit to stop scraping curbs and such. Do I need to replace the shocks, adjust the torsion bars, what?

[Zeke]

Did the SC in '78 already have the adjustable spring plates? Someone else will have to confirm. If so, you may have enough adjustment to make a small difference. As far as shocks go, you would need some very uncomfortably stiff shocks to limit travel that much. Better to get the tire/wheel package to work on the car. Would you consider 1/2 inch narrower spacers?

Whatever you do, it will probably need an alignment in the end. (How does one get into the torsion bars with that bodywork?)

[onboost]

I put a set of those Strosek rocker panels on a car for a guy awhile back.. we did a number of calculations and fitments with his Wheel/tire package before the permanent install. It is very tight in there to make the TB adjustment with that package.

If I recall, I think the 78 has the adjustable plate...just don't think it will provide enough clearance.

Not sure that it will help any, but what's your front valence clearance like? Judging from the space in the wheel wells it looks as though you could drop the front end a bit which may offset the rear a little.

[faraji13]

Am going to have to go with the smaller spacers anyway. Tires poke out at least half an inch from the fender so a pothole will be unpleasant. I still want to lift it at least a little though on the rear. I have about 3/4 of n inch wheelwell on the front, so dropping it might work, but I do want the front raised enough not to smash into inclined driveways all the time.

[chrisp]

A 17x9 with a short 275mm tire will just barely squeeze in there. By short I mean something right around 25" overall diameter. You also need a wheel with the ideal offset (~15mm from what I recall) or spacers to set it up correctly. With the above setup you'll need to grind the alignment bolts/nuts, rolls the fenders, and reposition the oil lines on the right side. I've not heard of a 285mm squeezing under there but every manufacturer is different so maybe yours can be made to work.

Some guys have successfully run 9.5's but that's really, really tight.

Most guys who run 18's are using a 265mm tire.

Also keep an eye out for rub inside the fender well. The clearance issue is a problem up inside the well. You can get it to clear the fender lip but once the suspension compresses it may rub about 3-4" up the fender. It bubbles the paint when it gets hot.

It sounds like you may have too much tire, too wide of a wheel, an incorrect offset (or spacers) or some combination of the three.

[chrisp]

If those are turbo flares disregard my post. I was referring to a normally fendered SC.

[faraji13]

Yeah, turbo fendered. It was fine with the Anteras which are a 50 offset (same exact tire) I prefer the Speedlines lookswise but if it's too much hassle, might just go back to the Anteras.