Lowering 1977 911 Economically

[Tarek307]

Hello everyone i have a 1977 911 it has a 3.0SC engine and a 964 kit lol..yes i know..anyways i want to lower the car- I dont want to spend thousands on a coil over system, i've lowered 996 & 997 with simple $200 springs before but seems like that doesn't work on these cars- Any economical non bank breaking way to lower the car? My car appears to have Bilstein shocks on it- here is a pic of how it sits now and of the front 2 sides and i'm adding a pic of how low i'd like it to be

How it sits now- sorry for image darkness, but it sits really high


Front suspension


How i would like it to sit

[mickey356]

Yareli,
It's waaaaayyyyy different. The front is fairly simple, two bolts to adjust height. The rear...that's a different story altogether. Not sure when adjustable spring plates came on so you may have them on yours...you'll need a very thin wrench to get to them.
However, depending on how low you want to drop it it's likely you'll have to reindex the rear spring plates, and possibly the front. There are numerous threads on the subject. Try searching "lowering ride height. It's not expensive if you do it yourself. It is if you have a shop do it, and if you can't do it yourself, I suggest going to a shop that knows what they're doing.

[Tarek307]

Originally Posted by mickey356

Yareli,
It's waaaaayyyyy different. The front is fairly simple, two bolts to adjust height. The rear...that's a different story altogether. Not sure when adjustable spring plates came on so you may have them on yours...you'll need a very thin wrench to get to them.
However, depending on how low you want to drop it it's likely you'll have to reindex the rear spring plates, and possibly the front. There are numerous threads on the subject. Try searching "lowering ride height. It's not expensive if you do it yourself. It is if you have a shop do it, and if you can't do it yourself, I suggest going to a shop that knows what they're doing.

Thanks, did a lot of searching first, and most are people who did coil overs and most are on SC not a 77.

[ppetion]

I did this last week on my 70, not hard at all. Just a few hours of you're time . The only cost is that you may need alignment after. I did it by removing the 4 bolts holding the spring plates to the trailing arm and 4 to the torsion bar. You don't have to move it much. One notch got me from where you are to where you want it.



After



Lots of YouTube videos showing how to do it.

[ppetion]

Before

[Flojo]

dropping 2 to 3 cm ist no done quickly by winding the screws front and rear.

you will find out that a) you will have to reset the torsion bars following a logical rule of counter angles (see pic) and b) you will need an alignment for sure!!

torsion bar has: innerside 40 tooth, exterior 44 tooth
the angle difference makes the gap lowering or lifting, whichever way you counter turn them



btw: you have a problem of a leaking axle bearing.
this can foul your rear right brake (oily disc)

[Driven97]

If there was only a site we could go to with detailed instructions on how to accomplish common projects on 911s...

Lowering the Porsche 911 | 911 (1965-89) - 930 Turbo (1975-89) | Pelican Parts DIY Maintenance Article

[Tarek307]

Originally Posted by Driven97

If there was only a site we could go to with detailed instructions on how to accomplish common projects on 911s...

Lowering the Porsche 911 | 911 (1965-89) - 930 Turbo (1975-89) | Pelican Parts DIY Maintenance Article

I already saw that genuis- i'm getting peoples take on it- thats what a forum is for- its not like i'm asking "hey where is my oil fill" without searching!

[Trackrash]

It is totally doable as a DIY project, assuming you have the tools and general mechanical knowledge. The first time I did mine there were problems like stuck torsion bars and worn bushings.

My recommendation would be to look at the whole suspension as a project before beginning. Bushings, torsion bars, shocks, and any upgrades you may be considering.

I would HIGHLY recommend purchasing the adjustable spring plates that the SCs and Carreras had before beginning.

Getting the rear torsion bars indexed perfectly on the first try is most likely not going to happen. It is very frustrating to disassemble the rear suspension, re-index the torsions, re-assemble the rear suspension only to find out the it is 3/4 inch lower than what you want. Then you have to start over. AHIK.

The biggest issue will be getting it re- aligned after you are done.

[seafeye]

Originally Posted by Tarek307

I already saw that genuis- i'm getting peoples take on it- thats what a forum is for- its not like i'm asking "hey where is my oil fill" without searching!

Calm down. This isn't the off topic forum. Everyone is here to help. To a certain degree. If you read the DIY you would have realized that you didn't need coil overs to lower the car. You want cheap? Use the two from bolts. And the rear? Use the two bolts there as well. Want to lower it even more after that? It's going to take a bit more work. Perhaps a weekend worth. But very doable to the home mechanic.

[Tarek307]

Thanks for the replies guys, i am not a DIY type of guy at all - sadly...specially with owning this car

[Cairo94507]

I tend to agree with Trackrash - This is likely to be a slippery slope once your start taking things apart. Plan for needing to replace most of the parts related to your suspension geometry and have them available before you begin. Take the time to clean and lube as needed everything nicely and when it is done you will be very pleased.

[1979-930]

It's a 77. You could lower it now. But it's ready for all new bushings. Just don't get sucked into the cool looking billet stuff. Put sport rubber bushings in it and be done. Elephant has great bushings, good instructions and good DIY videos on their YouTube channel. You can do this.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[douglas bray]

Shop opens in about 5 minutes. We could have your car lowered and aligned before lunch.

The coil packs and plugs on the Sienna we're done before 10:00 last night so I am looking for the next fun project. Call me. Shop is all yours.-Amber

[DanielDudley]

I doubt you will get a better offer than that. ^^^^

Doug is a pretty good guy, and his ''shop'' is his garage.

[Tarek307]

Dougie Fresh thanks so much- see you next week!

[Elombard]

I think the problem you will have is the wheels are way to big. I dont think you will be able to go much lower.

[Tarek307]

Originally Posted by Elombard

I think the problem you will have is the wheels are way to big. I dont think you will be able to go much lower.

impossible, there is tons of room, the wheels are 17 and i'd say there is 4-5'" i'd ideally like it pretty low, i lower all my cars (like a gentleman not ghetto) even my Dog is lowered..i have a sausage dog lol..here is a pic of how low my 997S is..but thats kind of too low for california roads , i've broken the lip several times

[chrismorse]

Tracktrash had it right.
Get a set of adjustable spring plates from an 85 & up so that the rear height adjustment can be fine tuned, (Corner Weighted) before the alignment.

Do not go so low that the car is riding one the bump stops or has almost no suspension travel, or you are going to have three big problems and possibly two small ones:
1) Grinding the front end, exhaust and undercarriage on the pavement.
2) Rough, harsh ride, bottoming out
3) Poor handling because of high spring rates as the suspension sits on the bump rubbers and because the camber and toe curves are going to be operating outside their design range.
4) Possible tire to fender contact tearing up the tires and/or damaging the fenders/paint.
5) If you go to low, you may find that the car will not have enough adjustment range to get the camber back into tolerable specs.

Loosing the car's superb handling and ride just for "wow looks" is a pitiful trade off.

It may make a tranny tumescent but it will turn the car into parked curb "art".

Euro Design height is the good starting height.

end rant

[Elombard]

I think 77 had the rear adjustable spring plates. For sure the 78 and up d0