1984 Coupe Sunroof Issue and Suspension Question

[Nathans_Dad]

Hey all, need a little advice.

First off, I took the car out for a spin today, retracted the sunroof before I left, no issues. When I returned and tried to close the roof, the roof comes about halfway closed, then seems to bind and a clicking/grinding noise is heard. The roof can retract back fine, then same thing happens again about halfway closed. I was able to get the roof closed for now by pushing forward on the roof by hand while engaging the motor. The left side of the roof lip seemed to be a little askew, just slightly behind the right. I also noticed a very sticky film that was now all over sunroof headliner. Perhaps old grease or something?? I cleaned off the sticky gunk and the roof is now closed. Any ideas on this? I do have paperwork that the cables were replaced by a shop about 15 years ago, before I owned the car. I don't know if the motor was ever replaced.

Second question, I am going to be refreshing the suspension on this car as well in the fall/winter. I was looking at Elephant Racing's site and noticed their packages have changed. It looks like they now offer an adjustable spring plate. Is this worth installing or can I just have my original spring plate blasted and replated? I am looking at the sport resto package 1 I think, the car is almost 100% a street car, I might be interested in DE at some point but I want to preserve ride quality and have heard the polybronze bushings can be a little more harsh. Lastly, I think the coilover packages are out of my budget but I was just curious whether a coilover conversion would negatively affect the value of an otherwise stock car. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance, this board is an amazing resource!

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by Nathans_Dad

Hey all, need a little advice.

First off, I took the car out for a spin today, retracted the sunroof before I left, no issues. When I returned and tried to close the roof, the roof comes about halfway closed, then seems to bind and a clicking/grinding noise is heard. The roof can retract back fine, then same thing happens again about halfway closed. I was able to get the roof closed for now by pushing forward on the roof by hand while engaging the motor. The left side of the roof lip seemed to be a little askew, just slightly behind the right. I also noticed a very sticky film that was now all over sunroof headliner. Perhaps old grease or something?? I cleaned off the sticky gunk and the roof is now closed. Any ideas on this? I do have paperwork that the cables were replaced by a shop about 15 years ago, before I owned the car. I don't know if the motor was ever replaced.

Second question, I am going to be refreshing the suspension on this car as well in the fall/winter. I was looking at Elephant Racing's site and noticed their packages have changed. It looks like they now offer an adjustable spring plate. Is this worth installing or can I just have my original spring plate blasted and replated? I am looking at the sport resto package 1 I think, the car is almost 100% a street car, I might be interested in DE at some point but I want to preserve ride quality and have heard the polybronze bushings can be a little more harsh. Lastly, I think the coilover packages are out of my budget but I was just curious whether a coilover conversion would negatively affect the value of an otherwise stock car. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance, this board is an amazing resource!

'84 911 comes w/ adjustable spring plates stock, the quick change ones Elephant offers just do the adjustment in a slightly different way. I wouldn't bother w/ them.

If you really want to change them for some reason the Rennline ones have stiffer sport rubber bushes and nice witness marks, adjust the same as stock.

For ocasional DE there's really no reason to go beyond the Sport Restoration 1 package.

[Trackrash]

I can't find Sport Restoration 1 package on Elephant's site, maybe you have a link?

I can't comment, specifically, not knowing what that contains.

However, new rubber bushings and Bilstein shocks will probably be the basis of what you want. Perhaps larger torsion bars or sways as well.

Poly bronze will only be worthwhile on a track oriented car with a stiff suspension and sticky tires. Coil overs are only for hard core track cars, as their advantage is they can be WAY stiffer than any torsion bars.

[Nathans_Dad]

Here is the list of what I am looking at from Elephant Racing:

Front:
Front Bilstein HD Shocks & Inserts
Plated & Plugged Hollow Torsion Bars 21 mm
Front Sway Bar Bushings - rubber
Strut Top Camber Plate Bushings - rubber
Replace Stock Ball Joints
Ball Joint Hardware Kit
Control Arm Rubber Bushing Kit
Steering Rack Spacer Bump Steer Kit
Turbo Tie Rod Kit

Rear:
Rear Bilstein HD Shocks & Inserts
Spring Plate Hardware Kit
Spring Plate Rubber Bushing Kit
Rear Plated & Plugged Hollow Torsion Bars 28mm
Rear Sway Bar Bushings - rubber
Trailing Arm Bushings - rubber

Hope that helps!

[Trackrash]

Looks good to me. My only comment, is the hollow bars may not be worth the weight saving compared to the extra cost.

Again it looks like a solid plan. Only thing to add would be to have the shocks valved to match your torsions and cars weight.

[tirwin]

I agree with Gordon. If you already have Bilsteins then talk to Chuck at Elephant about revalving your existing ones. It’s cheaper than buying new ones.

21/28 is a nice setup.