Lowering Front end Via Torsion Adjustment Bolts

[thejoyboy62]

Hello I'm new to the Porsche world. I have a 69 912. I am thinking about having the front lowererd 1 or 2". I'm told there are bolts on both the left and right side of the front end (tortion bars) that if loosened will lower the car a bit. My question is this BAD? UNTHINKABLE? OR do guys do it all the time? Other than the stiffer ride is there danger to the front end while driven maturely? And lastly will my Tires wear BAD?

Thanks for your input.

[HarryD]

This is a common improvement. Get a copy of Wayne's book 101 projects. It detail the procedure.

[craign]

This might be of help

http://www.hillmanimages.com/912/height.html

Craig

[snowman]

Be careful here for the following reasons:

1. The change affects the alignment
2. The change affects the weight balance
3. The rear must also be lowered and this is no cake walk to make changes there unless you buy adjustable rear spring plates.
4. The bump steer must be corrected by adding spacers to the steering rack.

This is a real tough job to do at home because the lack of tools. The main lack being a set of scales to set the corner balance. If the corner balance is off the thing will handle like a piece of crap, to put it mildly, and may even be so bad as to be very dangerous. You can't really trust the height settings to get this right, you can do ok but probably will still be in need of corner balancing.

That said, what you can do.

Set the rear first, get both sides to the exact same height that you want.

Buy some weltmeister spacers for the bump steer and install them.

Lower the front to match the change in the rear.

Have the car corner balanced using only the front adjusters, otherwise have the whole car corner balanced and let them adust all the heights to begin with, as they have to do it anyway. Borrow some scales and do this yourself, you could also buy them but at about $1000 up its hard to justify.

Have the car realigned. Note make sure to tell the alignment shop not to adjust the ride height at this point. YOu can do this yourself with a piece of string and a measuring tape if you are really in need of projects to do. There are some good books that tell how this is done.

[Duke]

If you lower more than 1 1/2" you will encounter problems with bump steer. I lowered my 69 1 1/4" last year with no handling problems, no bump steer kit needed. Your front measurement should be 1/2" higher than the rear at the fender lip. To make the rear easier, if you can afford the price, get a pair of Sway-Away adjustable rear plates. Makes the job a lot easier.

[thejoyboy62]

Thanks I dont think I will lower it More 1-1/4 to avoid complicating things.

[snowman]

I can guanrentee that if you lower the car 1 1/4 inches that you will fowl up the alignment. I Know, I have done it and I have seen the alignment changes.

The bump steer will not be objectionable, but it will not be good either. You will make a fine handling can somewhat less than fine.

If you lower the car you need to do the stuff needed to keep it a fine handling car. It will in fact handle even better, but only if you do what is needed.

[thejoyboy62]

Thanks Jack!

[Duke]

If my car handled any better I would be afraid to drive it.

[Touque]

thejoyboy62,

what's your starting point (i.e. wheel well height)? you've had some great answers here, but try for around 25.5 inches (or so) from floor to the bottom of the front wheel well, and about 25 inches to the back... the wheel-wells are different so this config will actually end up with a very slight nose-down orientation (even though the numbers say that it should be higher in the front)

Troy