Has anyone tried these Ground Control Perches?

http://www.ground-control.com/index.htm

I have a set of Koni shocks on my car now. Do I just take my old springs off and place this threaded sleeve over them and wham I've got budget coilovers?

Seems like a good deal to me. Any opinions?

[URY914]

You have to be careful of which Konis you have. The diameter of the shock body is different on Konis that are used on 914's. One size does not fit all. Measure your shocks and call to verify thier collars and springs fit.
Check twice and buy once.

[neilca]

Shawn,
There is nothing wrong with the torsion bar suspension. An argument could be made that it is better than the coilover. The biggest benefit I see for the coilover is you can get different spring rates cheaper and easier. If you want to play with spring rates the coilovers work very well.

As for the adjustable camber plates you would have to do some cutting and welding to install these. The perches on the 914 are curved the adjustable chamber plates are flat. These are particularly good when you are running race radials that require a lot of negative chamber or you have modified the struts to do something different like lowering the car to very low levels.

Hope this helps,
neil

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

If you go with coil springs on the front, the upper strut mounting area must be reinforced, or the struts will quickly tear out of the body. The front suspension is designed so that most of the weight is supported by the floorpan, with relatively little loading being passed on to the wheel well. A coil-spring setup will place all the weight of the car on the top of the wheel wells. It may work for a while...

The rears can be converted to threaded-adjustable spring perches, if you have Koni or Bilstein rear shocks. The easiest way is to buy the kit from Pelican. It may be possible to do the conversion using parts from Ground Control or elsewhere, but you will have to do a lot of measuring to be able to order stuff that fits.

--DD

There seem to be many experienced and knowledgable people tracking these cars with torsion bars. I'm not questioning the front setup. But it does seem that I would have so much more control on the rears with a coilover setup.

I don't know anything about setting up a car for the track and my intentions aren't to race the car at SCCA unless it's just for fun. I would probably buy them more for the tunability (sp?). By that I mean that I could easily set the car at the exact height and stance that I want for the car. However, if I buy a set of 180# springs then like or it lump it that's where the rear is going to sit.

On the other hand, I want the car to drive well and handle with the best of 914s. So what pressure spring to use?

DD- What "kit" does pelican offer? I didn't see it listed under suspension components. Is it a coilover kit or only springs and shock absorbers?

Thanks for the replies!

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Huh, they're not in the catalog.... That's a bit funny.

Weltmeister makes a kit that mounts threaded-collar-adjustable lower spring perches on Koni or Bilstein rear struts. The kit has the lower spring perch, the upper spring perch, and the threaded collar. (Also the plugs that keep the perch from turning any more on the collar and the hex key for that plug.)

These require springs with a different coil diameter than standard 914 springs, so you can't use your old springs. (Kinda sucks, but that's the way they make 'em.)

I got a set from Pelican several years back. I assume that they are still available, but that might be a bad assumption. I suggest calling the sales department at 888/280-7799 and asking. (I'm not sure if they'll get "coil-over kit" or not; you may have to ask for the threaded adjustable spring perch kit.) It sounds like demand hasn't been that high, so they may have to look for a bit to find the Weltmeister part reference to give you a quote.

Remember that the Bilstein and at least the "sport" Koni shocks (not sure about the other Konis) have three-position spring perch adjustment already, just by moving a C-clip. Plus you use standard-sized 914 springs.

--DD

[dman]

I have to agree with Dave. My boss purchased a set of Koni adjustable shocks & rear coilovers with adjustable perches for my 914 from ground control. (Great boss!) Fortunately I live close to them because some of the parts were not correct. I had to go there and explain to them how the parts needed to fit. I think they cater to riceburners.

[CHA914]

The race shop that is close by was putting those on a vw corrado, and they were not impressed with the design of the plates...not to mention all the measuring, cutting, welding and fabing that went in to making them work on the car...

I would not try it unless you are wanting to do some racing and have access to a welder and a machine shop...

Good luck,

Tony