Suspension Stuff

Marcone · 07-03-2007, 10:38 AM

So... got my alignment done in my driveway... a world of difference! ....

now im onto refurbishing my suspension on this car. Drives very tight and handles great...but i have a little bit of a "cadillac feel" at higher speeds going over lumps in the highways. I dont think the car should feel like a cozy marshmallow. Im used to hard suspensions.

Does anyone have a tip on what upgraded suspension setups work well... at a decent price range...

Im assuming i need to replace all my shocks... and as im in there .. ill probably be doing the springs, so.... lowering the car at the same time.

The kicker.... My car comes up as having a turbo chasis ... underneath the control arms are all 951.xxx.xxx.... no idea what to figure out on this thing.

HELP?

Icey1174 · 07-03-2007, 11:01 AM

Mine's the same way, I think it's the M30 Sport Suspension.

Marcone · 07-03-2007, 11:09 AM

OK.. cool... cuz i was told my car has the SP option

Secondly .. the car hangs to the passengers side. I loaded it up with about 3 bandmates and the gear for a show one night.. heard a few pops and then nothing ever again like that.. so im assuming the suspension popped that day....

and thirdly whats the deal with these things under the hood.. they dont look like normal shock tower mounts.... and im pretty sure they hit the hood ..cuz there is an outline of them on the liner that is falling appart hahaha

Pictures below... (never mind the hood bits.. the damn thign is falling everywhere... can i replace that foam stuff?

944 boy · 07-03-2007, 11:20 AM

Actually all the late aluminum a arms have 951 part numbers. I only have ever seen one with a 944 number. The sport otions refferred to shocks and sways. On the turbos they had different struts and spindles and brakes.

Koni yellows are a bit pricy but the best way to go. Those strut mounts are stock, albeit very worn. New they are somewhere aroud $400 each! You can backdate to the cheep early mounts but its not a good way. There are solid mounting plates ranging from $100 to $600 that are adjustable and get rid of all the strut motion. Go with the weltmeister lowering springs and make sure you have turbo spec sway bars and maybe new bushings all around. That should get the car to handle quite well for the least amount of money.

Icey1174 · 07-03-2007, 11:23 AM

They are your strut mount bearings. They prob do come close, if not touch the hood liner. No worries.

I don't know anything about "poping" suspension. Sounds like too much weight for a 944 though.

Stiffer springs should do the trick for you if all you want is a stiffer ride. There's all sorts of things and all sorts of money you can spend, stiffer springs is prob the cheapest way to get the stiffer ride.

I don't know how much you really want to lower it. The ball joints have a high rate of failure on lowered cars. I'm sure you can lower them to some point, I just don't know how low. When they get lowered the ball joint is in closer contact to the control arm.

Cool??? What happeend to Wicked???

Marcone · 07-03-2007, 11:26 AM

thanks for the info.. how do i find out what kinda shocks and sways i have as i need swaybar bushings cuz the leaking powersteering fluid ate the ones i have and they squeek and clunk now.... haha

the shocks are white with red writing on the rear..and the front.. well theyre all enclosed and black?

dunno....

i can take pics as i am bored as hell at work today.. haha

Icey1174 · 07-03-2007, 11:27 AM

The old mounts don't work for the 87 and 88 MY. The bearing and the mount are two different pieces, the insert didn't fit right, and you need a spacer for the older bearing/mounts that the 87 and 88 MY do not use. Many of us tried. Do you have personal experience that you might know some tricks we couldn't figure out?

+1 on the suspension set up 944 boy. Try a set on monoball strut mounts/bearings from paragon. I paid $200 with shipping for a pair as opposed to the $800+ for a pair of OEM.

Marcone · 07-03-2007, 11:27 AM

HAHAH.. you posted as i was posting... weird...anyways.. ya.. cool is the word of hte day... wicked was when i was out in the driveway.. haha.. im workign at the moment....

Icey1174 · 07-03-2007, 11:29 AM

The bushings should have the number stamped right on them. That's the BEST way because so many people changed these sway bars over the years of ownership of the car.

Icey1174 · 07-03-2007, 11:31 AM

COOL... try to read the part number off the bushing. They have many different size sway bars. I have the number for the front struts here somewhere. They are EXPENSIVE! Only for 87 and 88 MY have the expensive ones. It's a little different setup. The other model years will not fit on your car either.

Marcone · 07-03-2007, 11:53 AM

Cool... Ill try to find the bushing piece and read the number... as it is dangling its remains across the sway bar ... haha...

heres a pic of the shocks i have in the back and one pic of the front.. two q's ....

is the bolt supposed to be out that far(at the bottom) and are these original... and where do they mount to... do i get at it inside the car?

(sorry that was 3 q's)

(the pics will be in the next post.. windows exploder sucks.. gonna go use my mac....

Icey1174 · 07-03-2007, 12:00 PM

Read the part number off the good bushing on the other side.

It's stamped right on the side so you do not have to take it off to read it. Just depends on which side the PO put it on. I put mine on the outside like a good owner would.

Marcone · 07-03-2007, 12:04 PM

Pictures

IM not sure if anything is original or not.. cuz the P.O was a douchebag... and didnt care for the car and was CHEAP as hell..

anyways... im done venting...

OH>. and what does "87 and 88 MY" mean? MY? i dont get it.. im sure ill be kicking my self once you tell me tho...haha

Cool? LOL

Icey1174 · 07-03-2007, 12:07 PM

MY Model Year, sorry. Front looks original, not real sure about the back. I haven't had to do any work in the back of my car yet. That screw does look like it is out too far. Maybe someone else will jump in and help with that one.

944 boy · 07-03-2007, 12:12 PM

MY i think is "model year" I keep thinking its midyear, but then again im slow sometimes. Well Paragon at one point did sell an adaptor kit for the early mounts to fit the late cars, my guess is that no one bought them or something diddnt work right. THey have non adjustable plates for $200. The shocks are KYB and ok for street driving. The fronts are origional. Sachs/Boge. To do a koni conversion you have to cut apart the old strut and pull out the guts to use the new insert. Its not that hard but takes patience.

The clunks can be lower ball joint, sway bar, strut mount, inner tierod, loose adjustment bolts, and so on. THe search is never ending.

Marcone · 07-03-2007, 12:19 PM

Thanks.. ill look into them... the clunks are not always there..the whole suspension stuff.. (ball joints tie rods ends etc...) are fine.. the swaybar mounts are the clunk at the moment..

the clunk i was talking about sounded like the rear shocks popped through the car... lol.... could that have happened... it only ever clunked once tho....

So basically im into the tops of the fronts.. tops of the rears?... inserts on the front... rear shocks (any type in particular?)
and new springs....

Porsche-O-Phile · Porsche-O-Phile's Garage

The "best" (from a performance standpoint) suspension setup is probably full coil-overs with t-bar delete, lowering, strengthened sways and upgraded bushings. A "good" setup like this will easily run $3,000 or $4,000 - parts alone.

Marcone · 07-03-2007, 01:13 PM

Ok.... that sounds like what i want... but... thats a lot more than i want to spend.. haha... im looking for something to refresh the car... cuz it feels 20 years old... but i dont want to go VERY cheap... so mid way?

1.5g's? possibly? ive read people getting teh setup done at that price range... but im not terribly sure what they got...

944 boy · 07-03-2007, 02:12 PM

Tires are most of the 1.5g's. My setup is the 944 spec setup. Koni Yellows, Welt. 28mm front sway, 22mm rear sway, PRHK kit with 375lb hypercoils, camber plates, 30mm rear t-bars, lowered 2" with a race alignment. stock bushings are ok but delrin/poly are better. That setup is around $2500 new. I sourced most the parts used over a number of years. This is of course on Toyo RA-1s at $650 a set. Even new stock parts will make a tired car feel good.

Marcone · 07-03-2007, 02:30 PM

I've just gotten new tires like 5000 kilometres ago. im fine in that department...

Now these stock/delrin/poly bushings you mention... what bushings are you referring to ...

what are the t-bars as well....

sorry for the stupid q's... my first suspension on this type of car... the beemer was sooo much simpler than this baby.... these are soo precise!! love it tho!