Rear ride height adjustment Question

[Griffinroydonal]

I need to know if there is any way to adjust the rear ride height adjustment in an 86-944. I need to raise the rear of the car 1 to 2 inches and don'r know if this is adjustable. I bought a set of rims that were off an 83 911 SC with hopes of putting them on my 944 and thought all was well with the car on jack stands but when I let the car down the rear wheel wells touch the tires and only need a couple of inches to clear. The front rims fit ok and while the clearance it tight it will work. Look at the pictures and let me know what you think.

picture one is passenger side rear with stock ride height. This is 1'' higher than drivers.

picture two is drivers side rear with stock ride height. Notice 1'' lower than passenger.

picture three is ride height + 2'' with a floor jack. I can live with this if is will not rub. How can I make this work ??

[jonvo]

The rear ride height is adjustable, but you can't move it that much. Here is a diagram.

http://www.924.org/techsection/techpics/suspensionadjustrear.gif

The only way to get a couple of inches would be to reindex the torsion bars.

[kmakovac]

you can reindex the rear torsion bars but i dont'know if is a good idea because of weith distribution and front castor angle may change

Torsion Bars - Removing, Replacing, and Indexing

[wild man]

Like said previously, it is adjustable, but what do you expect will happen on the off-chance that the following scenario would occur:

You hit a bump.

[racer]

I don't know the looks the kids like these days.. but even raised up 1-2".. depending how soft the rear shocks and torsion bars are, you could still bottom out and rip your fender/tire to shreds. Why not get wheels that actually fit?

[JivenJim]

I think those 911 ET are ~65 vis 52.4 on 944's thus the 12.6 mm or about 1/2 inch difference toward the outside. IE rub.

You can look up rolling the Fender with a baseball bat or other tools to clear the 10 oclock to 2 area. Will not affect outside look if done correctly. Will show bumps on fends if not done correctly.

Rims look sweet.

It should be OK after that.

[Griffinroydonal]

My main concern is that both sides do not sit at the same height. I will get the car into the shop and take the measurements as outlined in the instructions. I will re-index the torsion bars one spline and adjust the cams to match. There was No history for this car when purchased and I have corrected several issues . As for what kids like these days , At 47 I am not sure. You might not like one of my other projects either. The main thing is everyone has different taste .

[Rasta Monsta]

Reindexing the t-bars one spline will raise the car several inches. Study the information on Clarks, it explains it all with math and other stuff.

[931GT]

Have you considered some aggressive negative camber? This with some fender rolling might do the trick. It'd look better also.

[Griffinroydonal]

The fit is very close and I will attempt this asap but we got 6'' of snow last night and temp is in the low 20's today. I wish spring would hurry up and get here. The East Coast is having a hard time this weekend. I want the height to be level on both sides as I suspect the torsion bars and not in the same splines with the drivers side being at least 1'' lower than the passengers. Once they are level I can raise equal amounts to clear tires.

[Cocacolakidd]

The rims are not here for inspection so the question is: Is there enough metal on the back side of the rims at mounting flanges to machine off enough metal to make the offset closer to the 944's offset - this simple machining is probably not as expensive as other methods to make the rims fit - if possible??? There again the lug nut bosses may be to deep for this process - just an idea...

You may wind up spending more than the rims cost to make them fit

[Dave L]

this over all its a bad idea and I doubt it will turn out well. The 944 is fairly softly sprung and you will get a lot of squat when accelerating and the wheels are going to rub, when you hit bumps you are also going to rub. Its a fairly common mod to lower the rear so that the car is level. The rear was raised by porsche so it would meet the US's rear bumber hight laws. When the factory raised the rear it put more weight on the front and caused the car to understeer, jacking it up even more is only going to make it worse.

If that isnt enough the labor alone to reindex the torsion bars is 9 hours. Just how much do you like those god awful wheels?

[Griffinroydonal]

I as an open minded person do hear and understand the different views about the rims and the fitments. I will look at other rim options that are a lower offset and just put these back on my 911. I will still need to correct the difference in the height between right and left side so the rims were not the only problem but drew attention to the other problems. I do like Chrome rims very much and have been faced with very few choices for the Porsche lug pattern.

[ernie9944]

Originally Posted by Griffinroydonal

I as an open minded person do hear and understand the different views about the rims and the fitments. I will look at other rim options that are a lower offset and just put these back on my 911. I will still need to correct the difference in the height between right and left side so the rims were not the only problem but drew attention to the other problems. I do like Chrome rims very much and have been faced with very few choices for the Porsche lug pattern.

Some of the choices in Chrome.

[Dave L]

chrome is fine, its just with the current wheels you are going to have to make major compromises to get them to "work". I would try the eccentric adjustment to get it level side to side but have you looked underneath to see if there is any damage? The car should be level unless someone was monkeying with it.

[Catamax944]

It would be nice if you could get them to fit.Rolling the fenders might do the trick.Those are Strosek wheels and were fitted to various Porsche's.http://www.fredopertracing.com/strospecial.htm

[Rasta Monsta]

Originally Posted by Dave L

The car should be level unless someone was monkeying with it.

Could be blown shock or disconnected sway bar as well.

[Arizona_928]

Originally Posted by Catamax944

Rolling the fenders might do the trick.

that's what I would do, or get some nice sewer lids.

[Griffinroydonal]

I checked for damage first off and could find none. The car is going on a frame machine in the morning to get a set of baseline numbers and a four wheel alignment. This will be better than in my shop because the floor is not perfect. Thanks for the identification as I didn't have a clue.