Suspension and other questions...

[ribs]

Well...I haven't slept yet today (is it monday?), so I figure while I am still awake during normal business hours (not a common thing) I will try to get some stuff ordered for my car. Now my suspension question(s);

I'm probably going to order the hack-saw koni yellow fronts and the non adjustable koni yellow rears. Will my handling be funky with stock springs/t-bars? I was considering getting 250# springs and leaving the torsion bars alone...will this make me oversteer or understeer, and how much will the adjustment in the front shocks affect this?

Now, more questions: just about every piece of rubber in my suspension is either worn to hell or, like my right front sway bar bushing (if any of you remember that), completely deteriorated (hence my signature). I would like to replace all the rubber in the suspension...does anybody have a list? All I can think of are swaybar bushings and bump stops, but there must be a lot more, because I can hear suspension popping noises coming from the rear when I turn hard (trailing arm bushing, if there is such a thing?).

Now, a complete list of what I plan to do to my car in the next two weeks (and for an extreme amature doing all of this stuff with no other responsibilities for 2 weeks, is this all doable)

front struts w/ koni yellow adj.
rear shocks w/ koni yellows
all suspension bushings
right front control arm
all brake pads
turn rotors
stainless steel braided brake lines (not sure about this one)
ATE blue fluid
SFR stainless steel fuel line(s)
cap
rotor
performance wires
nice plugs
motor mounts
control arm bushings
oilpan gasket (this is the biggie)
turbo aux. waterpump
both accessory belts
any cooling hoses that look like they need replacing
change oil
repair or replace power steering resevoir (slight leak from it)
flush radiator
change air filter

Stuff I would like to do, but probably won't have time:
Make my own carpet (black...I hate tan carpet) and install
get fuel injectors balanced


Also, I bought new rod bearings for my car, but I am not sure how involved replacing the rod bearings is...anybody know? I am not trying to do a repair to my car that could potentially cause several thousand dollars damage if I did it incorrectly...do you think a newb could tackle this one?

Lastly, I will get the timing belt retentioned (its been 15K miles since it was replaced) and the car aligned by a professional.

Wow...thats a lot of crap...thats what I am up against guys...wish me luck.

[fty]

Okay first off front sway bar bushing are a must to replace since they deteriorate becuase of oil and power steering fluid.....becuase it will get rid of that "clunking you get when you hit bumps". Second off when i rplaced my springs with the 250lb it will mak ethe front slide out(oversteer) but its kinda wierd if you rip the car hard the front will go out but if you goin round a more milder corner such as a 45 degree of less my rear will step out....what is safer of course oversteer...what is more fun and better for the more experienced driver....UNdersteer understeer understeer...(as tiff nidell will say,his fav.).....so overallwhat ive found to be true with my car...overstter with tight turnd 90 degrees or more and understeer the rest of the time..get the springs they really help alot......mumble mumble..yadda ..my fingers hurt.....hope that helps and oh yeah that work is doable in two weeks....done most of the stuff up there except turbo stuff ;( ..peace-chris

[theFONZ]

Hey fty, I think you got your understeer/oversteer backwards.

I would say most of the things on your list are doable as long as you have the info, tools and a good work area.

One good thing to have is someone who can help you out that has experience in working on cars, even if its not 944/951s. Most of the things you mentioned are general to most cars.

[todd951]

silver944 is right -- you got your oversteer and understeer confused. Oversteer is when the car's rear end slides out (the car rotates further than the steering input requests) and understeer is when you turn the steering wheel and the car doesn't turn in like it should.

[dk944s2]

Yeah, that's right. I've heard it described thusly:

Oversteer is where the passenger is scared; understeer is when the driver is scared.

--Doug

[fty]

sorry...i mean tiff says oversteer, oversteer....yeah just reverse that whole response....oversteer =back goes out......understeer in front slides out....-chris (confused for the moment)