New user with a few questions

Porshapwr · 12-08-2001, 10:56 AM

Hi all. I just found this forum today and I'm glad I found a place where people appreciate the 951 as much as I do. So hello to all the 951 owners out there.
Let me first tell you about my car
I have an 88 951 (non S).
I had the engine head rebuilt with a wide fire head gasket and a new K27/8 turbo installed.
I also have an adjustable fuel pressure regulator, K & N intake, 3" Borla exhaust with hollowed cat, blow off valve, and custom chip software. I do have a manual boost controller but am going to redo the wastegate before I install it.
Other mods include drilled rotors w/race pads, 18" Antera 309 wheels, corbeau race seat, short shift kit, and an Alpine head unit w/MB quart speakers.
The car has also been repainted guards red so it looks nice and sharp. Once I get some pictures online, I'll post the link.

I do have a question for any that may be able to give me some feedback. My next modification is getting the suspension to keep up with the car. I've decided to go all the way and get a coil-over suspension. Bilstein coil-overs have been recommended by multiple places and I was wondering if anyone has them on their 951. If so, can you give me some feedback on them?

Thanks and I look forward to talking with all of you in the future.

Pilot_951S · 12-08-2001, 08:53 PM

Hello welcome to our humble corner of cyberspace.

Lets get down to business.

#1 get rid of your cross drilled rotors at your earliest convenience. They will warp, crack, eat brake pads and otherwise perform poorly because they were never designed to be drilled. Slot them if you must but that is unecessary as well.

#2 When you say race pads what precisely are you talking about?

#3 Suspension. Full coilovers for the street are totally unecessary. The stock rear torsion bar setup is perfectly adequate for any streetable spring rate. The stiffest I would go for street use is 300 lb/in front springs with 28mm rear torsion bars (if that is to stiff 220 lbs front and 27 mm T bars is a good combo also) and 28mm front and 22mm rear Weltmesiter sway bars. Use these with the soft set of Bilstein road race coilover struts and non threaded rear shocks. If you need I will post the part numbers tomorrow. Leave the bushing material stock unless you want to upgrade to polygraphite bushings which are quite nice. Solid metal busings are unecessary (and noisy and harsh) on a street car. Also upgrade the caster blocks to the 968 style "round" units instead of the original "U" shaped blocks.

-Drew

Mrmerlin · 12-11-2001, 06:52 AM

Hi one other thing what do you mean by a K n N filter kit??
Does this mean your using the original airfilter housing?
I had a K n N cone filter on mine with the round adapter to the air flow box, it seemed to work when the car was cold but after it warmed up the performance dropped off noticibly... I then returned the intake to stock Except I used a K n N filter for the stock assembly, now the engine has its performance at all temperatures.
To me it looks like the cone filter was sucking in the air from behind the radiator, and the intecooler could not get it as cool as the stock system could.....Stan

eimkeith · 12-11-2001, 07:47 AM

I disagree - when properly valved, Bilsteins and 400# springs are not too rough for the street.

I, myself, and going 350/30mm on my '86 with '89 Mo30 Konis, for 70% street/30% other...

Pilot_951S · 12-11-2001, 01:58 PM

Everybody has their opinion.

BTW with those rates on M030 Koni's if they haven't been revalved the car is going to ride and handle like garbage.

Just an opinion.

IceShark · 12-12-2001, 04:43 AM

If you have the Zimmerman "cast cross drilled" rotors (Porsche OEM), they apparently hold up pretty good without cracking. I believe in hard useage they will drop rotor temps over 200 deg F.

Something you should be aware of is that Porsche considers 18" wheels on a 944 a real no-no. If you take your car into a dealer they will put your car down on a ***** list for future reference, like liability defense should your car crash.

Plenty of people are running them though with no apparent problems, yet. Porsche also isn't real crazy about running 17" wheels but acquiesced if you follow the procedures outlined in a service bulletin. You might want to pick up a copy of that.

eimkeith · 12-12-2001, 07:20 AM

Yeah, that's right. They will be revalved/converted to double-adjustable.

It is the mismatched valving to springrate that gives everyone the REALLY harsh rides, in my opinion.

350/400 isn't close to racecar rates, just a good track/street compromise.

Pilot_951S · 12-12-2001, 12:00 PM

Keith,

You are correct about the relationship between shock valving and spring rate with respect to ride quality however on the track considerably more damping is required than on the street and when the wheel rates start to go above 300 you need a fair amount of rebound damping for track use and that hurts ride quality. 400 is doable for the street but as I said it isn't necessary. Anyway the point is for heavy track work the necessary valving makes for a rough ride.

Porshapwr · 12-15-2001, 11:54 AM

Hi and thanks for all of the feedback.
Let me answer a few questions.
First, I do have the Zimmerman rotors that are cast with the holes in them. Therefore I have had only good experiences with them and NO cracking.
Secondly, I had 17" Cup 2 wheels originally on the car but decided to go with a wheel that looked better and filled out the wells more. Also, I don't go to the official Porsche dealership in my area other than to look at 996s.

I also appreciate the feedback on the suspension. If some of you could get really specific as in cost/place of purchase, I would greatly appreciate it.

Oh, and I've also heard that Weltmeister Sway Bars with all the necessary equipment are rather heavy. Any truth in that?

Pilot_951S · 12-18-2001, 07:11 PM

Here we go again...

Get rid of the drilled rotors, I don't care if they are cast with the holes in them. The factory drilled rotors have all the same problems as any other and they are cast with the holes as well. If you are just driving on the street and you like the piimpy look that is your business. If you show up to the track with them and have catastrophic failure don't say I didnt warn you.

Weltmeister sway bars are rather heavy but they work much better than stock and the front bar has a superior mounting system. A definite upgrade.

Where to get the suspension stuff depends on a lot of things. You need a Porsche shop that has experience with the 944 turbo.

If you need part numbers I can get those tomorrow.