C2 with RS Strut/Shocks / M030 Springs / Big Reds

[Don Haney]

Hi Guys,
Ok, its late and I need to get the heck outa here !
The C2 is just outside the door and has been waiting for me to drive her all night !
Due to limited time with up coming events, weekends with my kids, plus too much to do here and I plain just wanted to get it done.
Yesterday I took my 91 C2 to Johnson Alignment (Johnson's Alignment 340 Van Ness Ave. Torrance Ca (310) 533-1511) and meet up with the man to see about aligning your Porsche, So I have heard...... I meet Steve Alarcon, who I had seen at Porsche events and watched him racing by at track events, but never put the face to the name. Steve was great to work with and after just seeing his shop I knew my C2 was in good hands and left her over night without kicking and screaming..haha, Since the C2 is my only car now days, I was dropped off the next day to pick her up. Due to an error on my part, the wrong spring where supplied for the upgrade (I had originally supplied used, but low mileage RS springs..Turns out they were not RS springs), but the guys stayed late to complete the upgrade anyways using new units. It was almost 9pm before they finished !!!! Ok, so he knows I would have slammed him here if he didnt..haha Jusat Kidding Steve....
New shocks have been on the list since I bought the car and a lower stance was also wanted. I ended up with 4 RS Boge struts and shocks. Bilstien was preferred, but they have been on backorder for months and are not due in until Aug. Well that's what they say now.....I have heard it before, almost every week for months and I just gave up.
I thought the boge would not be as good as Bilstien, but heck the car is great with 100K oem Boges, so new ones couldn't hurt and would only improve the ride. Plus with the a RS lowered stance a softer ride was preferred since my 3 and 7 year old ride in the car often. I already get its too loud if I put my foot in it : )
After installing the New oem RS M030 Springs, RS struts and shocks, she was corner balanced to set the ride height and weight on each wheel for the best possible cornering.
Steve an the guys spent some time under the rear setting her up to my driving skill, or lack of....He is very particular to detail and made sure the car was 110% correct before he gave her back.
She rides great ! Im not sure how much lower since I forgot to measure before handing her over. But the look is great without the jarring ride you can get with other aftermarket springs. I will be adding RS sway bars to firm the corners up, but the improvement is incredible!
While adding the new suspension, we upgraded the brakes.
Several months ago Wayne stumbled across a set of Big Reds new in the box at a price most would kill for, and he knew I would like them on my car and passed the saving on to me. Once in hand I got with our Race Tech people and made a Big Brake kit up for the C2. The RT Big Brake kits are great, just bolt them on and go ! Although I didn't personally bolt on this kit, it is easy and straight forward to add the larger brakes. I did add Big Brakes to the BMW without a hitch, before it was replaced by the C2.
The brake are just like the factory c2 brakes. The new brakes stop fast and hard as they always did, but now you put your foot a little deeper into the pedal and if your passenger isn't holding on, you could lose them ! I just about put my buddy through the windshield today when I applied the brakes to really see what they could do ! Yes, you really can stop on a dime !
Ok, I'm getting out of here ! Im off for a week on vacation with the kids, but will try to check back if you guys have questions. I will be adding the upgrade parts not in the catalog when I get back on 09/02/02
See ya then
Don

[Don Haney]

side view and brakes

[Don Haney]

last one

[Jim Richards]

Don, you refer in your post to RS struts/shocks/springs/sway bars and I just wanted to check whether you meant RoW Sport (M030) or RS? If RS, how do they differ from the RoW M030 parts and what would be the expected difference in ride/ride height/handling? Thanks for your help.

Your car looks great!