996 suspension setup

[72rsr]

Hi all,
I am am a very experienced early 911 racer who does all his own alignment work at my home shop. I just got under a 996 for the first time and I was wondering if anyone can give further advise for alignment work. It seems pretty straight forward in appearance, but I seem to recall having read of some complexities. Any words of wisdom?
Thanks,
Peter Maehling
(72RSR)

[Wayne 962]

Hmm, what specifically are you looking to do? Replace the suspension and align for track usage?

-Wayne

[72rsr]

Hi there Wayne,

Thanks for the reply and sorry for my slow response back. As I mentioned in my original note, I am a very experienced race mechanic. When it comes to Porsches, I know the early/mid 911’s very well. I race a 73 RSR clone and do 100% of my own work, as well as taking care of a few friends cars in order to feed my habit.
I had not worked on a 996 to any serious extent, so when a friend asked about alignment, I thought this was a good opportunity to get some exposure. This fellow swapped out his shocks and springs for different rates and valving. He also added a set so Tarett spherical ball shock tops at all four corners. He brought it to my shop and things were fairly well roughed in when it arrived. We put it on the scales and set ride heights, cambers, and toes where needed. Fortunately, things were already very close.
My question is how to relate the new fancy stuff to the older more familiar stuff? I note he now has three ways to adjust front camber; the original lower control arm shims (I’m guessing that was the original coarse adjust), the small slots at the top of the shock tower (I’m guessing that was the original fine adjust), and now the three rotational positions of the Tarett tops (a new additional coarse adjust). I have heard of two different toe settings in the rear; kinematic and normal or static? toe. I did not see this to be obvious and I had heard of some shops ignoring the kinematic aspect. I didn’t see any obvious way to adjust castor as well.
Are you aware of any good ‘how to’ resources for technical explanations for this car? I need your next advanced level book ;>) All I have at this point is the PET CD and my Indy Car background. Any wisdom or recommendations would be most welcome.

Thanks a million,
Peter Maehling
72rsr in Pelican
Cell 734-446-4327