Thanks Old H2S! I'll post up some pics of 2 other Covid-era shop projects that came before this suspension job. Porsche had to wait unfortunately!
Soon after Porsche acquisition, I knew that I had a solid little coupe with an engine that had great leak down & compression numbers. The CIS system was, and still is, very compliant with quick and easy starts – both hot & cold. I’ve read that if you have that going for you and your CIS fuel injection – then don’t touch it! And the transmission shifted fine, I guess, for a 915. Obviously not Mazda Miata or T56 standards with that click-click short shift I was accustomed to…
The handling was another thing. Probably perfectly acceptable for Starbucks runs, but it had more sway in the corners than desired and a jacked-up @ss like a ’72 Plymouth Duster on Cragar mags back in the day. With the square set up of 205/60’s on 15x7 Cookies, I could stick my balled-up fist between rear fender lip and top of tire. Yikes! Not acceptable. Did replace the Cookies and minivan tires with VTO Minilite tribute wheels and stickier Yoko Advan tires in 205/55’s.
Here's some pics prior to suspension refresh when used in Peter Millar photo and video shoots this past winter & spring. Note jacked-up rear end!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ube7F3t1N08
So, the plans began to formulate in my head after getting addicted to our PP forum and reading practically every build thread or suspension discussion that I stumbled upon using the search function. I knew I wanted larger torsion bars and read a Roads Scholar article that indicated 21/26 torsion bars were a good set-up for a car like mine. And back in early 2020, I purchased a lightly used set of Sway-A-Ways with solid bar 21’s and hollow 27’s here in the classifieds. That began the parts search as I wanted to knock out a full rebuild at some point when I felt like I could stand taking this silver coupe off the road for a while.
Suspension parts pulled together: Rebel Racing solid front bushings, ball joints, Rebel Racing solid upper strut mount inserts, Racing Dynamics alum strut bar, new hardware & bushings for 20mm front and 18mm rear sway bars, Rothsport bump steer kit for the rack, turbo tie rods, extended wheel studs from MSI Racing, Rebel Racing adj spring plates with rubber bushings, Rennline HD trailing arm bushings, new rear wheel bearings and Stomski Racing engine & tranny mounts. I had already rebuilt the front hubs a few months ago with new bearings and races so that was already behind me.
