1985 911 - Clapped Out Nissan Altima Suspension

[Qcurtis88]

Howdy!

My pretty well sorted 85 911 has recently started feeling/sounding like a.. well... for a lack of a better way to describe it.. like a clapped out nissan altima on rough rounds. We've all been in our friends car where you can feel & hear suspension components slapping together through floorboards far more than you should, and thats been the case with old Stella over the last few weeks (on rough, pot hole heavy roads).

Canyons, smoother roads, etc, drive like a dream. Rebound and dampening are great and nothing to complain about.

Car has ER poly bushings all the way around, 86 sways, ER raised spindles running bilstein boges. We did the front struts a few months back and inserts felt healthy.

Front end is where the harsh, slapping, jarring bumps are occurring.

Rest of the build sheet is below for reference.

Suggestions for places to start?

[nickelplated5s]

Mine was front sway bushings. I went with a mix of ER poly and rubber though. Full poly is for a track car so that may be it. Chuck says white grease for the poly fittings once a year or so.

[Qcurtis88]

Interesting - just did the sway bar and bushings a few months ago so don't think that would be it. The full poly comment is possible for sure, though

[Qcurtis88]

I spy GSP in the back? Mine just tore his ACL and we've been having a harder time keeping him crated/calm than we've had raising our 8 month old

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by Qcurtis88

Howdy!

My pretty well sorted 85 911 has recently started feeling/sounding like a.. well... for a lack of a better way to describe it.. like a clapped out nissan altima on rough rounds. We've all been in our friends car where you can feel & hear suspension components slapping together through floorboards far more than you should, and thats been the case with old Stella over the last few weeks (on rough, pot hole heavy roads).

Canyons, smoother roads, etc, drive like a dream. Rebound and dampening are great and nothing to complain about.

Car has ER poly bushings all the way around, 86 sways, ER raised spindles running bilstein boges. We did the front struts a few months back and inserts felt healthy.

Front end is where the harsh, slapping, jarring bumps are occurring.

Rest of the build sheet is below for reference.

Suggestions for places to start?

ride height? a - b

[Qcurtis88]

Front ride height 24 3/4" on 16" fuchs.

Mind explaining how you get A & B's measurement?

Spindles were raised 19mm by ER FYI

[nickelplated5s]

Yup, one of the GSP's. You should get what we call an X crate or wire knockdown. Pretty much one month in it other than potty breaks. Mine are Field Trial dogs. Know most reputable CA breeders, PM me for a vet recommendation. That one cracked a hip at 4 months. Weeks in jail but on a couch now.

BillV has diagrams here for the A/B. I'm running 16"s at 22" to lip front with no raised spindle. Custom short throw shocks and it handles flat. Bill doesn't like that but true is true.

[GH85Carrera]

There are hundreds of threads on the suspension upgrades and simple refurbishment of the suspension on this site. It has been discussed a lot. And it is a very personal descision on what you want from the car.

Some will urge you to go radical and super stiff, and make a track car, and some will say keep it pure stock, just new rubber bushings and maybe just turbo tie rods as the upgrade.

New shocks alone can take up pages of discussions. Good luck on first figuring out just what you want of the car, and what you budget is.

I replaced all my rubber bushings with Elephant racing rubber, and went one step up on the torsion bars, new ball joints, turbo tie rods, European ride height, and Bisltien shocks. It made a wonderful transformation and it steers like a laser beam and is a blast to drive.

[Qcurtis88]

Thanks! Sounds like we have a pretty similar setup!

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by Qcurtis88

Front ride height 24 3/4" on 16" fuchs.

Mind explaining how you get A & B's measurement?

Spindles were raised 19mm by ER FYI

a & b are clearly labeled in the diagram
a spindle height
b torsion bar height

when you lower the car several things happen
1)shock compression travel is reduced, It's only ~3.5"+/- to begin w/, raising the spindles counteracts this, So if the car is lowered by say 25MM w/ 19mm raised spindle then you still lose 6mm of travel which is fine, but if the car was lowered 50mm, not so much.

my car has a fender height of ~24" a-b is 177mm, 40mm raised spindles & 1" shorter shock & short wiper seal

When the shock runs out of travel it hits the bump stops, you will feel this on bumpy roads but not on smooth roads

along w/ this the roll center goes down, the further it goes down the more chassis roll is exhibited for the same cornering force, as w/ travel, raising the spindles corrects this.

2) the bump steer goes off the rails, you will feel this on bumpy roads more than smooth ones, to correct this the steering knuckles need to be height adjustable.

bumps roads are much more manageable w/ digressive valving, stock linear valving forces increase virtually w/o bound as shock speed increases, digressive valving mitigates this. The factory started using digressive valving for almost all cars w/ the 993.

also twin tube shocks handle bumps better because they don't have control of mono-tubes

[PeteKz]

Listen to Nickelplated5s and check your swaybar bushings. Then I would inspect the bushings at the top of the shock towers. After that, I would suspect the shock inserts. Make sure the gland nuts are really tight