914 suspension,how good is it.

[magaoidh]

Is the suspension set up on a 914(front and back)peculiar to 914s or are there other Porsches(VWs) with the same arrangement.Thanks Geoff

[Scrappy]

Front, basically the same as the 911...diffs are mainly torsion bar splines / size, dampening rates on the inserts, brake calipers & rotors.

Rear is specific to the 914............two versions tho...914/4 & 914/6...difference being only in the calipers, rotors, hubs & CVs.

[gregrobbins]

Front is nearly the same as the 911, except the 914-4 is four lug and not as beefy as the 911. Many doing a five lug conversion find that 911 front suspension is a bolt on with no modification change.

I understand that the rear is unique to the 914. Works good as is, but can be made stiffer with shocks, stiffer springs and sway bar. (some disagree about the sway bar--feel stiffer springs will do the same job).

[nine_one_4]

The rear semi-trailing arm suspension was pretty good for its time and even the 928 used a version of it but there are more sophisticated suspensions today such as double wishbone and multilink suspensions. The semi-trailing arm suspension allows more camber and toe changes as the arm moves up and down than the newer suspensions. Here's a zipped folder of pics that if you download them to a folder and scroll through them quickly, show how the plane of the wheel on a semi-trailing arm suspension changes as the arm moves from 45 degrees below horizontal to 45 degrees above horizontal. The viewpoint is from behind and to the right of the right-rear wheel http://rapidshare.de/files/20232935/Semi_Trailing_Arm.zip.html .

[bondodust]

Originally posted by nine_one_4
The rear semi-trailing arm suspension was pretty good for its time and even the 928 used a version of it but there are more sophisticated suspensions today such as double wishbone and multilink suspensions. The semi-trailing arm suspension allows more camber and toe changes as the arm moves up and down than the newer suspensions. Here's a zipped folder of pics that if you download them to a folder and scroll through them quickly, show how the plane of the wheel on a semi-trailing arm suspension changes as the arm moves from 45 degrees below horizontal to 45 degrees above horizontal. The viewpoint is from behind and to the right of the right-rear wheel http://rapidshare.de/files/20232935/Semi_Trailing_Arm.zip.html .

So why not have the pivot axis perpendicular to the direction of travel and level with the ground? That way the toe and camber would stay constant throughout the travel. There must be a reason they didn't do it that way, but I don't know what it is.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

The reason is that in that case the wheels would stay perpendicular to the body. Which leans in a turn--so the outer wheels would gain positive camber, which is exactly what you don't want!!

BTW, what you are talking about is called a "trailing arm" or "pure trailing arm", as opposed to the "semi-trailing arms" that we have on our cars. I believe that VW bugs and 356es have trailing-arm front suspensions. And the 356, in particular, has been called "the worst possible racing suspension design", in a semi-joking manner, by a noted 356 vintage racer and mechanic.

The front suspension is, I am told, just about identical to the VW 411 front suspension. The mounting points and dimensions are identical to the front suspension of the 911, however most of the parts are different in some way.

--DD

[bondodust]

Originally posted by Dave at Pelican Parts
The reason is that in that case the wheels would stay perpendicular to the body. Which leans in a turn--so the outer wheels would gain positive camber, which is exactly what you don't want!!

Aha! So with a big enough sway bar...

(just kidding)

[mattr_914]

Originally posted by gregrobbins
Front is nearly the same as the 911, except the 914-4 is four lug and not as beefy as the 911.

Thats not my understanding. Has anyone had the two next to eachother? I didnt examine too close when i converted (for wheel choice), but they looked pretty similar.

[mike mueller]

the 911 suspension has stiffer torsion bars....(only if you do the swap using the a-arms) other than that, I couldn't see it being any stronger at all....

the 911 suspension is no better or worse than the 914 suspension except for braking options (which has been "fixed" since you can now have vented rotors with the 4-lug suspension)

[djpateman]

The 914/4 front IS the 911 from similar years with a few small changes. The A-arms and torsion bars have different spline counts, and the 914/4 T-bar is slightly smaller. The 914/4 strut has a different spindle.

The 914/6 front suspension IS the 911T front suspension.

Steering racks are slightly different. Many parts are interchangeable, some as whole systems.

The rear 914/4 and /6 are very similar to each other and basically unique to the car.

The 411 only contributes the brake rotors and calipers, having a coil spring strut.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Originally posted by mike mueller
... you can now have vented rotors with the 4-lug suspension)

For some definitions of "now"... (Can't order very well when the site is down, can ya?)

--DD

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Originally posted by djpateman
The 411 only contributes the brake rotors and calipers, having a coil spring strut.

I didn't realize that... Thanks!

--DD