Geldfalle 944

Looking for suggestions on suspension. Spent several hours researching and need some personal experience/reviews from those with the same type of car. Currently have a worn stock setup.

I am a professional technician so can perform my own install and alignment.

88 944 n/a
No plans to do anything crazy with the engine. I used to do a lot of track days and love a serious suspension however this is basically my daily driver. Thinking coil overs as colorado's pot holes are unforgiving so I want adjustability. Potential track days at high plains raceway down the road. Any suggestions are welcome including what to stay away from.

Thx!

Van

The only "adjustablility" coil overs would give you is ride height.

Personally, I think you should get a fresh turbo suspension.

Geldfalle 944

Any special parts needed?

VirginiaF1

Hi Brad.. (and Howdy Van)
My '88 n/a had 268k on its original stock Sachs suspension.
IIRC, the later years have thicker front stabilizers as per Clarke's.
That in mind, I decided to go with new Sachs front struts,
new rubber Porsche front casters, Weltmeister control arm sleeves
and of course replaced all the various rubber bushings.
I went with new (and free) KYB's on rear which (as expected) have lasted exactly 12 months...
Going with Bilstein on rears soon.

Overall, VERY PLEASED with daily driver comfort over Richmond's craters.
Sporting, supple with minimal dive/squat. NOT track suitable though..
As Van's racing experience and setups imply, Turbo suspensions seem the perfect next step up.
If you ever get East, I'll hand ya the keys mate!
-mike

nrider42

Hey Van, what do you mean by "fresh turbo suspension"? What components are involved?

Van

I was thinking about someone who is upgrading a turbo to a track suspension... And selling the turbo components. E.g. Torsion bars, springs, sway bars, possibly the struts and shocks (although you could always get fresh Konis (what the turbo S had)).

The turbo S front struts are ride height adjustable (and torsion bars are always indexable).

It might also be worth replacing the caster blocks with the 968 units.

Otherwise, I'm a fan of rubber bushings, as long as they're not shot.

Oh, be aware that '86 cars (early offset) have a different spacing for the strut flanges than your car has.

A fresh corner balance and alignment will make the car feel awesome!

drive135mph

My goals are similar to yours, based on my web research and driving a few local 944's I'm planning on going with koni adjustables front and rear, coilover sleeves and springs up front and m30 sways

Arominus

Personally i've done konis with fresh bushings on all of my cars so far and its been great.. I'd stick with the NA suspension and just rebuild it if i was you, i did it on my S and it turned out very nicely, it drove quite well. It had 968 blocks, konis, factory 3 dot springs (higher spring rate), rebuilt ball joints and 26.8/18mm sways. That car is now getting tracked at High plains by the 2 gentlemen that bought it from me.

My suggestion? Get 968 caster blocks, rebuild the ball joints with the rennbay kit and struts (konis or bilsteins). The front a-arm bushing can be done but the weltmeister poly gets easily destroyed so if your existing one is in good shape it may be ok to not replace. I did the paragon coil-over conversion on my S2 and it is nice if you want to get the ride height dialed in, but its not really needed. Sway bar wise the 26.8/18mm combo is nice, you could also go 16mm in the back, the 968 m030 is also nice but a little more money to get into. Rebuild the rear end if you can, its more work but worth it and is on my list of things to do on my current car.

PorscheDoc

With your use, I would do koni conversions in the front, koni shocks in the rear. Make sure your bushings and strut mounts and balljoints and such are in good shape and replace if needed. You can always upgrade sway bars for a little better performance on track, but that is going to give you a nice sporty ride without being too harsh and spending too much money.

SpeedyC2

If you are interested, I have turbo torsion and rear sways bars with drop links I could part with. Make me a reasonable offer!

konakat

Everyone always mentions Konis, but not Bilsteins. Any reason why? I read that the adjustability on the Konis isn't very accurate so you might as well just go with the Bilsteins and not have to worry about the adjustments getting changed.

PorscheDoc

Bilsteins are a good shock, but not a swap in like the konis are for a sealed shock (in the front), unless you are going to spend the money on going the firehawk route.

admiralkhole

x2

I have bilstein hd's all the way around, I love them.

mikey_audiogeek

+1 on the HD's