Classic Style

Much like the topic says, the rear-end of my beautiful 911 hangs just too low. I've heard that you can adjust the torsion arms out at the lower control arms (name right?). Is this a good way to do it? The only way? The reason its sagging is because of the new engine I put in and the weight displacement is very close to that of the original 2.7, but the center of gravity on it is much farther back.

Ideas are welcome, I'm just hoping I don't have to drop 1-3 G's into a new suspension - atleast until I get a better salary

Thanks,

Bill Gregory

What did you do to move the engines center of gravity further back?

The answer to your question is that you can reindex or reset the rear ride height by adjustment at the rear torsion bar.

Classic Style

I changed what type of engine it has.

Thanks for the advice, I will give it a shot.

RoninLB

what engine did you install that moved the stock engine mountings ?

Classic Style

A GM LS-1.
<waits for the screams of horror>
The engine weight is very comparable, but the horsepower is doubled and torque is increased by ~2.5x. The only problem is, the center of gravity has been moved back. I am thinking, if the torsion bar adjustment doesn't work, I will have to upgrade to 27/28 mm torsion bars.

JCP911S

I suggest some Monre Hi-Jackers, spring shackles and some Dragmaster slicks on American Racing beanhole mags.... that should do the trick.

Seriously, looks like you have a narrow-bodied 911 (you say 2.7) You need some serious chassis work. First, by the time you re-index the rear bars you might as well replace them... bars are cheap... $500 a set, and the rears are labor intensive.

28mm rear is probably minimum for the kind of HP you have... you might even push toward 30 depending on how you plan to drive the car, and how smooth the roads are in your area. Also make sure you balance the fronts and rears... these cars are very sensitive to variations in front/rear spring rate.... plus this depends on your tire combination.

You are going to be seriously short on rear tire. I'd seriously consider flaring the rear fenders and upgrading to at least a 9" rear wheel. This is not an expensive proposition. 205 is about all you can get under the stock rear fenders... maybe a 225 with custom offsets and alot of fiddling.... and that is marginal.... you can probably flare the fenders for what a set custom offset wheels would cost

If you don't add more rear tire, beef of the front springs... that will help neutralize the car somewhat, but you can't get blood out of a stone... prepare to meet you new best friend "Mr Oversteer"

As far as a small-block Porsche... as you see below, I go both ways and am thus a parriah in both camps... but a conversion is a cool alternative to letting a perfectly good Porsche rot because it isn;t worth a $10K engine rebuild.

Have fun.

RoninLB

Wow.. this isn't the routine project around here

I think the current drift needs some tuning. how about building a tube frame? I bet some 911 shops that do track cages would love to build that thing. and then the other necessary mods will fall into place.. otherwise it's a circle jerk imho.. it's not my style, but it's interesting.

LS-1
Is thay block like a GM V-6 ?

Classic Style

Thanks for the insight guys. The LS-1 is the 96-04 Corvette engine. This one came out of a 2002 CHP Camaro however. The ride is absolutely amazing, and you are right, 10k for a rebuild is . The body is no longer stock either. I have 275/45/17s on 17x9's and 235x??x17 on 7.5x17s. The car also has wide-fenders and a whale-tail now. Its basically the C4 Widebody fiberglass lookalike.

The front end is now very light, I haven't tried hard cornering yet because I don't have my cooling issues resolved, but at the moment, the front end is about an inch higher than where it should be, and the rear-end is an inch lower than where it should be. I think the 28mm bars is probably a good idea - I found them on this site's sponsor - Performanceproducts.com.

And about the fact this isn't a routine project, well, if I could have found a 3.6L for around $3500, I would have gladly done that instead, cause I do love the sound of the flat six, but Porsche engines don't even come that cheap other than the 2.7 I sold.

BTW - Pictures are at HERE

RoninLB

did you look into coil over ?

Classic Style

For the rears? No, I haven't, but I think its probably over my budget, hence the LS1. If there are good coil-overs for < $1500, I would be more inclined to look into them

I have been looking into the possibility of front coil-overs however, but I can't seem to find the right ones. I have a Koni original suspension and wouldn't mind upgrading it. I'm also looking at the monoblock Brembo package on PerformanceProducts.com but I don't know if they will work for my application having the Konis - assuming that is what sets the letter of the spindle, because it says it doesn't work on M spindles.

RoninLB

Used good ones. maybe.

I'm used up for now.. good luck.