84_Carrera

Ok, so most of you know I've been working on the suspension swap this week.

After going through some of the past threads on ride height, it appears a shop's going to be charging based on the labor to do the ride height, and that labor time can vary quite a bit. Soooo, getting to the meat of the questions...

I adjusted the ride height on the front to 25.75"; I am concerned with possibly rubbing the front tires on the fenders. I needed only to adjust the screw on the left side, the right side I removed the screw completely, re-positioned the t-bar cap & then moved the screw to get the height.

1) was this correct procedure to get it really close for the alignment guy, and
2) with the car jacked up, the right side adjustment screw no longer makes contact with the top of the crossmember, but makes very good contact with the crossmember when loaded - is this correct / possible?

In doing the rears... I'm at 27"+ on the rears. Although it's an interesting look, I'd like to get this down to easy shop-adjustable height.

3) what's the range of play they're going to have when the car's handed to them, without having to remove / adjust the t-bars?

4) what's the best way (ease / proper) to get this correct / close? I would rather not play with this for 2 days, so if there's a "rotate clockwise 1 notch" or "loosen this & swing the eccentric like that" kind of answer, please share.

Anything else?

Haven't replaced the side skirts yet. Here's a couple of pics from the driveway today after a well-needed wash.

before lowering the front:

84_Carrera

and after lowering:

84_Carrera

911 Rod

You can use your tape measure, but only to get close.
The rear spring plates read to be set at the same angle.
(There's a chart to show you if someone has a link)
To set this angle you need to re-index the rear torsion bars.
All four corners need to be raised off of the ground so the car is level as if sitting on the ground.
I also suggest setting the rear height adjustment bolts in the middle in case the ballancing shop needs to fine tune it.
Using the correct angle should give you pretty close to the right height in the rear.
With the front in the air, the adjustment bolts should be in the center of their adjustment. Re-index the caps to do this.
Now when you take it in for balancing they should only have to adjust the front to balance the car.
The rear is where the labour is big.
Come to my place and we'll do it together.

flatsixnut

Hopefully this is a "Porsche" shop that is doing the work? I cant explain the work but I did mine myself.
After all the work you have done, I cant see why you would have to take it somewhere for this.Your rear is really up there.

Todsimpson

I think you'll need to reindex the rear to get roughly where you want to be. The link you want is here-

http://vintagebus.com/cgi-bin/spring.cgi

The spring plates should be set in the middle of the adjustability range. Use the calculator to get the ride height correct than the shop can set the balance with the adjusters.

The angle finder you use is just a basic dial you'll find at a hardware store.

I agree that if you've come this far you could do the alignment and corner balance as well.

84_Carrera

So I spent a few hours this morning dropping the rear of the car. I have a pretty level 25" floor to fender lip on both rears, and 25.5" up front right now, pre-alignment, etc.

Good? Bad? Ugly? Wow does the car look sagged after looking at it jacked up like that!

Also, I had a question for those with the ERP Poly-Bronzes... how do you keep the road dirt out of the t-bar end cap?

Here's the ride height now...

911 Rod

Looks better.
Why don't you have torsion bar end caps?
I have ER bushings with caps.

84_Carrera

Here's where I'm talking about...

911 Rod

Keeping it greased you should be fine.
If dirt did get in there a greasing should push it out.

Peter Zimmermann

Fred: Your car looks great at Euro height (25" rear, 25.5" front)!

84_Carrera

Ok, alignment results as follows:

LF / RF
Camber: 0.1 / -0.2
Caster: 5.5 / 5.9
Toe: 0.13 / 0.13

LR / RR
Camber: -0.2 / -0.4
Toe: 0.27 / 0.22

Caster: They're telling me to drill out the driver's front tower, and have removed the strut tower brace brackets I modded to work (oh well!).

Tire place, not a P-car place, obviously. They are not interested in getting the car's rear camber in-line as they say it's "too hard" with these rear engine'd cars.

Tips, tricks, what to come back with for tomorrow... ????

I'm outta here to go see Faith Hill tonight, y'all have a good one!

VNTGSPD

Sounds like another shop may be in order. Adjusting rear camber is no more difficult than any other car with an eccentric bolt. Sounds like they just don't know how to do it?

Regarding the difference in front, you may be able to slightly loosen the bolt that holds the rearward bushing collar then pry the a-arm outward while retightening the bolt. There is a small amount of slop in this area that could contribute to .25 degrees of camber or so.

If you are looking for a more camber, offset ball joints from ERP, camber plates, and of course opening the holes a bit in the shock tower (IF the upper strut mount is not already bottomed out against the recess in the strut tower) are options.

The shop is the first thing to address IMO - these guys don't sound like they WANT to get it right and this is the first thing you need in an alignment shop. A good alignment requires patience and finesse - again just my opinion.

Good Luck!

84_Carrera

Ok, I don't mind playing with things during this "negotiation" process, but what ticked me off was I called & ASKED, "do you have an opening this afternoon to get this done" (yes), and "do you know how / have whatever's necessary to do an alignment on a 911" (yes, bring her down).

I mean, I can understand (not like, but understand) not wanting to exceed factory specs as a policy, but to not get into factory & to throw your hands up in the air (and still charge the $100) to me is just lazy. I also have a nasty pull to the right, which they attribute to the caster being off. (?!?)

Anyway, thanks guys.

As an aside, the Faith Hill / Tim McGraw show at the Boston Garden was decent. The lights / effects made me feel like I was watching Close Encounters, and we were in the upper upper upper deck (2nd row from the wall in the balcony), but WOW the hotties were out tonight. Must be getting old - 20-somethings w/ beer, cowboy hats, & skimpy outfits never seemed so hittable.

Edit:
Lousy Cellphone Pic, showing about as much as we saw...

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

Hey Fred:

You need a 911 specialist to finish the job here,....

Musante Motorsports in Conn. can do this for you,...