Rickarrow

I have an 88 911.
I am getting some Bilstein inserts put in as well as some stiffer torsion bars. My Mechanic says that it will take 30+ labor hours and the whole project was quoted at 5K. Does this sound like a reasonable deal? turbo tie-rods and polycarbonate bushings over rubber are also included.

Your thoughts ?...

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

Sounds high to me,........

FWIW,...I would NOT use plastic bushings in the front A-arms or rear spring plates. Those have problems with squeaking & binding over time and the ER Poly-Bronze ones are a FAR FAR better solution. Not cheap, but something of quality never is.

MUSSBERGER

Does that equate to 3K labor and 2k parts?
Sounds a little heavy to me. Does he have a lot of experience at this?

imcarthur

$1700 - $2K for parts - roughly (with Polybronze) so that's a LOT of labor.

Ian

BlackPearl

+1. I've done torsion bars (front and rear), inspected bushings, and waiting on the front struts to be custom-valved at Bilstein before install ... and I'm still way below your estimated costs. Is this a top-tier racing shop? Seems steep.

84_Carrera

DId my own in my driveway, front & rear on my 84 last summer (July 4th or so... the write up & pics are still here in this forum - search "front suspension swap" & "rear suspension swap", 2 threads by me). Got my suspension-candy from Steve Weiner (see your 1st response).

I did the labor over a few days, and had never done a torsion-bar suspension before. Mine was larger t-bars (22/29 hollow), bilstein HD / sports inserts into Boge housings, turbo tie rods, elephant racing poly-bronzes front & rear, new sway bushings, mounts, so on & so forth. Steve let me call with some basic questions, and was right there when I needed it. I also did rotors & pads, adjusted the brake shoes out back too IIRC, and front wheel bearings.

Local private shop p-car guy estimated ~$1100 (approx. 24 hours), with me providing parts. Add on top of that alignment (a TOP race shop will charge $700 for ride height, corner balance & align). I figured I'd pocket the $1100 & was glad I did the job myself.

jester911

I just finished doing my suspension. I upgraded torsion bars and went with polybronze Elephant racing bushings. I got the tbars used but practically new for $400 and the bushings were around $600 including shipping.

Did all the work myself except corner balance/alignment. The work took me about 4 weekends but I mainly worked on it on Saturdays. I probably had 22 to 24 hours in it when finished.
I got the ride height close and my wrench did the rest.

I just drove it on the track last weekend and was 3 to 5 seconds faster on the same track I drove last fall with the old suspension. Not to mention the car handles great and is much more planted.

I have less than 2k in the whole deal. If you can't find a shop that is cheaper let me suggest you do it yourself if you at all handy and you have the time.

Much more rewarding and you will learn a lot about how the suspension actually works in these cars. I highly recommend it.

KC911

I did it all myself several years ago (with no prior experience), as I really wanted to learn my car. With suggestions (and some parts) from Steve W, and the help of these boards, you can too if you so desire. Even buying some tools along the way (which you will reuse), you'll be better off than spending $5K imo. (One caveat, it was winter time, car was on jackstands, and I spread it out over time (and did a LOT of other stuff at the same time). I would not attempt this on a car that I had to drive on Monday morning .

Keith
'88 CE coupe

SCOTITUDE

am I missin something? You guys are saying inserts,torsions, bushings and tie rods is a 2.5-3 day install for a "qualified shop"? Seems a little long and waaaay too expensive. I think this is one days work for a good p-tech. I did this job with help from a friend (more support than help) in my garage on jackstands in a full days work. first time install when i was a noob. Lotsa skinned knuckles. But all basic stuff.
front shock inserts
monoballs
tie rods
sways, thru body
control arm bushings
f/r torsions
rear monoballs
rear sways.
Cant count align or CB. took that to a shop.
If you can turn basic wrenches, do the install yourself and learn your car. Save your money. When your done take it to a good shop to align and CB.

speednme

does this include parts or just labor? 30 hour sounds a bit long..might be including the time the parts get shipped to him...j.k..couldn't help my self..

btw..where are you located?