Scootin159

Regardless of if I do the 951 motor upgrade, I will no doubt be upgrading my suspension. This year will likely include the coilover upgrade, with the following year having the sway bar upgrade (or maybe vice versa depending on budgeting). My other question is, how out of balance will my car be with the coilovers & stock sway bars, or the upgrades sway bars & the factory springs?

My plans for the car are mostly just driving on public roads (maybe 90%), with maybe 3 or 4 autox's a year (I'm aware the suspension upgrades will likely outclass me in competition, but I don't care as I'd be doing it for fun anyways). I'd like a firm ride, with little to no body roll, but not something that will be so harsh as to make me regret the upgrade. (basically soft enough I don't say 'ouch' after every bump).

Anyways, I'd like you guys to critique these choices:
Sway bars: 968 M030 30mm front bars, either M030 19mm rear bars or weltmeister adjustable rear bars (would the m030 bars with the KLA adjustable droplinks provide enough adjustment?)
Other:968 caster block, kla strut brace, paragon rear suspension mounting bolt, paragon adjustable caster/camber plates.
Coilovers (2 choices):
Choice #1:
Paragon Products Koni conversion kit (everything listed: ~$1420)
Koni front strut conversion
Koni yellow front struts (single adjustable)
front adjustable ride height kit
Rear koni coilovers (single adjustable)
Includes Hypercoil springs front & rear

Choice #2:
Racer's Edge Leda conversion kit (everything listed: ~$1755)
Includes 4 corner Leda coilovers with adjustable ride height & single-adjustment
Includes Edelbrock springs

Choice #3:
Paragon Blistein Escort Cup conversion Kit (everything listed: ~1719)
Includes 4 corner Blistein Escort Cup coilovers with adjustable ride height (no rebound adjustment)
Includes Hypercoil springs


Also, what spring rates do you guys reccomend? As mentioned before, I will be using the rear coilovers in addition to the stock torsion bars (planning on reindexing), so figure the spring rates to be the 'effective' ones, after the torsions bars are figured in. My thoughts are 300# springs front & rear.

Fishey

Why not go with something like Koni Yellows/ Paragon Coilover kit front 325#/ 29mm rear torsionbars/ M030 sways + derlin bushing kit + Droplinks/ 968 casterblocks/ Strutbrace

Scootin159

I was hoping by getting rear coilovers I wouldn't have to 'redo' the torsion bar reindexing, plus I was hoping it would be easier to do the reindexing in the first place as I won't have to be spot on (can't I use the coilover to 'fine tune' the ride height?)

As for the derlin bushings, that was something else I meant to ask. I hope to upgrade the bushings all around. What would be good ones to get? I don't want monoblocks as I think they will transmit more vibration than I would like. Should I just go for OEM ones, or are the weltmeister's a better choice?

tifosiman

From my own personal experience and the experience of other friends of mine that have rear coil-overs............

You are going to need to re-index the rear t-bars anyway, even with coil-overs, in order to get the pre-load and ride height correct.

Fishey

The welts are a better choice then stock if you want better performance but not the best solution (need greese). The derlin bushings are higher quality but do have a higher pricetag. Also sometimes you can only get welt or Derlin for specific bushings so that can dictate you decision.

bader$

Tifo, you seem to have had success with the suspension on these cars. I would like to improve the cornering of my car without upseting the balance or the ride too much. Would 200lbs springs and mo30 rear bar do the trick. I don't do any racing just want to improve on what I have. I have a 88 944S with factory front and rear bars and stock springs/t-bars.

tifosiman

That would be just about perfect for your application. 200lbs is not too stiff, and not stiff enough to necessitate changing out the rear t-bars. Any small tendancy to understeer can be dialed out with the rear 19mm adjustable bar.

Any higher of a spring rate than 200lbs would really necessitate a change in the rear spring rate to even things out.

Fishey

I think that Pete 944 is useing this setup?

tifosiman

Why yes, yes he is!

pete944

bader$, I have 200# front springs along with a M030 rear bar and the stock S2 front sway bar. I think it's a very balanced set up.
I'm not sure what size the '88 S front swaybar is but if it's significantly smaller than the S2 bar, you may want to upgrade to the S2 bar.
Replace all your sway bar bushings and upgrade the caster blocks to 968 units and you should be good to go.

Scootin159

I know I'll have to reindex them out of the box, but what about down the road if I decide to change ride height? I'm kinda hoping that by going to the coilovers I'll be able to make whatever changes down the road without having to really touch the tbars again (i.e. maybe playing around with spring rates on the coilovers).

With regards to the pre-load, is this what you're talking about? Since the tbars are equivlient to 150# coilovers (roughly, I forget the exact #'s but will look them up prior to purchasing), and if I add in 150# coilovers, that would get me ~300# effective, right? I imagine ideally I want this as near to 50/50 between the tbars & coilovers as possible, but how do I know how much either is taking? Does it really matter how much either is taking as long as I still have adequate movement in the coilovers?

Scootin159

Welt's are out then if they require greese (despite any handling improvement they may have over stock). So you're saying my choices are either derilin or stock? Since I'll be using the 968 caster block & adjustable camber plates, it looks like the front control arm bushing is about the only one I'll have to replace. Are there any in the rear? (in the tbars maybe?)

Fishey

I think every time you make any adjustment (other then very slight ones) you will have to re-index.

pete944

Good memory.

Fishey

There are 5 diffrent bushings.

Springplates inner (2)
Springplates Outer (2)
Torsion tube mount Front (2)
Torsion tube mount Rear (2)
Control Arm Bushings (4 total but 1 set per side)

Then there are the Swaybar bushings front/Rear.

I think thats all of them.