r1moto

I used a small Makita angle grinder with a metal cutting wheel. The T-bars are made of very strong material requiring a new cutting wheel for every 2 cuts through the T-bar.

I use 400 lbs hypercoil rear springs (250 lbs in front) for the street, in the bay area the roads are poor, especially the canyon roads I like to drive for fun.

Van

I didn't slog through all the posts, but your tech there doesn't know his stuff...

The control arm does not pivot on the torsion bar - it pivots on the inner and outer spring plate bushings (and the banana arm bushing). While you take it all apart, I'd replace these bushing with the RE delrin ones ore the ER solid ones.

SamGrant951

Delrin, if I was doing it again Id prob go ER. I had a spare set of springplates that I removed the rubber from, cleaned up with a wire wheel and had powdercoated.

Potomac-Greg

Chapter One closes. I finished up today. Fronts are Bilstein Escort Cup coilovers with 400# springs, stock sway bar. In the rear, I kept the stock t-bars, dropped the spring plate height adjustment to its lowest level, and then went with Escort Cups with 250# springs in "helper" mode, with stock sway bar. I loaded the rear coilovers to make the ride height back to stock.

Desperately needs an alignment, but the car feels transformed. Much, much less slop in the suspension. Very firm ride, but livable. I'm guessing that my old shocks/struts were original (20 y/o) so I expected an improvement.

So now I'm ready for the track. I'm waitlisted for my first event and may need sign up for a "backup" event. The new suspension with the track tires (Toyo RA1s) should be awesome. I intentionally went a bit soft on the back assuming that I could dial in more rotation using a sway bar upgrade.

(PS: I got myself a DeWalt electric impact wrench --corded not cordless -- and while it's not like having a full set of air tools, it was a huge help with this job. The rear shock bolts were completely frozen and could not be moved even with a breaker bar. But the impact wrench (325 ft/lbs torque) got the nuts off. The wrench could NOT however get the rear eccentric height adjustment bolts off. A lot of PB Blaster, breaker bar and a jack were needed to break them free.)

J Silverman

Wait until you get out on track. The car will be totally different. I did a year on my stock suspension before going with the spec setup. I dropped 6 seconds per lap. Most of it was because I felt a lot more confident driving it when my front valence wasnt scraping the ground every time I went in to a turn.

If you dont get in to the PCA DE, there are plenty of options. Trackdaze is on the shenandoah May 17-18. The local SCCA chapter is running its own DE program as well, the first event is shenandoah in April, but youll have to fork over $80 to join SCCA. There is ACNA at VIR in april as well. Im about to load up the trailer to leave for VIR tomorrow. I cant believe track season is here already!!!

Potomac-Greg

J:

Enjoy VIR. I love that track. My strong preference now is for weekend events, and Summit due to its proximity. Although as summer approaches, weekends end up getting filled with swim meets and boat days. Thanks for all your help during this process. Most of these jobs are first-timers for me, which means maximum pucker factor while doing them, but maximum satisfaction when done.

PS: What's the story on your sig picture? That's some fast company.

J Silverman

Glad I could help! The pic was taken at a trackdaze event last year IIRC. The Diaso and the 911 passed me in the short straight leading up to 10, The S4 passed the bimmer and then passed me coming up to 11 (hes an ACNA instructor from chicago and is stupid fast) and the bimmer got by me on the back straight. I just like the pic because it has some cool cars in it.

I just finished getting my electrical gremlins sorted out (had a wiring problem as well as bad reference sensors, ignition switch and throttle position switch) The mixture was all sorts of messed up, so now the car actually runs well. It feels much stronger up top. I cant wait to see what the lap times look like tomorrow.

inactiveuser92616

I seem to remember seeing a picture of a 944 track car, where the owner had cut circles into the lower fenders, allowing the bars to be pulled straight out. Not the prettiest, but it was a track car anyways.

porcho heat

You could cut out the lower fenders and install 968 rockers? I believe I read the 968 has an opening for easy removal, and the rockers cover this?

alex

That is a really good idea- if it works. How about those fiberworks rockers? It is hard to tell if they are tall enough at the back:

http://www.fiberwerks.com/_borders/1989%20944%20S2.jpg

Potomac-Greg

That would make a LOT of sense. Might also look good!

M758

Guys,
DON'T FEAR THE T-BARS. They are an effective and solid solution to the suspension issue. T-bars are durable never a souce for concern.Once installed you never need to touch the t-bars again. You adjust ride height with spring plate enough for what you need. How many of you adjust the rear ride height more than a 1/4 to achieve balance anyway?

Also
944 spec allows 30 mm solid bars or hollow bars equal in spring rate to 30 mm solids which means they are 31 mm.

Potomac-Greg

Sounds astonishingly like the guy trying to convinve me to get a vasectomy.

Sysgen

Who's car is this?? That picture was taken very close to my house

steve g

Yes this is an old thread. Now that I am working from home, maybe now I finally have the time to restart the project.
I have all the parts, no experience, all the tools, and Rennlist.