Alignment set up
05-20-2002, 12:40 AM
#1
Racer
Thread Starter
Alignment set up
What's a good alignment set up for a daly driver/occasional auto-x 87 NA?
05-20-2002, 09:10 AM
#2
Burning Brakes
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Look thru PCA web site,Jim Pasha(sp)I think from excellance ,had alignment specs I used them for the same thing your doing.I cant find them this am I can look when I go home tonight.
05-20-2002, 03:38 PM
#3
Three Wheelin'
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Location: San Francisco, CA Porsche: '92 968 Blk/Cashmere
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<a href="http://forums.rennlist.com/forums/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=15&t=001536" target="_blank">http://forums.rennlist.com/forums/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=15&t=001536</a>
05-20-2002, 04:01 PM
#4
Drifting
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"...If more aggressive performance is desired, then additional negative camber can be dialed in; 1¼° front and 1½° rear. These provide excellent results, but aligning the car may be more difficult and tire life will suffer." - Jim Pasha
From: <a href="http://www.davidsims.ukgateway.net/944t/suspension.htm" target="_blank">here</a>
From: <a href="http://www.davidsims.ukgateway.net/944t/suspension.htm" target="_blank">here</a>
05-21-2002, 08:20 AM
#5
Burning Brakes
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TECH FORUM
by Jim Pasha, EXCELLENCE - May 1994
924 944 968
General Suspension Preparation
Notes and Guidelines
LOOK TOWARDS THE END FOR ALIGNMENT SPECS!HOPE THIS IS HELPFUL
The 924/944/968 Porsches are blessed with some of the best out-of-box handling and balance of anything available, despite the introduction of new and technically interesting competition from other manufacturers over the years. The performance of the 944 S2 and 968 in Street GT racing is no accident.
The easiest place for an owner to start is adjusting the chassis to make it set in a level position. The lower sill of the body should be the same height at the rear of the front wheel opening as the height at the front of the rear wheel opening. Level is important here, not the actual ride height; I will go into that later. If you measure and there is a definite rake with the nose down, then the rear should be lowered. On all 1978 and later 924/944/968s, there is a cam adjustment on the outer trailing blade that will set the ride height. These bolts are VERY secure, and must be retightened after adjustment. The larger (adjustment) bolt is 36mm; a quality wrench is required and they must be retorqued correctly. I usually make a basic adjustment, then drive the car and measure after the suspension has settled.
This is something that the tinkering enthusiast can do by himself as long as he has a level site to do the adjustment. The more advanced enthusiast may make some more subtle adjustments, actually weigh-balancing the rear corners with those cams. I will add that this should be done after new shocks have been installed but prior to alignment.
Now why do this, you ask? Simply, this realigns the weight and suspension bias to be closer to what the designer intended. The settings that most Porsches after 1975 were delivered with, raised the rear bumper to meet U.S. bumper height requirements. The car will feel different after setting the chassis to the level position. Weight transfer will be minimized. The early 924s were perceived to have substandard brakes, but the real culprit was excessive weight transfer onto the fronts by the rear suspension ride height settings. A level 924 will feel like the brakes have been greatly improved, providing they are in good repair and adjustment. The 1976-77 924s must have the torsion bar ends removed and re-set to adjust the ride height setting as they do not have the eccentric adjustment. These models should be done by a good alignment shop; it's well worth the money.
As stated earlier, the car should have the rear ride height adjusted to set the car level. The early cars required the torsion bar blade to be reset; the later cars have a ride height adjustment on the trailing arms and you should have the adjusted when aligned. This high rear stance also adds mucho understeer to the car, something we want to reduce.
The following is a good set of alignment specs for any 924/944/968. They have worked well over the years and yield at least 30,000 mile on street driven Yokohama AVS tires:
Front Rear
3/4° 1°
1/16" toe in 1/16" toe in
3° caster (as close as can be adjusted, both side equal)
A good alignment should take 1.5 hours; lowering with the cam adjustment, add an hour. The normal tab is about $110 to $120 at shops in the San Francisco area.
This differs from the standard factory settings somewhat, but these settings will give you good tire life and handling adding to the tactile turn-in feel, something that will give you better feedback as you make a sharp turn. One of the features of the 924/944/968 suspension will cause some unusual wear patterns on the outside of the front tires when the car is autocrossed hard. This is from the negative roll radius as it is called; this is a safety feature to provide stability when a tire goes flat at speed. This feature should be left as is for these models if street driven.
by Jim Pasha, EXCELLENCE - May 1994
924 944 968
General Suspension Preparation
Notes and Guidelines
LOOK TOWARDS THE END FOR ALIGNMENT SPECS!HOPE THIS IS HELPFUL
The 924/944/968 Porsches are blessed with some of the best out-of-box handling and balance of anything available, despite the introduction of new and technically interesting competition from other manufacturers over the years. The performance of the 944 S2 and 968 in Street GT racing is no accident.
The easiest place for an owner to start is adjusting the chassis to make it set in a level position. The lower sill of the body should be the same height at the rear of the front wheel opening as the height at the front of the rear wheel opening. Level is important here, not the actual ride height; I will go into that later. If you measure and there is a definite rake with the nose down, then the rear should be lowered. On all 1978 and later 924/944/968s, there is a cam adjustment on the outer trailing blade that will set the ride height. These bolts are VERY secure, and must be retightened after adjustment. The larger (adjustment) bolt is 36mm; a quality wrench is required and they must be retorqued correctly. I usually make a basic adjustment, then drive the car and measure after the suspension has settled.
This is something that the tinkering enthusiast can do by himself as long as he has a level site to do the adjustment. The more advanced enthusiast may make some more subtle adjustments, actually weigh-balancing the rear corners with those cams. I will add that this should be done after new shocks have been installed but prior to alignment.
Now why do this, you ask? Simply, this realigns the weight and suspension bias to be closer to what the designer intended. The settings that most Porsches after 1975 were delivered with, raised the rear bumper to meet U.S. bumper height requirements. The car will feel different after setting the chassis to the level position. Weight transfer will be minimized. The early 924s were perceived to have substandard brakes, but the real culprit was excessive weight transfer onto the fronts by the rear suspension ride height settings. A level 924 will feel like the brakes have been greatly improved, providing they are in good repair and adjustment. The 1976-77 924s must have the torsion bar ends removed and re-set to adjust the ride height setting as they do not have the eccentric adjustment. These models should be done by a good alignment shop; it's well worth the money.
As stated earlier, the car should have the rear ride height adjusted to set the car level. The early cars required the torsion bar blade to be reset; the later cars have a ride height adjustment on the trailing arms and you should have the adjusted when aligned. This high rear stance also adds mucho understeer to the car, something we want to reduce.
The following is a good set of alignment specs for any 924/944/968. They have worked well over the years and yield at least 30,000 mile on street driven Yokohama AVS tires:
Front Rear
3/4° 1°
1/16" toe in 1/16" toe in
3° caster (as close as can be adjusted, both side equal)
A good alignment should take 1.5 hours; lowering with the cam adjustment, add an hour. The normal tab is about $110 to $120 at shops in the San Francisco area.
This differs from the standard factory settings somewhat, but these settings will give you good tire life and handling adding to the tactile turn-in feel, something that will give you better feedback as you make a sharp turn. One of the features of the 924/944/968 suspension will cause some unusual wear patterns on the outside of the front tires when the car is autocrossed hard. This is from the negative roll radius as it is called; this is a safety feature to provide stability when a tire goes flat at speed. This feature should be left as is for these models if street driven.
