J1NX3D

Hi,
I have a RoW '86 944 n/a, so I have ali A arms and early offset.

My front and rear according to the books are 2946N* springs and 23.5mm torsion bars. Up until recently I had a 20mm front sway bar and no rear swaybar but i upgraded to a 26.8mm front and 18mm rear with all new bushes for both. Had a track day on Monday and it was great! Such an improvement!

I am only doing about 2-3 track days a year but lots of spirited back road driving on weekends when weather permits.
I'd like to go for a more sporty setup. I'm not looking at stripping, caging or tracking this car full or part time, just the occasional track day or weekend roadtrip.

Does anyone know if 200 lb/in lowered springs & 25mm rear torsion bars would be a good combo with my current sway bars? I was also looking at koni sports shocks all round too. Anyone have specifc product/vendor recommendations? Roads here aren't that smooth so I don't want to go too firm.

Is there any specific rubber components or other suspension components I can or should replace or upgrade at the same time?

Please note that I don't want to change from early offset at this stage. I'm more than happy with my stock brakes with good pads and fluid. Any upgrades to secondhand 944S2 or 951 suspension/brakes locally is likely to cost more than buying the above parts new from the US but freight and the exchange rate can be deal killers also.

If anyone has any suggestions it would much appreciated!!

TIA

ideola

I suspect 200# lowered springs will be too soft.

25.5mm torsion bars have an effective rate of ~175# at the rear.

The usual bushings to replace would be the castor block for the rear A-arm (upgrade to the 968 style, will be compatible with the alu arms), the front of A-arm bushing, and definitely the upper strut mount. For the latter, you can consider a solid mount, or even just replacing the OEM rubber will make significant difference. You should also consider the big honker bushing at the outer torsion carrier (where it bolts to the frame) and the primary bushing at the rear trailing arm (where it bolts to the torsion carrier). New rubber will be better than old; poly might squeak more than you like on rough roads.

As for dampers, I can't speak from experience, but I've heard that the Bilstein HDs are a really good sport setup for spirited road driving and occasional track use. They're typically ~20-30% less than Konis from what I've seen.

J1NX3D

Thanks Dan what would my current effective rates be?

Eric_Oz_S2

I run 350 front spring with rear coilovers. The 350 rate is a good compromise when you spend more time at the track than on the street, but if it was my DD, I would probably opt for something slightly softer (perhaps 300), matched with either 27 or 28mm tbars.

ideola

It's hard to do a comparison of the 2946N compressed figure to the uncompressed lbs-in figures used for most aftermarket springs because a direct comparison depends on how much the spring will be compressed. The max factory rating any 924/944/968 got, though, was about 175#. The 23.5mm torsion bars have an effective rate of ~126#.

Just keep in mind, if you intend to lower the car, you're probably going to want something a touch stiffer to keep things from bottoming out.

You might also be interested in looking over the suspension prep article at Clark's Garage, and of course, Jim Pasha's article. These offer additional insight from people with far more experience than me!

ideola

Whooops. I mis-typed in my first post...the rear effective rate is 175# on the 25.5 bars, so you would want front springs to match, so 200# would probably be close to OK, although might induce a bit of oversteer. But the bottoming out concern would still be there.

Thinking about it a bit more, it would be better to add some "helper" rear coilovers to the 25.5 torsion bars or just upgrade to stiffer torsion bars. If you're going to go to the trouble of replacing them, I would consider something in the 28mm-30mm range (effective rates of 254#-335#).

J1NX3D

thanks again. I had actually been using Jim Pashas article as a guide for my OP

J1NX3D

i don't want to start a new thread just for this Q: can someone please tell me if clutch master cylinder ptno's 944 423 149 00 and 477 721 171 M33 are interchangable?

J1NX3D

still trying to ascertain the above info. a friend with an S2 will give me his old clutch master cylinder for me to get rebuilt so my car has no down time.

was also wondering if someone could please tell me the purpose of all these vacuum bits and pieces in the red square. i'm wondering if i can move or delete them, if they're delete-able, what effect will it have on the car?



TIA

tblofsky

I have an 83 and deleted all that vacuum stuff along with the charcoal canister. I beleive its all stuff related to the emissions system. I also deleted the green vacuum canister on the other side of the engine bay. I have driven my car for the past 4 years like this with no problem.

J1NX3D

thanks. do you have a photo of your engine bay handy so i can see what you've done? like how you've plumbed it all off.

Marcquito

If you delete those, you may as well delete the entire emissions garbage under the hood since it would no longer be functioning properly, anyway. Cleans up under the hood a lot, too. I'm doing this myself right now... lots of ugly hoses and lines everywhere causing a huge mess...

Arominus

Get the sway bar mount stiffening brackets for the front sway bar, well worth the 40 bucks for them.

J1NX3D

i had a set made by some friends, fitted when the new bar went in. definitely no flex now!

Funn944

i'd go with 250lb lowering front springs, wouldnt want any harsher as a DD. Good shocks on all 4 corners(I used the yellow Koni Sports). Lower the rear with the eccentrics. Put in some really good brake pads and get a really agressive 4 wheel alignment. No need to go to the expense and hassle of putting coil overs on the rear. I spoke to the guys at Ground Control about coil overs and he actually told me they would probably not help my suspension (or my wallet) the way it is already set up