86 951 Driver

I am looking to finally after 2 year redo the front suspension on my car. Car is mostly driven on the street, may seen an autocross this year if I can get everything done to it.

So the questions are:
1. Where to get bushings for the front control arms?(Swaybar, control arms) Can I get M030 rubber bushings for my car? (Are refurbing the arms really $500?)
2. Will 200 lb springs work well with Koni Strut Inserts?
3. Are the VW Fox strut mounts okay for the 86 951?
4. List of components to be replaced/fixed: Strut inserts, new front springs, control arm bushings/ball joints. Is there anything else I am missing on the front suspension?

A separate project will be to swap out my steering rack as mine is just puking fluid.

Arominus

#1 Just order the 968 castor blocks, they are the way to go. Much less rubber than the original 944 ones. The front of a-arm bushings are not directly available from Porsche, there are some aftermarket solutions. If yours are not beat down or swelled you can likely get away with leaving them alone for now. The ball joints only need to be rebuilt if they are bad or if the boots are broken , the passenger side one generally goes first. The rennbay rebuild kit with the bronze inserts is the way to go, its $185. It was easy to do on my bench and I filled them with redline CV-2 grease.

#2 yes! the cars are undersprung, and any increase in spring rate helps. 200 won't be too much vs your rear T-bars. If you went to 250, I would seriously consider getting thicker T-bars out back.

#3.... I don't know.. are you sure yours are bad? I thought mine were, but it was really a bad ball joint. They were smooth, so I opted not to replace them.

#4 I did delrin center swaybar bushings along with swaybar brackets. Well worth it IMO and about $40 for each. The rebuilt rack from autozone is decent and has stayed sealed for me for 3 years now. Well worth $199. Get new tie rod ends if yours are at all suspect. I got my bushings from Paragon for the sway bar. I think zims is the best deal on the 968 castor blocks but that may have changed.

#5 I'm jealous that you have an rz350. I've always wanted one, though it wouldn't be a great first bike I imagine

9mil

I'm in the midst of this as well- not sure what I'm going to go with..... BUT let's talk about that 2smoker!
Rz's are great bikes - I've had a couple and a couple RD's and all were great bikes - easy to work on and just ride extremely well.... I also had a 3MA reverse cyl TZR250... That was a little bit of a PIA! RG500 with a bunch of gixxer stuff is in the future for sure ;-)
Lets see some pics!

Oh, and ill post my suspension swap info when I get everything here- sorry to get of topic!

9

86 951 Driver

Old RZ mods included: 30 MM carbs, TDR Reeds, Reed Spacers, and Spec II pipes.

New RZ: Mods included: Tuned and ported engine, 30 MM Carbs, Toomey Pipes, Reed Spacers, Fiberglass Reeds, and Spec II full fairing.


This is getting slightly off topic, but I love the RZ350. I am a 2 stroke nut. If I could have a 2 stroke car I would. I have nothing but good luck with all my 2 stroke bikes. This RZ350 above is actually my second one.

____________________

Back on topic:

I don't want to do this job 2 times. So I would like to get my control arms refurbed and replace the strut inserts along with strut mounts. If the strut mounts don't have to be changed right now I could always do them later. I have a lifetime alignment I can use.

My primary reason for this refresh is to get the car to handle like it should. I don't want to lower, I just want a solid driving car. The running gear is ready. The suspension is still lacking a bit. I am trying to replace most if not all of the rubber bits, ball joints, and lastly struts with new springs.

On my old 924S when I refurbed the control arms, and put new strut inserts with lowering springs that car handled awesome. It was like a brand new car. I loved it. I want that with my 944. The 951 doesn't inspire confidence when I'm on the highway which is not a good thing in a sportscar.

Arominus

Might I also mention that if your this far it's not much more work to replace the rod bearings? And replace the o rings in the oprv.

86 951 Driver

I haven't replace the rod bearings. That might be a job that is too big for me to do. The OPRV housing has been resealed.

Arominus

It was easy, if your going to have the rack and a arms off, nows the time. Support the motor, pull the crossmember (4 bolts) and drop the pan. Then your at the rods.

Did you replace the o rings on the oprv itself? They don't come with the reseal kit.

86 951 Driver

I'm not sure if that was replaced or not. I had a shop perform that work.

This work is being performed on a turbo not an N/A.

16valver

I'm also in the market to do this stuff on my car. I've found from a similar post I made on here a while ago that Ideolas Garage has a very good PowerFlex bushing kit put together for our cars. My plan is to run PowerFlex everything except the front sway bar bushings. This keeps costs down and will allow slightly more oversteer than understeer. Haven't heard anything bad out PowerFlex....yet.

Heres a link to Ideolas page with the kit you can put together:
http://garage.ideola.com/prod-Suspen...html#Powerflex

Heres a link to the PowerFlex webpage with the bushings for P-cars (I don't know what bushings are used on the 86 turbo cars):
http://powerflexusa.com/porsche.aspx

I guess these are useful if you were hoping to run a poly set up... Good luck!!

seafeye

I have been looking for a really nice RZ350 as well. I love the ones with the full fairings. In Canada they used to be a dime a dozen. Same for the RD350's.
I'll trade you a two stroke Vespa P200 for one.

86 951 Driver

I only have my one RZ350. I had it shipped from California to Kansas City. I had it up for sale last year, but after I had a few people look at it I decided to keep it. The only thing I would like now is a step up to a RZ500. My bike isn't perfect, but the engine is well worth the money I paid for this bike. It has stock gearing and pulls the wheel up in first and second gear no problem.

86 951 Driver

I can't get over just how much bushings are for the front of the control arms. After I have replace the bushings, and ball joints that is almost $500 right there. I must have used Rubber bushings on my old 924S because I did almost the entire front suspension for that much and rear shocks.

Butters944

^My entire early front suspension including new control arms, poly bushings and 200# coilovers was well under $500! One of the things that makes me hesitant about late cars in the future.

16valver

Yep bushings aren't cheap.

Bushings are not something to cut costs on. At the end of the day, they're what ties it all together. They make the suspension do what its supposed to do and work how it should. I suppose for your application, OEM wouldn't be a bad choice. No matter how you cut it, its going to be expensive, especially if you're after that solid new car feel.

86 951 Driver

I made a similar thread on Pelican about bushings. Someone referred me to these two companies

http://energysuspension.com/products...-Bushings.html

http://prothane.com/universal-produc...-guide-page-1/

They don't Porsche specific bushings but it is possible that some of these universal bushings might fit our cars. Such as the front of the control arm and possible endlink and swaybar bushings. Since they are universal I would hope they are a bit cheaper. Any one use these guys before?