porschefig

83' 944 suspension
street/autocross 944
what the stock spring rates and torsion bar sizes/ rates? what are the spring heights and diameters of 83' 944s? spring heights and diameters for 928s from the late 70s? i could possibly get the rear springs out of a 78' 928. those are rated at 300lbs. i cant lower my car because i already have trouble w/ speed bumps and driveways and SOME STREETS. if the the 928 rear springs would fit on the front of my car what would the proper rear torsion bar size be. any advice on already known suspension set ups and suppliers?AND I CANT LOWER MY CAR. all help is appreciated. im a 17 year old high school student. ive owned both cars for 3 years. payed for them and the insurance myself. ive autocrossed w/ scca for 2.5 seasons and i was 1 of 4 kids at the junior autocross in boise porsche parade 02'. ive always wanted to do some suspension work. those of you at boise might remember my tire screaching performance. i could never afford it at all until now. someone just mentioned paragon products, seems to have better prices/selection. however, they offer the same weltmeister springs(w/ WAY more spring rate selection!) but they all lower the car an inch. suggestions for other suppliers and all help for suggested rates and sizes is much appreciated.

unrelated?: my 944 has a 2 peice shift ***/ boot. my 81' 924 has a 1 piece shift ***/boot. ive been told my 944 must have aftermarket parts. the shift boot has a plastic base that snaps into the center console. the leather goes up from there, but isnt connected to the shifter itself. in my 924 the leather wraps the shifter and is attached directly to the metal under the console (w/o the plastic base). does anyone else have a early 944 with this 2 piece plastic/leather set up?

Murry

FYI, I have an 83' 944 and it has the one piece leather shift boot.

Skitch

I have an 83 with the 2 piece setup. One is the rubber "inner" shift boot that seals the hole in the floor and the other is the regular leather shift boot. Both of which are available from numerous sources. My inner shift boot was torn up pretty good and if you had the windows down you could feel air getting pulled up through the shifter. I replaced it with an OEM one from 944racing.com.

I will leave the suspension question to the experts, I am curious for some of the info myself.

Tim

porschefig

944racing.com says "one piece leather boot to re-cover your existing unit"
is this the correct piece? the plastic bottom on mine that snaps into the console is broken on the bottom so it no longer snaps into place. it just sits there and it makes an annoying vibration. the leather is also pretty torn up.

porschefig

also, the front spings on both paragonproducts and 944racing still lower my car an inch to an inch and a half.

Skip

Stock rates for your car are 140 lbs/in front spring and 23.5mm torsion bars. I doubt the 928 springs would fit - I believe they are a bit smaller in ID and length.

The Weltmeister Sport springs will lower the car just over one inch, but then you can add 1" spacers to bring it back up to stock height.

Watch out for your autocross class rules... the springs move you up instantly. A popular option to stay in stock class but be competitive is to only upgrade the shocks and struts to Koni Sports (free mod) and get creative with the sway bars - then get some great street tires like BS S03's, BFG KD's or Kumho MX's.

Good to have you here at such a young age - you don't need to justify your ownership and enthusiasm to us... we all act like 3rd-graders in this forum.

Good Luck!

RMills944

Okay, now to add 200LB. springs, or possibly even 220, is there anything else I should do while doing this? These springs also lower the car about 1.25 inches to 1.5 inches (Weltmeister).

Skip

In an 84, if the struts are original consider a replacement or upgrade. Also, since the struts are coming out, check all the other local parts for wear - things like control arms, bushings, upper strut bearing, tie-rods, etc. You should really get a fresh alignment once complete, so anything that changes suspension settings should be done at once to save time and money.

Good Luck!

porschefig

performance products sold the 220 lb spring at stock height. to me my class doesnt matter. as fast as i can go!! the pca club in great falls, MT has usually 1 event a year and its a DE. so there are no classes there. then for scca racing, we dont go by national rules and im pretty darn sure my class wont be affected, all the tech inspectors kno me and my car and as long as i dont do anything darastic they usually just make sure im safe and the car is empty. what t bars do u suggest with 220 lb spring? 250? 250+? performance products told me 26mm t bars w/ the 220 lb springs. anyways, i happen to be in school right now so, time to go!

Skip

With 220, I would leave the t-bars alone - not worth the hassle to increase to 26mm. With 250, you might think about using a 27 or 28mm bar (these are the smallest I recommend for upgrade - all other are really not worth the effort). I would seriously consider a sway bar upgrade to either 26.8 or 30 front and 16 or 19 rear. If you go to 220-250 front springs and leave the T-bars at 23.5, upgrade the rear sway to the 19mm 968 M030

porschefig

the problem with the rear of my car is that the suspension is very soft....bottoms out on launch and lifts the inside rear on corners....the sway bars are goin to help the tire lift but i think the suspension is just tooooo soft for it to really effect it. am i wrong?? sway bars are slightly more expensive. but not much! $250 for 22mm bars and $89 for the adapter since my car doesnt have a rear sway bar. the 19mm 944 cup sway bar is $150..that would be cheaper the the tbars. what would be better to buy. 27 or 28mm tbars or 19 or 22mm rear sway bars

porschefig

as far as that goes why cant i just find some 300 pound springs that dont lower it and go with 30mm rear t bars

porschefig

does anybody know if the adjustable ride height coil over kit for 944s makes it possible to keep the standard ride height..then i could have any spring rate 200-1000???

porschefig

coil spring spacers with the 250 lb springs would be cheaper then the coil over kit. that makes more sense for right now. however, the coil overs offer way more future possibilities.

Ken

How are your shocks? Mine were blown and replacing them with Koni Yellows really stiffened everything up. On launch, as you mention, the car would really rock back. With the new shocks, it doesn't do this.

I never lifted the inside rear tire when my car was stock, but I did have a rear sway bar. It was 14mm if i remember correctly, from the sport option in 83, so any swaybar in the rear would be a huge upgrade.

If i were you I'd skip springs at this point and get good swaybars and shocks.

Edit: Also, if you're shocks are shot the car will be riding lower. When I put new shocks on, the ride height came up 1/2" to an 1". I could tell because the tire to fender gap got alot bigger.