Smitje 928

Hi guys,

I recently finished the restauration of my '87 S4. As all of the suspension was removed and either refurbished or replaced basically everything inside the wheel wells is new.

As a result the car sits very high, even after adjusting the collars on the shocks. I had new custom made springs on the car first, changed that to old refurbished springs but the result was the same:








Yesterday the car was aligned, and the shop also indicated that they thought the car sat very high.

Is this common after doing a full suspension overhaul? And if so, is it just a matter of putting some miles on it or will I need to replace the springs with custom made shorter ones?

Thanks for any thoughts!!!

Cheers,

Manfred

Speedtoys

Car needs to drive to settle the front..the rear does seem high..are you OUT of adjustment?

Look at my sig file for a link on hints on how to calculate adjustment instead of guessing if that's part of your next steps.

Smitje 928

Thanks for the help!

No we were not out of adjustment, just looks to sit higher than expected.

We had the car on scales to make sure the front and rear wheels had the same 'weight' both left and right. Can't think what we missed that causes it to sit so high....

Speedtoys

Dont worry about corner weighting..not really a thing in a GT car...and when it DOES become one, you've resolved 1000 other racecraft issues in your racing before this makes a big difference.

Go for correct ride height with the drivers weight in the seat...the car will do everything better at proper OE ride height. But that front suspension needs some miles to settle after assembly...and make sure you did the proper procedure to tighten the lower control arm up there too.

Smitje 928

As in not fully tightening them until the car has settled?
.

Speedtoys

Ya..

I wouldnt highway drive it, but..thru a parking lot with some speed bumps wont hurt anything...then crawl under with a torque wrench and drive home. Then get your heights, and load up the spreadsheet

Mrmerlin

What I do to settle the front end after LCA removal is to leave the rear clamp bolts loose by 1 turn.
NOTE the rear LCA clamps capture metal alignment collars that are in the cross member pad area so they cant come free of the mounting pads,
BUT the rubber bushing will be able to twist in the clamped area with the clamp not fully tightened.
Also leave these bolts loose but snug
the lower shock bolt, as well as the upper sway bar link
and the lower sway bar link.

Go drive the car about 2 miles use the brakes a few times to load the front end, then park on a flat surface,
Get some cardboard and slide under under the car without jacking it up and tighten the rear LCA bolts.86 FT/Lbs
NOTE the front LCA bolts get tightened to 66 Ft/Lbs.

Then drive the car for 50 miles.
Note during this time if the car is still sitting hi i would suggest to drive it for 20 miles then measure the RH,
jack the car up and reset the ride height use Speedtoys link to figure how much you need to lower the car,
shoot for the hi side measurement as the RH will drop after a few hundred miles.
Make sure the adjuster collars are within 2 turns of each other
then while its on the alignment rack you can tighten the lower shock mount and the lower sway bar link bolts.

Tony

with all new bushings and parts it may take a bit longer but the real key is making sure those LCA bolts are "loose" allowing the bushings to settle in a natural/zeroed out position un loaded before torqueing them down

Smitje 928

Thanks, I downloaded your excellent file and will use it as our guide!!!

Smitje 928

Thank you (again) very much MrMerlin!!!

Smitje 928

Thanks Tony, I will share the results after we do the adjustments

Schocki

As stated above: drive the car first and adjust the ride height.

I adjusted my GTS to the exact ride height numbers out of the small workshop booklet from Porsche.
Car sits exactly at the height when it was delivered in 1992. The eliminated sagging in combination with new Bilstein shocks gives the car superb performance and comfort.
The delivery height by the factory might not look as "sexy" as most cars with a sagged suspension, but it will make sure that the suspension alignment figures can be easily adjusted too.

Petza914

Once things are settled to their finished height, you can put the car on a 4 post lift and use an air hammer with point bit to spin the adjustment collars (works way better and faster than a spanner wrench) and this can be done without ever lifting the car and while the weight of the car is sitting on the springs. This gives you the ability to measure the change without having to resettle the suspension.

Sorry, but I can't do the factory ride height thing - I have mine set a bit lower, but not slammed. It drives fantastic and I haven't had any clearance issues with the front spoiler on driveways or speedbumps. The bash plates I installed over a year ago are still spotless and haven't touched the ground yet.

Smitje 928

Thanks Schocki! I will take all the necessary steps first and then decide on what ride height I prefer. I must admit I tend to go for factory height as my part of Holland is filled with horrible speedbumps

Smitje 928

Thanks for the tip, but I can't yet imagine how to use the air hammer

Great looking car btw, amazing color and beautiful set of wheels!!!!