I tried to get my car's ride height up to factory spec but ran out of adjustment. Front is at 133mm, rear at 164mm. Still way too low. Adjustment rings unscrewed down all the way, then tightened one turn. That's it. What now? The shocks seem fine. Are my springs worn out? <img src="graemlins/crying.gif" border="0" alt="[crying]" />

 

Steve,
I'm no expert so I hope someone else will chime in but I was able to adjust my 82 from 142mm to 175 (bilsteins and who-knows-how-old springs). My first guess would be springs? Anybody else?

Jim

 

OK Steve,
just thought of two other things after reading your post. The first is probably not applicable but you said you screwed the adjustment rings down? I assume you meant up if you're trying to raise the car....that is, the adjuster nut moves upward on the body to raise the car. Just checking.

the second is I seem to recall that eibach springs will lower the car somewhat. The low measurements you're reporting seems to be more than what I recall (1" or 25mm lowering) but thought I'd put it out for comment.

Jim

 

Jim-
I'm pretty sure I am turning the adjusting ring in the right direction. If you were above the car looking down, clockwise on the adjusting ring would raise the car. or.. Releasing tension on the springs raises the car and compressing the springs lowers the car - right?? (Boges)

 

At this age I'd say the springs are simply worn. I haven't gotten around to replacing them on my 88 yet but friends who have on their own cars report magic ride qualities now.

K

 

If you are sitting looking at the shock/spring/adjusting nut:

Tha nut holds the lower end of the spring on the shock body. The upper end of the spring supports the car. The lower end of the shock connects to the wheel.

If you turn the nut so that it goes up the shock, it raises the car.

 

Ok Steve, I think we've identified the problem. You're turning the adjusting nut the wrong way. To raise the car, you need to move the lower spring perch UP, in the direction that you said would tend to 'compress' the springs (I don't it does compress much though, instead the car will be raised and the spring will retain near the same length). Easy to check,measure then get 6 turns on each side (should raise about 13mm if I remember right), drive the car 5 or 10 miles and re-measure. I know that's the direction I turned mine when I raised my car.

Jim

 

Oops, I hope you are right. What Wally said makes sense. This all started when I took Sharky to NTB for alignment with bad toe out on rt. front. They had a brand new Hunter DSP400 so the car would not have to be lifted. They had never done a 928 (all their specs matched my manuals) so armed with the manual I showed them how while learning myself. They don't normally adjust ride height as part of alignment but I insisted. We adjusted ride height twice and each time I drove the car 20 miles to settle it, then rechecked it. I thought we were raising it. BTW - the manual says on 44-3, "Adjusting nut - Turn to the right = vehicle higher. Turn to the left = vehicle lower." I guess right (looking at it) means counterclockwise (as viewed from above)? Anyway they spent 3.5 hours on the alignment getting everything right on, staying past closing time to finish and charged me $89 (price for a "difficult alignment"). Now if I find I CAN raise the car - will I need another alignment after increasing ride height?? <img src="graemlins/c.gif" border="0" alt="[ouch]" />

 

If you're going to raise the car up to 175mm or so, I think you'll need to re-align. As you're looking at the nut from the 'side' w the wheel off, you turn it to the right to raise. So, if you're looking from the top, the nut would appear to be rotating counter-clockwise...aren't these orientations fun to describe?

It's not too bad to do yourself, especially now that the adjusters have been moved and I assume the threads cleaned and oiled. As a start, figure 12 turns to get 25mm. Remove the wheel and then use a motorcycle shock tool (check at local cycle shops after making a rough measurement on the nut yourself)...I bought one at a yamaha dealer and ground a little of one end to make it fit better. On my car, the fronts were too tough to move w the shock wrench so I ended up putting a mark on the nut to identify position and used a punch and hammer to move them up. Yours may move easier. The rears on mine were much easier than the fronts.

HTH,
Jim

 

My alignment is still under warranty but I don't think I could, in good conscience, hold them to it since I MADE them mess up the ride height. The education was worth $89 to me.

 

Here's a great tutorial on ride height adjustment presented by the fine folks at 928UK:

<a href="http://www.928.org.uk/height.html" target="_blank">http://www.928.org.uk/height.html</a>

 

Yes, it is quite good - I was looking at it yesterday. I hate to admit I was turning the rings the wrong way but that appears to be the case. Maybe if this WERE rocket science, I could understand it! Hey, now we know how low a 928 will go! I got the Pro-Motion shock spanner yesterday and Sharky will be at factory spec ride height by this afternoon. Then off for a re-alignment. My alternator, a/c compressor and engine block are grateful.

 

Some comments on adjusting the ride height:

It is possible to have the car at the right height and still have it screwed up. If you can visualize having the left front and right rear adjusters a half inch too high, and the right front and left rear a half inch too low, the car would be at the right height, but you would not have equal loading. When you adjust, measure the distance on the shock and keep the distances the same on both rear socks, and keep the (different) distances the same on the fronts. In other words, the front shocks should be at the same height on both sides, and the rear shocks should be at the same height on both sides.

After you adjust the ride height, get some thin, strong cord. Find four supports that will hold the ends of two cords at the same height as the wheel centers. Stretch the cords down each side of the car from front to back, extending at least a foot in front of and behind the bumpers. Set the cords exactly the same distance from the front wheel centers on both sides, and close to parallel to the sides of the car. Set the ends of the cords exactly the same distance apart. The car is now sitting exactly between two cords.

Measure from the front of the front wheel to the cords and write down the measurements. Measure from the back of the front wheels to the cords on each side and write down the measurements. Adjust the tie rods so that the sum of the distances from the front of the wheels is just barely more than the sum of the distances to the back of the wheels. Tighten everything. This sets the toe-in. Everything else on the alignment should still be OK until you have it aligned again.

Did you center the steering rack? You pull the plastic plug from the front of the rack housing (just in front of where the steering shaft enters) and center the dimple on the rack in the center of the hole. Steering wheel should now be straight, wheels should now be straight.

 

Must I settle the suspension between adjusting ride height and stringing the toe-in? Or does an usettled suspension mostly effect castor and camber?

 

The lifting of the suspension mainly affects the toe. That is why the tire wear is so bad on the inner edges if the car is lifted during alignment - the toe is set at the correct value with the suspension up, then when the suspension settles you have toe-out rather than toe-in.

This means that you have to set ride height, drive the car and check the ride height, adjust, drive, check, etc., etc., etc. When you get the ride height close, while you have the car jacked for the (hopefully) final adjustment, center the rack, center the steering wheel, and check for the wheels being straight. When you get the right ride height measurement (after driving), string the car and set the toe.