sparkie

Hi all,
I have a 1982 928S Euro Spec and wanted to lower it. Both for handling and apperience reasons!
It seems a bit too high!

What is the drill on doing this?

Advice appriciated!

Thanks,
Sparky

WallyP

While appearance is strictly in the eye of the beholder, both handling and ride will be best at the designed ride height. In other words, lowering the car from the factory specs will NOT make it handle better.

The ride height is adjusted by turning the threaded collars on the shocks. Earlier cars did not have these collars on the front, so ride height was adjusted with spacers.

sparkie

thanks WallyP,

So to lower an 82 928S i would have to remove some spacers?

Where exactly are the spacers and how do i remove them?

thanks,
Sparky

chris928

Do you have 18" wheels. You may start with that first. You will both improve handling and looks. One individual lowered his 928 and subsequently eneded up removing his oil pan on a freeway bump.

sparkie

I do already have 18" on the car
Didnt notice the car getting any lower...
Did improve looks though!

I also own a 77' 924 and it seems to be lower to the ground...

Its about 3" lower...

Has anyone lowered there car and does anyone have any pics to share?

sparky

Erik - Denmark

Sparky,
Better listen to Wally - That's correct what he is saying - I used a lot of time for improving my suspension, and started with the same ideas as you: '.. make it lower and I will improve the handling...'
Now (after several years) I learnt, the car has the best driving abilities when adjusted according to the factory specifications.
Why? Several reasons, but the most obvious: Look at your steering rack and the connections to the front wheels - If you lower the car the steering rods will not be horizontal, i.e. the toe-in will be very mush dependent of the actual height of the car, imagine what happen when you drive and the wheels are moving up/down due to the spring movement!!
Also one more thing, this not horizontal tie rods gives a lot of 'knocks' (up/down) to the steering rack and get it to fail fast.
The suspension system on a 928 car is a complex and fine design, and for sure gives the optimum driving abilities when it is in the 'factory mode'
And in the end of the story: The car looks better (less tired) when adjusted to the factory specification
PS: If you still want to lower the front, you need other (shorter) springs - You can get OEM and you can get original Porsche used for gas-shocks (I am not 100% sure but I think 'brown' colour code)
Good luck!

John..

My car came with Factory Bilstiens both front and rear. The fronts were non-adjustable, the rears were. When I replaced them, the fronts would not go any lower (new shocks were adjustable) than the limit of the threaded adjuster nuts. The early cars had taller springs. After installation, I was able to get the car to the factory specified ride height in the literature (on the high end), but the strange thing was the car left the factory nearly 1" lower than that.

I didn't like the way it looked at all, so I machined the threaded adjusters down and set it right were it came from the factory. I am a tad lower than the range in the front, but that is where I like it. Nonetheless, the insides of my tires will probably wear out early.

morganabowen

Hey Sparky,
I also have an 82(US) I purchased two years ago. It was very low when I bought it, and I thought it looked pretty cool. Last August at Devek 2002, during the fun run, I bottomed it out and cracked the oil pan. Had to be towed home. The repairs to the oil pan was over $800.00. I replaced the factory springs with Eibachs. At the base of the springs is a collar, which enables you to lower or raise the your car. Check with your mechanic before you lower your car. Good luck.
Larry

<a href="http://www.p-caronline.com/directory/morganabowen" target="_blank">http://www.p-caronline.com/directory/morganabowen</a>

dshulik

I have an '80 with 18 inch turbo twists. I bought some Eibach springs and the adjustable threaded collars from 928 International and found the car higher than when I started even in the lowest setting. This was supposed to drop the front. After my mechanic spoke with Mark at 928 he found that the missing part was a newer style 928 upper spring seat which did the trick. At the lowest setting the height looks perfect (sorry, no picture). My only concerns are being careful up/down driveways, any high spots that might catch the oil pan, and any high speed bumpy turns with the tires turned outboard of the fender wells. I believe I heard some slight rubbing on occasion but never going in a straight line. Looks improved alot but for some reason the new Boge's are seemingly bouncy after only 1 year. Good luck!

GT Jackson

So how do you measure ride height? At present my 86.5 seems to sagging on the right side (one of those many things do be fixed on my list.) If I replace the shocks (55,000 miles) where do we set the right height? Could I have a bogus spring or the PO may have messed with the setup. Thoughts???

Ell

Sparky
I have an 86 928S that has 3.5 inches of ground clearance. That would look great in any state other then Michigan. However in Michigan the roads are so bad that I am looking to have it raised at least .5 inches.

Ell
<img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

Scott G

Gordon,

See Greg Nichols' for plenty of help on ride height adjustment.

Nicole

The previous owner had my car lowered dramatically. I have bottomed out too often. Now that I just got new front tires, I took the car to DEVEK to have them bring everything back to factory spec. I expect drastic improvements in both ride and handling.

Yes, it looked good lowered, but it was neither practical, nor did the handling feel right. It's not as much fun to drive.

My two previous 928s with factory ride height didn't have the 17" wheels, and because of that did not reach quite the cornering speed as the current car. But the handling on bumpy roads was a lot more predictable.

sparkie

Somone said there car was 3.5" Ground clearence...

I did some measurements and are as follows:
All measurements are from body to floor:

9" from side to floor
8.5" from front bumper to floor
8" from rear bumper to floor

Please let me know as now i am confused! <img src="graemlins/c.gif" border="0" alt="[ouch]" />

Thanks,
Sparky <img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

Ell

The 3.5 inches of clearance that I have is measured from the front spoiler to the ground. Because of this any speed bump or curb that is higher then 3.5 inches will hit my front spoiler.

The stock ground clearance for my car is 4.72 inches.

Ell <img src="graemlins/burnout.gif" border="0" alt="[burnout]" />