brownryce08

I own a 1990 944 S2 Cabriolet. I am currently considering putting coilovers on the rear. I will be putting Bilstein(hope I spelled that right) shocks with 250 lb progressive rate springs on the front and the same shocks with the same springs on the back. I have a very knowledgeable mechanic by the name of Garrity Repta who is helping me. He says that when he has done this on 944 coupes in the past he has usually just taken the torsion bars out. One time he lathed the torsion bars down so they were very thin and were basically just used to "hold the place of the torsion bars" there was really no noticeable difference with the smaller torsion bars in or out. But because I have a cabriolet I was wondering if anyone out there had any ideas on if keeping a thinned down torsion bar or removing them all together is the best option. I know that if we kept them indexing ride height would be a bugger, where as if they were removed it would be a simple matter of adjusting the coilovers. I am inclined to just remove the torsion bars but I am worried that I am over looking something. I am very new to the Porsche world and am very aware that I don't know much and what I do know is possibly wrong so any help you can give me would be appreciated.

Thanks
1990 944 S2 Cabriolet

botchup

I have now Idea what you mean by "coilovers" what are they and what are the advantages to having them?

I have the same car - also have Bilstiens fitted - didn't do it myself though.

PS - My car rides like a dream with the new ones... but the front end is alot lower.

brownryce08

Coilovers are the springs that go around your Bilstein shocks. In the front of our car we have a shock (the bilstein) and a coilover spring that goes around the shock. If I understand it correctly the shock is there mainly for compression and the shock takes care of the rebound. In the rear of our car we have shocks just like up front but instead of coilovers or springs we have what are called torsion bars. Once again if I understand it correctly the torsion bars are essentially a spring of a different sort. They are a 18" - 24" (that length is a guess) bar of anywhere between 22mm and 30mm with splined ends. When the suspension is compressed the torsion bar twist's, when the torsion bar untwists that is what returns your car to it's normal ride height. Indexing the rear ride height it really a bugger because the torsion bars involve 7 hrs of labor for a qualified mechanic to remove and the only way to index ride height, once you have used up the limited amount of adjustment on your adjustable perches, is to take out the torsion bars and adjust them. I don't know if this makes sense I am trying to explain a concept that I have a very limited working knowledge of. If someone wants to point out what I got wrong I would not be offended.

Also you mentioned the front of your car is lower. Everything I have read indicates that the best handling we can get out of our cars is achieved when the car is completely even. Porsche had to meet US crash regulations so they jacked the rear of our cars up about and inch or so above what the front is at. This tends to idiot proof the car by causing it to understeer badly. Once again this is based on what I have read and I could have misunderstood.

Hope that helps explain coilovers

Michael Stephenson

Garrity knows his stuff. He used to hang out here, but it has been a few years since I have read anything from him. He was quite the guru on teh 944 series and I wish he were still posting.

Some springs, like I think on the 968 sport set-up, are helper springs which still need the torsion bars. Others are replacements for the torsion bars.

The main thing is to keep the car balanced with the spring rates (this does not meant that front and back are equal - it means that they will give the car neutral handling). Keeping the torsion bars in or taking them out needs to be considered with the rear spring rates and the front spring rates.

I would trust Garrity on getting your car set-up properly.

brownryce08

Thanks for the heads up. I feel really comfortable with Garrity helping me. He sure knows his stuff. His new shop is a couple of blocks from my work, so I drove over with some copies of reply's I had to this same thread on the 924/944/951/968 forumn. Some people raised some valid questions he answered all of them. It sure is nice to have someone that is so knowledgable just down the street. I am afraid I will end up spending a lot more money than I would have though.

Thanks again

Brownryce