fiftyfive

A couple of years ago when I first starting looking at Porsches, one of the first I drove and considered was an '86 951 - really liked it but had too many bad stories. Great advice from this forum at the time, "...don't buy a Frankenstein monster." I ended up with an '86 930, still my favorite car. As luck would have, a very clean 43kmile red/blk '86 951 came up for sale where I got the 930, essentially one owner, bone stock. It's had excellent maintenance, two timing belt changes already plus repairs as needed, only on its second set of tires and brake pads...owners treated it gently.

I plan to keep it reversibly stock and won't run on the track, but haven't liked the wallowy feeling rear end in hard cornering and acceleration. New tires (S02's) go on Friday. The rear shocks feel a bit soft and slightly bouncy. If they need replacement, Konis or Bilsteins? Adjustable for not? If adjustable, which if any gives the most ease of adjustment?

When the shocks go on I'll probably add an adjustable rear sway. Weltmeister Stage II? Any other good ones?

Finally, what's the widest rear spacer, if any, that can be safely run without longer studs? If not advisable, so be it.

Thanks for your comments.

John

vt951

John, nice looking 951. Where are you located? Just wondering if you're in cincinnati, because I was talking to a John about my '86 951 a couple weeks ago, and he had an '86 930. Since there are only a handful of Johns in cincinnati, I thought you must the same guy. ;-)

fiftyfive

I'm in Lynchburg Va, about an hour south of Charlottesville, about 1.5 hr from VIR, aka home away from home. My nephews are at Miami of Ohio.

fiftyfive

Make that Lynchburg, Va.

Landjet

Nice find. As far as spacers I would not go more than a 1/4" with stock lenght lug bolts. If you need to go more look into the hub centric spacers that come with lug bolts.

fiftyfive

I answered one of my own questions - doesn't seem like Bilstein makes a 951 shock.

xsboost90

i wouldnt go bigger than 18mm or the 19mm adjustable rear on full soft with your stock front sway- good thing about the adjustable is you can change fronts around w/o replacing the rear necessarily. i would go w/ koni adjustables front and rear you'd be happy w/ those if your leaving it mostly stock. Maybe go to a 26.8 front bar and a 18 rear- remember its not a 911 if you go too stiff in the rear it'll be fishtail city.

TheRealLefty

In my experience it's actually hard to get the tail of a 944 too loose. A lot of track guys can't get the tail stiff enough with the factory bars and go with rear Weltmeister bars, either with 26.8 or 30 mm factory fronts or the very heavy front Weltmeister bar.

One good piece of "conventional wisdom" to share, though, about shocks. Resist the temptation to fight "wallowing" and front/rear bucking by adjusting the shocks super stiff. At the end of the day, most of that job belongs to the springs and over-shocking a softly sprung car will just make it bounce at a higher frequency. I've seen very palatable street/track day 944's with 250 lb fronts and 80 lb rear coil overs. With double adjustable shocks (slightly over my head as to exactly how they are best adjusted), spring rates can go up even higher without bone jarring results.

Our suspensions lack the sophistication of newer Bimmers and other modern multi-point suspensions (being the corporate parts bin love child of Rabbit front struts and Super Beetle rear trailing arms) but with the help of an experienced tuner or some clever self directed development, the 944/951's wonderful balance can be harnessed into enough grip to shame may 993/996 variants at speed.

fiftyfive

Definitely, shocks themselves won't fix wallow and certainly not body lean, of which mine has a bit too much. I look at sways as differential springs that, in conjunction with shocks to lessen transient wallow/lean, can give enough adjustability to improve handling. The backroads here are fun but bumpy; over-damping and stiffness can really hurt.

Keithr726

Welcome, thats a nice looking 951. It looks very familiar

Spidey944

Bilstein makes a rear HD shock, I have a new pair. It's the front struts I'm having a hard time finding a matching set-up.

xsboost90

contact sh944 he bought some HD bilstein early style struts and adapted them to work on his turbo.

fiftyfive

Keith R - Uh, looked in your garage lately?

I ordered 7mm rear spacers for a try - small rear track change in exchange for not having to use longer studs. Every little bit helps.

Thanks for heads up on Bilstein HD's. From what I can tell, the rear Konis have to be removed for adjustment. My guess for a starting point would be full soft or near for bumpy backroad driving. Any thoughts or experience with adjustment settings?

I'm skeptical about the need for front strut bars in more recent cars, but given the quarter century old platform, does a bar make noticeable improvement in the 944?