When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Tim comes from the Clouds!
KW's are the best riding shocks I've used so far. Cons are that there is a question over some of the build quality on external components. The plates for their top mount camber plates is pretty flimsy. Better off with Racers Edge top mounts and not just for the build quality. The RE's give you greater droop and helped in curing some push understeer I encountered some years ago. There's also a U shaped surround around the adj eccentric bolt. This needed to be welded onto shock body as it worked loose via the apparent tack welds it came with. Apart from that I thought there were great for a street/track car.
Tim good to see you back on the board. I have also had good experience with the KW's on the road but mine did not age so well, I had some squeaking from the shocks and although the body of the shock was good the springs corroded after a few years. Not sure the AST one ways I replaced them with will wear so well either but I wanted to try a monotube shock out. The spring rate my AST's came with is a little harsh for the road so I am considering dropping it down by 40lb front and rear. They do handle the power very well though and the adjustability does let them go quite a bit softer to compensate for the spring rate. Unfortuntely I have not had enough time with the car this summer to give a proper comparison but I would say to be careful going too high with the spring rate on the KW clubsport as these are more track focused although depends what your intention is for the car.
Not sure what rates the Clubsports come with out of the box? If it's for mostly street driving then perhaps the V3's would suffice. Not sure of your road quality there guys? I ran the more stiffly sprung race version and they were fine on the street in my opinion but it's all subjective. Nobody that ever went in my car back then complained of the harsh ride though.
Not sure what rates the Clubsports come with out of the box? If it's for mostly street driving then perhaps the V3's would suffice. Not sure of your road quality there guys? I ran the more stiffly sprung race version and they were fine on the street in my opinion but it's all subjective. Nobody that ever went in my car back then complained of the harsh ride though.
I think it is your choice with the Clubsports but there may be a default option possibly around 400lbs/ 80nm up front?
On the road I think it is important to have that compliancy to soak up bumps and ride over them as opposed to bouncing over them if that makes sense as it makes for more fluid progress. Always hard to get that road track compromise for an occasional track day car.
Road quality varies but on country roads you need a softer setup to get the best out of the car. Depends on use and where you live I guess.
I think the V3 spring rates are probably the sweet spot for the road although Tim is running a lot of power which may effect spring rate choice.
I think it is your choice with the Clubsports but there may be a default option possibly around 400lbs/ 80nm up front?
On the road I think it is important to have that compliancy to soak up bumps and ride over them as opposed to bouncing over them if that makes sense as it makes for more fluid progress. Always hard to get that road track compromise for an occasional track day car.
Road quality varies but on country roads you need a softer setup to get the best out of the car. Depends on use and where you live I guess.
I think the V3 spring rates are probably the sweet spot for the road although Tim is running a lot of power which may effect spring rate choice.
I'd say to this point Nick that not all Apples are Apples. As in, spring rates are one thing but shock valving is another. So you might have someone with say Bilstein Escort Cup suspension and 400lb spring and someone else with KWs and 600lb springs. I know which I've found clearly more compliant and 'agile' over uneven surfaces. I know you like KWs having ridden with you in the 993 'Company car' all those years ago. I still remember being impressed with the ride quality and your driving ability. :-)
I'd say to this point Nick that not all Apples are Apples. As in, spring rates are one thing but shock valving is another. So you might have someone with say Bilstein Escort Cup suspension and 400lb spring and someone else with KWs and 600lb springs. I know which I've found clearly more compliant and 'agile' over uneven surfaces. I know you like KWs having ridden with you in the 993 'Company car' all those years ago. I still remember being impressed with the ride quality and your driving ability. :-)
I agree Pat but my understanding is that if you order say a set of KW Clubsports they will set the valving according to your spring choice as the two have to be matched. I always thought there is a range that you can change the springs around a given valving but outside of that the shock will not effectively control the spring possibly +/- 20nm. If you go outside of that range you may need to have the valving on the shock changed to get the best out of it. The KW's are a twin tube shock which also helps with the ride quality.
With V3's the spring rate is not a choice so you get the matched setup out of the box. The 993 with the V3 kit was pretty much the perfect compromise for road and track although when pushed hard it did start to show its limits but fine for a fun car. I am not sure if it was my ability or just the perfect balance of that car the way we had it setup. I do miss it a lot. Hopefully next time you are in the UK I will be able to take you for a spin in the 968t
I'm sure you're right on the springs Nick. We probably moved well out of the range in the last iteration of spring that I wound up with. Not sure if we did any damage to the valving by going up to 140/160 in the last iteration of these? That was pretty firm on the street though.
Sorry to bump an old thread, but was it ever confirmed that Tim did NOT use the factory cams? It was once mentioned that he may have had them reprofiled, but I've read through this all twice and never saw comments beyond that.
Hi Guy's, I know its been a while, near on two years to be exact. I've been busy at work etc. and using the Porsche has been limited. Its done only a couple of thousand miles in total and I decided it was time for a couple of upgrades and some checks. The last time I was on I was after advice on shocks and suspension upgrades.
I stripped out the whole rear end, completely rebuilt the rear suspension, re:- powder coated and painted. All new bushes, wheel bearing's, bolts,nuts and washers. The torque tube was also fitted with four new heavy duty bearing's which I got from America.
After completing the rear end I turned my attention to the front, totally stripping the front suspension. I suspended the engine, removed the cross-member and dropped off the sump. I'm glad I decided to do this has the oil pickup pipe support was cracked. This I reinforced and refitted the sump pan. The front end then got the same attention has the rear. I decided to go for KW Variant 3 shockers which look great.
I'm thinking of changing the wheels, ten J's on the front and 11 J's rear, any suggestions welcome.
Nice to hear from you Tim. I'm not around much either these days but good to see you've still got the beast and it's running fine. What hp/tq did you wind up with? What sort of boost are you running?
You can fit 11's on the rear / 10's on the front. Might need to roll the front guards just depending on offset and your car in particular. I've found these cars tend to be different when it comes to clearances.
I was always pretty keen on a square setup but don't think you'd lose too much with that proposal. I'm sure you'll like the KWs. Even though there were a couple of design or finishing aspects that could be better, I always really enjoyed the ride quality.
I've got Gemballa 8"x 18" fronts and 10"x 18" rears, Duke had the same wheels on his Green Hunter with 11" rears. I don't think the S2 came with rolled arches so clearances may be tighter.
I wonder if deleting the balancer shafts contributed to the oil pick up pipe issue.
Nice to hear from you Tim. I'm not around much either these days but good to see you've still got the beast and it's running fine. What hp/tq did you wind up with? What sort of boost are you running?
You can fit 11's on the rear / 10's on the front. Might need to roll the front guards just depending on offset and your car in particular. I've found these cars tend to be different when it comes to clearances.
I was always pretty keen on a square setup but don't think you'd lose too much with that proposal. I'm sure you'll like the KWs. Even though there were a couple of design or finishing aspects that could be better, I always really enjoyed the ride quality.
Yes Patrick I've still got it but had to either do some more work to her and then use it or bite the bullet and sell. I haven't used her much because I haven't really liked the way she felt, steering seemed vague which didn't inspire.
So I'm hoping with a full suspension rebuild and the Kw's she is going to be transformed. I've also looked into having a quick rack made but the cost was horrendously high, so that was a no go. Would you run 10's front and rear? That would make tyre's easier to match.
How's thing's with you, are you not running your car now? I know you had problems with the engine and that's the last I'd heard having not been visiting the site. I did see the Porsche RP968 had done well again,
that thing looks amazing. It would be nice to come out sometime to World Time Attack and maybe Bathurst.
I've got Gemballa 8"x 18" fronts and 10"x 18" rears, Duke had the same wheels on his Green Hunter with 11" rears. I don't think the S2 came with rolled arches so clearances may be tighter.
I wonder if deleting the balancer shafts contributed to the oil pick up pipe issue.
Your car looks well on them Paul. I'm not quite sure what to go for yet. Don't know about the balance shaft delete, may well have contributed to it. Should be ok know though as I have braced it well.
Got a good set of Porsche design wheels with Federal RSR's on for sale if you know of anyone looking.
Your car looks well on them Paul. I'm not quite sure what to go for yet. Don't know about the balance shaft delete, may well have contributed to it. Should be ok know though as I have braced it well.
Got a good set of Porsche design wheels with Federal RSR's on for sale if you know of anyone looking.
Ebay or Facebook marketplace is where I'd advertise the wheels Tim. It's free on Facebook if you're on there. As for sizes, personally I wouldn't go wider than 8" fronts on our roads. Re the steering, have you had the geometry set up by someone that really knows what they're doing? Center Gravity in Leicester did mine after I fitted KW's, and it's been spot on for years. Do you have all the under trays fitted on the front, the steering goes very light at high speed without them. Just to add, I use Michelin PS2's which are a great road tyre. I've just about worn out a set in around 10k miles though.
10-07-2016, 05:29 AM
