jturbo

Which torsion bars are the best, Hollow or Solid, for a 1987 944 Turbo?

kev951

What's best for one might not be best for the other. The general consensus is hollow for full race cars and solid for street cars

Constantine

Would use solid and if for a race car application, would find another place to lose the few pounds of difference between the solid and hollow versions.

333pg333

Are you speaking from experience Constantine? Can you give your reasons?

Constantine

From our work in rebuilding torque tubes (TT) we have found the hollow 993 drive shafts, used in all the 993 TTs, have issues with fracturing as well as twisting out of true.

Have also heard anecdotally over the years of being in the business, that 911 hollow half shafts have failed from race use.

So to me, the benefit of using a hollow torsion bar doesn't make sense due to potential issues in the future.

333pg333

Yes, I've bought from you in the past. Great work.
Having said that I think the stresses on the torsion bar might be somewhat less than drive shafts. But I agree in considering saving weight elsewhere or just delete t/bar.

jturbo

Thank you for your input everyone!

jturbo

Are Sway-Away torsion bars a good torsion bar to use? I'm going to keep my Weltmeister 220lb front springs in the front over Koni shocks and upgrade to the 26mm torsion bars in the back.

What about a coilover shock to replace the rear torsion bar set-up. I'm looking for advice as to which set-up is the best.

kev951

Yes, sway away is a good notable brand.

Constantine

Hi JTurbo,

It would help to let the group know what your end goals are and if this for pure racing purposes.

Would advise, and as you probably know, removing the TB and replacing with a helper spring would disqualify you in certain racing classes.

Apologies if I missed your intent in an earlier post.

jturbo

My goal is to have the car's front and rear suspension balanced. I have Koni Coilovers on my front suspension with a Weltmeister 220lb spring and a spring spacer. My intention is to replace the old rear torsion bars with 26mm torsion bars and have it corner balanced. OR Installing a Coilover Rear Shock (Koni 30 series) not sure what spring rate or whether or not to take the torsion bars out with the coilovers.

I will use this car specifically on the street or hillclimbs.

Gage

I have a 'like new" set of Sway Away 28mm solid torsion bars available should your specs change.

jturbo

Thanks, but I think I'm leaning toward the 26mm Sway Away solid torsion bars. I know little about the "helper" spring coilover option. Does anyone know anything about the coilover rear shock?

Are they better than the torsion bar options?

Do you leave the torsion bars in when the coilover rear shocks are used?

How do you calculate the overall spring rate if you leave the torsion bars in the car and add the coilover rear shocks?

Penguinracer

Elephant Racing Quick Change Torsion Bars - hollow:

https://www.elephantracing.com/porsc...w-torsion-bars

Oddjob

Over the years, there are several threads on this forum and also on the 944 forum regarding coilovers, effective wheels rates in combination with torsion bars, or torsion bar delete. Well worth searching thru the posts if you have time and interest. Various opinions and perspectives are represented.

What rear shocks are you planning to use, with upgraded torsion bars? Koni single adjustables, that match the fronts?

For your application, wanting to balance the rear with roughly 220 lb/in front springs, I would be hesitant to go with the coilover route. Most of the quality rear coilover shocks are intended for track/race use, and are valved for higher spring rates. The factory 968 M030 rear shocks (koni single adjustable) with the barrel helper spring (low rate) would maybe be an option to try to match with front springs in that range. These were used in combination with rear torsion bars. But not easy to find these days. Maybe still available new from Porsche, but would be potentially expensive for what you get.