mmporsche

I dropped off my 91 Turbo this morning to 3R Racing in Denver to have some new coilovers installed. They have supported some winning World Challenge cars and know the p-cars well. I bought some new RH wheels over a year ago and never got around to putting them on the car so I figured this would be a good time. The car is all stock minus a secondary muffler bypass and a crap head unit (that is being addressed next month). I decided to go with the H&R setup built by Bilstein and designed for this car. This is just my fun car, no track use, so I figured this would tighten up the handling nicely.

I found a picture of this other 964 turbo, bottom photo, and like the ride height. Will this height be murder around town if I am careful? I don't know the height, just like the stance with the wheels. Let me know your thoughts.

pirahna

The bottom picture looks like my 94 that is at the stock height. It is a good height but it can scrape if you aren't careful.

Metal Guru

I respectfully disagree.
No way that bottom picture is stock height. Stock height looks like an off-road vehicle kind of like the top picture but higher yet.
It doesn't even look like Euro stock height; it looks to be RS height.
I run RS height and it's better than when I bought my car; it was slammed and as such had no travel left and rode like a go-kart.
The only issue I had at RS height was contact of the crossover on aftermarket headers.

mmporsche

My car is in the top picture. It has the stock setup and I know the perches are as low as they will go on the shock bodies. Some suggested I put shorter springs, however, I decided that would NOT allow the proper travel of the factory shocks.

Paul, what are you running for Coilovers?

pirahna

Here is a picture of my 94, it is 100% stock.

urquattro20Vt

mmporsche -
nice looking car! And yeah while I've never used them I do know 3R knows their stuff. I'm in Denver, too - would love to grab a beer and check out your car, compare notes. I run H&R coilovers.. they're great at everything except our crappy rough roads that are so common in Denver now.....

tcsracing1

I am in the same boat.

My 1991 is at stock "4x4" ride height.
I have some 18" RH wheels that I will put on this summer but would like to drop the ride height down to make the car look "right" when i do these wheels.

The trouble with dropping the car down is the ride quality.... unless you have the right shocks $$.
I am not sure what i am going to use, however I am open to anything.

mmporsche

The setup I'm going with will cost $2,900. $1,800 for the hardware and the rest labor. This includes an alignment. Not horrible in my mind. You can save $1,400 if you install new shorter springs, however, I am not sure you will get the same ride quality.

Metal Guru

If you want to see a picture of what stock height is for a 3.6, look at Seinfield's flatnose in the recent thread: https://rennlist.com/forums/964-turb...-flachbau.html
Your car is lower than that.

mmporsche

The missing piece of information in this debate is the car may have stock suspension, however, it has been lowered from stock height with the adjustable spring perches.

Metal Guru

..or with lowering springs if the stock Boge shocks are still in place.

Metal Guru

H&R makes a good coilover set if you don't need adjustable shocks.
When I purchased my car, the H&R's were brand-new and the ride height was below RS height so it was pretty slammed. Suspension travel and by extension, ride quality, were non-existent. I raised my car up to RS height, which yielded a noticeable improvement in ride quality.
Based on my experience, I would say that RS height is the minimal ride height that provides acceptable ride quality and controllability (bump steer and roll steer get worse and any ride height less than stock height). I had to revise my headers to prevent the crossover grounding over big bumps so RS ride height can be an issue if your not running the stock exhaust.
BTW, your car looks great with the Cup wheels on it. I'd have Cups on mine if they were wider.

mmporsche

Thank you! I don't plan to get rid of the Cup 1s, however, they were refinished in the wrong color by the PO so I am having them stripped and repainted to the proper silver color.

I also appreciate the advice on the ride height. I am heading down to the shop in a few hours to check on the progress. Nice thing is I can easily go up if it is too low to start with. With my factory shocks I could go no lower....

mmporsche

I stopped by 3R to check on the progress and Chris is working hard. He has the rear installed and is working on the front. He found that when I had the car in for some maintenance (another shop) they rolled a gasket and it was torn at the intercooler. He said this would have caused a significant vacuum leak. I kept complaining to the other shop the car felt like it had lost power and now I know why. He has installed the new gasket by the intercooler so I should not only be looking good but feeling good....

cobalt

Going from 17's to 18's will change the ride lowering the car and using stiffer springs and shocks as well. However I think you will find that the handling improvement and looks will outweigh any changes in ride quality.

Although depending on how old your shocks were I think you will find the change won't be that much. The boge shocks have a tendency to become stiff before they fail completely and leave you with a very harsh ride.

Good luck I am sure you will be happy with the end product. You might even consider a small amount of negative camber while you're at it.