968workaholic

You don't need any special tools for adjusting the height, but the allignment requires a special tool. It goes in the oval hole next to the mount for the sway bar drop link. Essentially it is an eccentric that allows you to adjust the rear. You deffinetly need to have your ride height figured out before you allign it though.

Gentleman Driver

Yeah, I just spoke with my mechanic and he thinks the torsion bars are the problem. We are going to get under it Saturday to take a look, but this maybe a $1,000+ job...

I think I officially got the worst PPI ever, and am regretting this decision.

:-(

RajDatta

GD, I wouldn't worry too much yet. If its an inch, you should be able to adjust the 2 sides to make them match. No need to remove the TBC to do the torsion bars. If it does come down to it, you can do it yourself. Its time consuming but nothing that can't be done.
You need a big open end adjustable wrench to adjust the accentrics. Let us know if you need any help.
Raj

Gentleman Driver

Problem is we adjusted it up, and it fell back down again after driving. Mechanic doubts that his adjustment slipped out, so if it held that means the torsion bars are slipping (according to him). I have seen some people do the job and looks quite intensive... I am happy to do it myself if it is indeed possible.

Thanks again for your help guys.

RajDatta

GD, one of the causes for this could be that the teeth on the torsion bar are chewed. Also, when you were adjusting the eccentric, could you feel some preload? I am wondering if the torion bars were completely removed.
To get to the TBC out, It would take approx 4 hrs. If you get things right the 1st time, installtion should be another 4-5 hrs. All in all, a better part of a day. If it makes you feel any better, 951 guys have to remove trannyand torque tube everytime they do their clutch .
Regards.
Raj

Gentleman Driver

Actually, the mechanic thinks that the teeth are slipping (chewed?). Honestly, this is one are of the car that I have ZERO understanding as I have never worked with a rear setup like this...

Do they need to be replaced if it is the teeth?

RajDatta

You can go about it two ways. You can either replace them or delete them completely and go with a coilover setup. They should be very cheap to pick up since most people are looking to upgrade on factory torsion bars.
If you go with coilovers, you will need to additionally compensate for lack of torsion bars on your spring rates.
There is another option but its super expensive. Its a set of Kokeln torsion bar delete setup. I think its close to $2k.
Raj

Gentleman Driver

I want to keep my car as close to stock as possible, and I have read that the coilovers don't offer a significant advantage. I will honestly track the car MAYBE twice a year if I ever work out all of these blasted issues...

Sounds like I need to do the job. Is there a DIY here or at 968forums.com? (I know you don't visit the other site Raj).

I assume doing it on my own will save me much money over the $1K job.

jpk

It's the same proceedure as re-indexing the torsion bars, except you're just pulling them out to have a look. There's a writeup on clarks-garage.com. First time I did it, it took 4-5 hours per side, now I can do both sides in a couple of hours. You do need to drop the entire torsion bar housing (big transverse tube) Don't bother taking the lower body molding off; it doesn't help to get the torsion bar mount out and you just break the clips that hold it on.

Get the car over to your mechanics and have a look at it with him when it's on the lift. Before you go digging in to get the t-bars out, look at the spring plate to make sure it's not slipping there. There are two parts to it, held together with three bolts. You slide the trailing arm plate relative to the spring arm to adjust ride height (within about a 3/4" range), camber and toe for the rear suspension, so there's quite a bit of movement possible.

I really don't think the t-bars could be slipping that little - one spline difference results in about a 2" height change. When you read through the indexing proceedure, it explains all of this really well.

Gentleman Driver

Yeah, it sounds like the torsion bars rarely wear out the teeth/splines. The car only dropped about 3/4 inch and it does not make any noises from the rear. I am hoping it is either a slipping eccentric bolt or a blown shock... I will give you all an update after I do the checkup.

Pray for me...

Jfrahm

Sounds to me like the ride height adjustment is loose or damaged. Maybe a nut behind the wrench, if you know what I mean.

-Joel.

luckett

The shock has no effect on ride height.

If the teeth were sheared, it would collapse that side as if it has no springs in it.

My money is on the nut behind the wrench.

968workaholic

+1

Gentleman Driver

OK, I feel really stupid... I had not driven the car since my mountain drive last weekend (which is when I saw the right rear sitting lower). Well, it appears that because my driveway has an incline it was affecting the ride height... (I know, I should have figured that out).

Regardless, took it to the mechanic and everything looks fine. Unfortunate thing is that I want to now replace my suspension. I am thinking of doing Koni's front and back, CS springs, and M030 swaybars. Figured I should do all of this before I spend $200+ on an alignment and balance.

Either way, I learned a lot about what could go wrong, so thanks for bearing with me!

Cheers

GD

luckett

So it was the nut behind the wheel!