Anir

Thanks to Greg for all his help. Little did I know that he was plannning to cash in that goodwill only one week from now for the suspension install on his car! And, to think, I thought a little Amstel and Green Chile enchiladas would be reward enough. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

Well, the upgrade's as great as everyone has said, and I can't wait to try it out at Mid Ohio over Easter. I chose to use the wonderfully-executed Morton / Weiner rear perches, and my car is more quiet and streetable than before the upgrade. Nice design, gentlemen. I would highly recommend it for those not wanting to pay for monoballs in terms of increased expense or possible noise.

I'll be heading to Cinci tomorrow for the alignment and corner balancing, but I can already tell that the car's suspension is much more sophisticated - less jarring and better composed (currently on 7 front / 6 rear) than with the Eibach springs and stock shocks.

It's definitely a challenging project if you don't have the right tools. Even with all the Hazet sockets (19, 21, and 22 mm), I had to run the stock struts up to a friend's shop to get the top nuts off with an impact wrench. Apparently, the mechanic who installed the Eibach springs for the car's previous owner really torqued those nuts down with an impact wrench, and there was no way I could budge them.

A few design peculiarities also cropped up. On my PSS-9's, the rear top nut required a 6 mm allen wrench (along with a Hazet 19 mm open-faced socket), so the Hazet 7 mm allen wrench tool was only helpful for the front.

When reinstalling the outboard nut on the rear control arm 2 (at its connection to the PSS-9), you need a torx bit and, I believe, an 18 mm open-ended wrench. Unfortunately, you are supposed to torque this nut when the car is loaded. When you do this, there is very little room to put in the torx bit / socket. Greg and I addressed this by using a Dremel to cut off most of a Torx bit, and then held the remaining Torx with a vise grip. Worked better, but we still had to remove some of the load off the wheel to gain enough access to the female torx portion of the bolt. Apparently, Porsche makes some special torx tool for this bolt. I plan to have the alignment shop torque it down to about 63 ft-lb with an impact wrench.

Ironically, one of the biggest headaches was reassembling the heater blower components. Maybe, I was just tired or numb from the 40 degree temp, but it was a PITA.

A big thanks to Robin and Dan for the write-up at p-car.com. It saved me some grief, particularly with respect to pushing the hub all the way in before tightening the allen bolt on the front struts to set maximum negative camber. Before doing that, I have inadvertently set one side to max negative camber and the other side to max positive camber. That would have made for an interesting Nascar-style ride.

A last point: I also installed a set of Kerr Friction 03 carbon race pads (sourced from Paul Weston), and they feel much grabbier (in a good way) than the stock pads at even low speeds around town. And, absolutely no squealing so far. Paul suggested that they are more streetable than Pagid Orange, and the dust is not prone to adverse water interactions like the Hawk Blues. We'll see how they perform at Mid Ohio, and whether they squeal as much as my stock pads did after time at the track.

GTR 993

Anir Thanks for the info. Mine are scheduled for next Tues. I put it off due to my sons first B-day this week I am pretty excited about that and we are planning a big Birthday party for him.

I can't wait to get the PSS9's on and see how well they perform.

John H. in DC Area

Nice job Anir, and thanks for the incredibly detailed install information. Keep us posted as you experiment with the various settings, both for street and track applications. I have Eibach springs and Bilstein HD shocks and am hoping to remain satisfied with this combo, but I continue to feel the irresistible pull of the PSS-9's.

bet

Anir,

Nice write up. It sounds like you missed a perfect opportunity for more tools. You could have told your wife that you "needed" a new air compressor and impact wrench to "safely install" the better handling and accident avoidance suspension

Robert Henriksen

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by Anir:
<strong>When reinstalling the outboard nut on the rear control arm 2 (at its connection to the PSS-9), you need a torx bit and, I believe, an 18 mm open-ended wrench. Unfortunately, you are supposed to torque this nut when the car is loaded. When you do this, there is very little room to put in the torx bit / socket. Greg and I addressed this by using a Dremel to cut off most of a Torx bit, and then held the remaining Torx with a vise grip. Worked better, but we still had to remove some of the load off the wheel to gain enough access to the female torx portion of the bolt. Apparently, Porsche makes some special torx tool for this bolt. I plan to have the alignment shop torque it down to about 63 ft-lb with an impact wrench.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Great to hear it all worked out. I actually didn't know you were supposed to tighten the outer bolt of the control arm when the suspension was loaded! I do have one thought about the access problem: could you just use a floor jack against the wheel hub to compress the suspension, while the car's in the air, to get the same effect?

I did this a few times during my installation to check the sway &lt;--&gt; control arm clearance through at least a portion of the suspension travel.

Flying Finn

Nice write up Anir!

Let us know how iut flies at Mid Ohio!

I'm also intersted to know about those brake bads since I just bough a set of Hawn blues (what's the water problem? I havent' heard that before).

Thanks.

Greg Fishman

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by Flying Finn:
<strong>
I'm also intersted to know about those brake bads since I just bough a set of Hawn blues (what's the water problem? I havent' heard that before).
</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Hawk Blues are great pads, IMO. I use them on my race car. Problem is the dust is very corrosive and when you add water it can cause small rust spots on the car or wheel. I would recommend washing the car thoroughly at the end of the track day to help minimize this. I haven't really had a problem but I do keep a nice coat of wax on the car and clean the wheels promptly.

Anir's car should be great. I think we got the ride height very close. During the short ride that we took the suspension felt very nice, firm but not harsh at all. I will hold out final judgement until I get to take a few laps at Mid Ohio in it. If it is like the other 993's with this suspension I have been in, the results will be very satisfying.

rattlsnak

&gt;&gt;Ironically, one of the biggest headaches was reassembling the heater blower components. Maybe, I was just tired or numb from the 40 degree temp, but it was a PITA.&lt;&lt;

Why did you disassemble the heater components? Just to have more room? Ive done a couple of these and never had to touch the heater stuff.

Anir

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by bet:
<strong>Anir, Nice write up. It sounds like you missed a perfect opportunity for more tools. You could have told your wife that you "needed" a new air compressor and impact wrench to "safely install" the better handling and accident avoidance suspension </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Brian,

Actually, I forgot to thank you for your excellent PSS-9 posts. They helped a lot.

I am within mere inches of getting an air compressor and impact tools to "improve safety". Pretty soon, the total cost of my DIY auto tools will start to rival that of the surgical tools at my office (where one diamond dust-tipped forcep - i.e. tweezer - from Snowden Pencer can cost $300).

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by Robert Henriksen:
<strong>I do have one thought about the access problem: could you just use a floor jack against the wheel hub to compress the suspension, while the car's in the air, to get the same effect?</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Robert,

Compressing the wheel hub would create the same problem, in that a control arm moves into the space in front of the torx access. Ask us how we know?!

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by rattlsnak:
<strong>Why did you disassemble the heater components? Just to have more room? Ive done a couple of these and never had to touch the heater stuff.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">I recently installed the engine lid struts and tore my arms to shreds when trying to work in the back of the engine bay without removing the heater components. Therefore, I wanted more room for the PSS-9 install. Now, I'm not so sure which is the lesser of the two evils. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

I'm off the Cinci to get the alignment!! <img border="0" alt="[burnout]" title="" src="graemlins/burnout.gif" />

rattlsnak

&gt;&gt;I recently installed the engine lid struts and tore my arms to shreds when trying to work in the back of the engine bay without removing the heater components. Therefore, I wanted more room for the PSS-9 install. Now, I'm not so sure which is the lesser of the two evils.&lt;&lt;

I understand !!! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

Anir

Just returned from Performance Alignment in Cincinnati, and all I can say is WOW!

The PSS-9 suspension, especially when coupled with a good track-oriented alignment, represents a quantum leap forward with respect to the stock shocks and Eibach springs. I never realized how much I had to fight the car to drive it fast. Now, it's just easy - point and shoot. The ride's definitely stiff, even at 7 front / 6 rear, but less jarring and much quicker to recover from road imperfections. The steering doesn't hunt in a turn like it used to.

The ride height is pretty low: 25" to the bottom of the fender lip front and 25.25" rear (nose-down rake of 1-2 degrees).

Using a Hunter D111, the alignment settings were:

Front Camber: -1.7 L / -1.5 R
Front Caster: 5.2 L / 5.4 R
Front Toe: 0.05 L / 0.02 R
Cross Camber: -0.2
Cross Caster: -0.2
Total Toe: 0.07

Rear Camber: -2.5 L / -2.4 R
Rear Toe: 0.15 L / 0.16 R
Total Toe: 0.31
Thrust Angle: -0.01

In corner balancing, he set up 51% of the weight from front left to right rear, i.e. about 30 lbs more front left to front right, and about 60 lbs more rear left to rear right. The rationale for all of the above is that most tracks involve more right turns than left, so the car is slightly biased for this. It tracks nice and straight, and definitely handles corners much better and faster than before. However, it takes a little while to get used to the increased negative camber in straightline highway driving, since the front end tends to tramline more on really rough roads. For reference, Porsche calls for only -0.17 to -0.50 degrees of front negative camber in a street-driven car. Overall, I like the settings and look forward to trying the car out at Mid Ohio next weekend.

Bill Braucksick, the owner of Performance Alignment, personally did my car and is an interesting gentleman, to say the least. He serves on the pit crew of Champion Audi, and has been racing since the early 1970's, including all over Europe. He had a horrible crash at Paul Ricard in France that ended his professional racing career, but he still competes in SCCA Sports 2000. He did his best to convince me that I should forget SRF or Spec Miata next year, and go with Sports 2000 (or something like a Radical or Stohr sports racer). We spent a couple of hours crawling over his Doran-built carbon fiber/kevlar model that weighs 1310 lbs. Very cool. He's run a 1.06 at Putnam and a 1.27 (I believe) at Mid Ohio in it.

Interestingly, he strongly believes that PCA guys tend to run too low of pressures in our tires. To bolster his argument, he pointed out that I have significant wear on the outside shoulders of my rear tires, even though Porsche rear tires run with signficant negative camber. He feels that this is due to underinflation. The shoulders of the front tires were less affected.

He adamantly stated that I would be faster at the track if I used higher psi in the rear. He also suggested using a pyrometer (needle-type, not infrared) at the track to check temps; he suggested about 200 degrees center, 195 degrees inside edge, and 190 degrees outside edge as good values to shoot for. With my current "underinflated" set-up, he believes my temps on the outside edge will be too high.

I tried 36 / 44 on the way home, and again felt that it was way too rigid and squirrely in the back, so I stopped and took about 5-6 psi out of each rear tire. As much as I respect his opinion and experience, I just don't enjoy driving the car at 36 front / 44 rear.

Hope this litany of details helps someone out there.

Greg Fishman

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by Anir:
<strong>

Front Toe: 0.05 L / 0.02 R
Total Toe: 0.07

</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">What were these units of measurement? Millimeters or degrees?
If this is MM, I am afraid you won't have enough toe in and you will have your hands full on the track. BTDT.

Anir

Greg,

It's degrees, as are all the measurements listed in my post above. For reference, Porsche recommends min 0.00, nominal 0.04, and max 0.08 degrees for front toe, so it's within spec.

Hey, what do you think of the camber settings for combined street/track use? At -1.7 front / -2.5 rear, mine are more aggressive than some other Rennlisters' settings (e.g. Steve G with -1.0 front / -1.5 rear and Danny with -1.5 front and rear). In the factory manual, Porsche specifies -1.0 degrees front and -1 degree 20' rear for the RS. In an old post from 2001, DJ suggested, "if you want to get a little more agressive, make it zero toe in the front, and -1.75 front, and -2.0 rear camber". In the same post, Viken recommended -1.0 front and -1.25 rear.

Is the increased negative camber worth it for the improved performance in the corners? Do I just need a little time to get used to it? Bill encouraged me to stop by on the way to Mid Ohio next week if I want to tweak things.

Thanks!

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

Hi Doc:

You'll get many opinions on this subject and they are all valid so take mine with a grain,.....

Camber settings always a compromise between grip, straight-line stability, and tire wear. Everyone differs about what they can tolerate in all 3 categories so there are no single settings that are best for all. Further, the percentage of track event participation and handling expectations play a role here, as well.

Your settings are aggressive (IMHO) for a street car and unless so directed, I would not have installed as much negative front camber as you currently have. I would have used 1.0-1.2 in the front and 2.0 in the rear.

Now,.........I feel better,....

Greg Fishman

Anir,
I agree with Steve here (who would argue? ). That is on the agressive side. I should have talked to you more about it before you got it aligned. We can always adjust it at Brian's shop if we need to. To get rid of understeer you would want the front to back neg. camber to be closer together. I think you will be fine for the track and time will tell how liveable it is on the street.

At Brian's shop we always measured the toe in in terms of MM and we usually got 3-4 mm of total toe-in for the front, a little more for the rear. Any less and I found that I had a diabolical car on the track.

You may find yourself doing two alignments a year, one for the track season and one for the off-season.