wombat7

I just got an 84 NA 944 which will be my daily driver as well as my autoX car. I found sway bars from a 951 that i can get for a good price. Do you guys think this would make a big difference in handling in the car?

Z-man

Yes, it will help, especially the rear sway bar. But be careful: depending on the sanctioning body, you may get bumped up a class or two.

For example, in SCCA, a stock 944 n/a runs in E-Stock (ES) class. (Some of the competition in ES: Miata 1.6, RX-7 n/a, Toyota MR2 n/a, Dodge GLH Turbo, Fiat X1/9, Pontiac Fiero V6) If you install a rear 951 sway bar on, that bumps you into C-Street Prepared class (CSP), where you will have a harder time competing! (Some of the competition in CSP: Acura Integra Type R, BMW M3 (E30) & Z3, Honda CRX, Mazda Miata & RX7, Toyota MR2 (n/a) -- and all of these will have some suspension changes!)

Just my $0.42,
-Z-man.

wombat7

how much difference is there btw the 951 sway bar and the 944 sway bar?

Z-man

I swapped my 16mm rear sway bar (stock for a 944S2) with a 19mm 968 M030 sway bar and there was a notable difference.

-Z.

jim944s2

there were a few options for 951s, this link is a good one to keep (for a lot of other info too). http://www.924.org/techsection/10suspension.htm
In my opinion, a auto-x alignment is necessary, much moreso than sway bars for auto-x.

Race Bred

You can get new struts and a front sway bar and still stay in stock class correct? Would that upset the balance of the car or would it be a worthwhile mod. Sorry for the highjack but it is somewhat on topic.

Z-man

Race Bred: getting a bigger sway bar for the front won't help you at autocross: it will exaggerate our cars tendency towards understeer. BTW: that's why it's a 'free mod' in SCCA stock classes: it won't help you much at all!

Regarding struts: check the rule book (Click here).
Hope that answers your questions....
-Z-man.

PedalFaster

Just to nitpick -- front sway bars can make a huge difference for some cars. You shouldn't even bother showing up to an autocross in the car I drive, a Honda S2000, unless you've got a big aftermarket bar -- I run a 1.25" solid piece.

I don't know specifics about 944 setup, but a bigger front bar isn't necessarily a bad thing, even in a car that pushes. A bigger front bar will make the car respond more quickly and be more manageable in fast transitions and slaloms. You might gain more time in those sections with a big bar than you'd lose due to steady-state push in sweeping corners, especially since you can tune out the push to some extent with alignment, tire sizes, and pressures.

For what it's worth, the fastest SCCA 924 driver in the country, Glen Hernandez (multiple trophy winner at Nationals), ran a big custom front bar on his 924S.

Last but not least, I should mention that I have a 951 front sway bar for sale. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMESUS%3AIT

Steve

M758

Well a big front bar will cause understeer. Maybe you can dial it out with other things, but this really only works well in an SCCA autocross enviroment. For a given set of rules you maximize the car for those rules.

So you may very well be right, but for road use I't is far better to run a proper rear bar to match the front one and get the aligment settings right.

I run my stock 83 944 in autcross and actually have found to be quite well balanced. This weekend I pull the spare tire and jack for the first time. Man the car rotated very nicely. To nice in fact and I spent time controlling the oversteer. Then I put the tire back in and that planted the rear some and I had the perfect balance to the car. Very nice and I was reward with Top time on street tires. I was quite happy with that!

PedalFaster

Yup, I can't argue with that -- I should clarify that my comments are specific to SCCA Stock rules. People who run in Stock do strange things with sway bars and shocks in order to compensate for soft stock springs and the inability to change the rear bar.

What the original poster should do depends on where their priorities lie, and what set of rules they're running under.

Steve

Z-man

Steve & all:
Dr. Jupeman and I were discussing this recently, and he came up with an observation: If the car one is working with has a lot of understeer and a thick stock front sway bar, then perhaps a solution is to replace it with a thinner bar. That would give the handling the same effect as getting a thicker rear sway bar. Of course, there would be some more body lean, but who cares what the body is doing as long as the car's handling better!

Interesting thought,
-Z-man.