Suspension Refresh

[GonzoBard]

I’m planning to remove the suspension from my ‘66 car over the coming Winter and have components powder coated / fixings plated etc. New rear dampers are needed but I wondered what upgrades / changes I might consider. What might others recommend? I’m generally happy with the ride, i.e. I’m not necessarily looking to firm it up, nor am I looking to lower it to ‘improve’ the stance. Any suggestions welcomed. Thanks.

[hot66]

best thing you caan do is have a proper alignment and corner weight set up once youve finished the build up. A nice compliant and predictable handling set up IMHO should be the aim.

I'm not upto date on swb suspension recomendations these days , but there is so much work on the swb race cars and rally cars some of this should have trickled down to a great fast roads set up.

[GonzoBard]

Funnily enough I was watching the Fordwater Trophy on YT this morning for the early 911s - their handling looked pretty good! Thanks

[Ollie]

Suggest some adjustable rear spring plates to make ride height and alignment easier.

https://www.rsrproducts.com/product-pag ... r-adjuster

[Hannibales]

Split bolts for the trailing arms if you haven't got them already make future removal and adjustments much easier as you don't have to drop the transmission. If you don't have them already then just cut through the old ones with a hacksaw and replace on reassembly.

Elephant Racing do some nice parts that can tighten up the feel without being harsh. I have their stock ride rubber bushes all round and am very happy with them. As a note, all the early 911s at Goodwood were running stock suspension so there's no need to go crazy by any means.

[GonzoBard]

Thanks gents, very useful.

[GonzoBard]

So new Koni rear dampers have arrived, look straight forward to fit. I’ll start by rebuilding the front suspension, then move to the rear, which looks to be more involved. The Elephant Racing bushes look good so I plan to use those.

[Sam]

Try to get a ride in an elephanted car. I’ve been in a couple that have been really hard riding, though it was a while ago and I think they probably had more than just bushes. I do very much remembering resolving at the time that standard was the answer.

[hot66]

I’ve had polybronze er. Bushes since about 2010 and find them great

[911hillclimber]

Just my 2 pence;
I have a 73T.
Rear suspension mods are simple and are
Poly bushes fitted in 1989 and are still in the aluminium arms, never been touched since 1989. 70K miles ans 13 years road hillclimbing.
Rear torsion bars are from a 3 litre Turbo, can't recall the diameter, but larger than the T's. I would keep your current rear torsion bars.
Split spring arms to aid ride height and corner weighting. Accurate corner weighting really helps the 911.
Koni adjust able dampers set 1/2 way in the damping adjuster range.

In all this i feel the alignment quality will make a bigger difference than many mods and of course the tyres.
The front is stock except for the Bilstien fixed rate dampers set by Bob Watson in 1992.

The front did have ball bearing top mounts, poly bushes etc but now all stock (new) rubber.
Did not notice any difference from all the solid pivots to rubber bushes except quieter.

Steering rack is stock with turbo track rod arms.
Anti roll bars are 2.7 RS spec. which required mounts to be welded to the rear shell and front arms as per factory.

Momo steering wheel, 13" makes speed driving nice, parking heavy but worth it.

If a simple road car is your direction I would go stock parts all in perfect condition, alignment done by an early 911 specialist and nice correct sized tyres for the rims.

Just my take on my 33 years with the car.

[SeanP]

Be aware that SWB front suspension is very different to LWB suspension. You cannot use LWB turbo tie rods on a SWB rack. You find that the SWB rack is shorter than a LWB rack and you will run out of adjustment before you get it aligned. There is a work around using Rover 214 tie rods.
Also the bushes on the A arms are different along with the ball joints.
Be careful using stiffer torsion bars as a 912 is lighter than a 911. What works in a 911 might not work in a 912

[GonzoBard]

Thanks gents. I hadn’t planned on changing torsion bars. I had noted that all the solid tie-bars I had seen were for LWB cars, rather than SWB cars, so may choose to stick with what I have. I’m aiming for a well-handling road car, so not really aiming for anything much over OEM. The ER a-arm bushes appeared to be a better design than others, but then realised it was LWB bushes I was looking at, the SWB bushes are different. Interestingly I recently removed the steering wheel that came with the car twenty years ago to find it was a 914 wheel. I replaced it with a wheel in better condition, only subsequently to realise it was a larger, original spec wheel (400 or 420mm, can’t remember which). Funnily enough I much prefer the original spec wheel! Not cool, I realise, but hey.

[GonzoBard]

On the tie rods Sean, are you replacing the Porsche tie rod ball joint with the Rover ball joint? The Rover ball joint looks to have a longer threaded section?

[SeanP]

On the tie rods Sean, are you replacing the Porsche tie rod ball joint with the Rover ball joint? The Rover ball joint looks to have a longer threaded section?

Yes Rover tie rod porsche ball joint. Last time I looked the Rover tie rods were £14 each.
You could buy a pair from elephant racing if you feel flush!

[GonzoBard]

Thanks. See what you mean about flush ER tie rods.