944 Turbo; Suspension Upgrade

[Guest]

Hi everyone,
I'm new to the forum but have been a PCGB member since I bought my
car in Sept 2000.
I want to upgrade the suspension for use at the Nurburgring which I visit
2 or 3 times a year plus UK trackdays occasionally.
My car was registered Sept 1990 and is standard apart from Cup wheels.
Does anyone have any advice or experience on this subject?

Regards
John

 

[Fen]

Hi John,

Is it a bridge spolier car or the last of the rubber spoiler ones? I ask because that makes the difference between having Koni Adjustables (rubber spoiler) or Boge/Sachs (I think) non-adjustables. Either way I'd say you want to replace or rebuild but if you have the Konis then you are off to a head start.

Next question is budget. Nothing is going to be cheap but if you want change from £1,000 then your option is to rebuild Konis. Another additional change that is getting popular is 968 M030 Anti-roll bars. They come it at around £330 inclusive of VAT and bushes I believe. You also want to fit 968 castor mounts to more securely locate the back of the wishbone.

My car is a late 1990 also (bridge spoiler) and I am going to replace the suspension completely. Initially I considered Leda but I have heard a small amount (but enough) bad press about them (knocking, wearing out quickly etc.) that I'm now leaning toward KW. As well as being easily bump and rebound adjustable (Konis only adjust for rebound and the rears have to come off to adjust them) they are stainless steel and the rears have coil springs also allowing much greater tailoring of the rear end settings. Obviously they are fully height adjustable for corner weighting. I also admit to being beguiled by Weltmeister anti-roll bars although I have yet to investigate if they are better driving than the 968 M030 set-up as well as sexier looking.

If you want to go further then Powerflex now do 968 bushes which will fit our cars and there are some uber-sexy things kile Charley Arms which are billet replacement wishbones. At a guess you could spend the cars value on suspension if you wanted to, without having to try too hard.

HTH

 

[John Sims]

Hi John,

Welcome to the forum.

As Fen has said, upgrades are all a question of money. Your choice may also be guided but what requires replacing due to wear and tear and what traits the car has that you want to dial out.

Beaky, my Turbot, looked horrible when I saw pictures of him going around Copse Corner, I could have parked my Freelander under the inside wheel arches, so I had to reduce roll, I also wanted to reduce understeer. This being the case, I went for 968 M030 anti roll bars - great mod very happy. I also put on a strut brace.

As noted in other threads, Beaky tends to track on uneven road surfaces, so 968 camber bushes were bought to the party. He still tracks so, perhaps, we need to look at polybushes.

As also noted, I have had the geometery checked a couple of times but I'm still not happy. Based on this, I think I would be inclined to take the car to a respected suspension specialist, get him to set it up and he will tell you want needs to be looked at. Better this than pour money into areas that don't need changing.

 

[Diver944]

Echo all the above. I recently had my front adjustable M030 Konis rebuilt by Sportsline in Brackley 01280 702633 for £300 including removal, refitment and a geometry alignment. A straight rebuild if you send them the shocks is £75 each. They can convert to double adjustable for bump and rebound at extra cost. New rear adjustable Konis are approx £60 each from Porsche and are a bargain.

Koni also do an insert for the Boge shocks if you have a later car or S2. Full details and step by step instructions are at http://www.paragon-products.com/

The Konis are noticeable stiffer than the Boge (I have new Boge on my S2) but are still very compliant on the road. I think they are an excellent setup for the Ring where too stiff becomes problematical.

 

[Big Dave]

Suspension......

If you after any powerflex bushes , give the link below a try,

http://www.968uk.com/performance-modifications.htm

Stu has just become a supplyer of these lovely bits of "plastic"
They arent up on the web site yet as its brand new but give him a call + im sure he,ll sort you out.....
He can also give you costs on KW stuff etc......
Tell him Big Dave sent you....[][]

BUT if you or any body else is after a pair of front adj KONI struts from a 944 turbo , i have a pair for sale...
They have only been on the car for aprox 5000miles....as new....[ strut bodies + inserts only ] no springs or spring plates...
PM me if interested....

 

[944Turbo]

John,
The front wishbone bushes could be knackered as well, mine were pretty poor so I put some weltmeister ones in, they were cr*p and fell apart so I made some new ones from delrin or similar (whatever machinable hard plasticy stuff my brother was throwing out from work).
Tony

 

[944Turbo]

Oh and I have just bought some Ledas I went for the non-coil over rears, KW look good but at over twice the price and with ledas rebuildable I couldn't justify it.
Tony

 

[Fen]

ORIGINAL: 944Turbo

Oh and I have just bought some Ledas I went for the non-coil over rears, KW look good but at over twice the price and with ledas rebuildable I couldn't justify it.
Tony

Extrapolating from the 20% reduction group buy Leda price (over £900 IIRC) and the non-group buy price I have been quoted for KW then there is less than a couple of hundred pounds difference and the Ledas concerned were not the top of the line ones whereas the KWs are the best (variant 3).

 

[944Turbo]

Thats a good price for KW's then!
Ledas were 30% off and non coil over rears bought the price in around £800 (emulsified) with vat and delivery.
KW's when I looked at them a while back were more than double that.
KW's have a good reputation amongst some picky golf owners I know.
Tony

 

[lali]

Fen,

Do mind if I ask how much you have been quoted for your KW set up? The guys that look after my S2 also run cars in the Porsche Open Cup and they are trying to convince me that I should go the Leda way.... but Im still looking at options.

Lali

 

[Davyboy]

My car is living at the ring this year with Leda and 968 ARBs.

.....so I guess I should throw my hat in the pot.

I have Leda - its "OK" had a few problems with rattles, but nothing an angle grinder and a spacer should not fix - but I should not need to be doing that!

With any rear coil over you are going to have problems with ride height......that I can assure you.

If I was doing it again - I would order the Bilstien Escort kit from Paragon products.

Dave

 

[lali]

So whats so good about the Bilstien Escort stuff?

 

[Fen]

From my understanding "Escort" was the race series in the US and as such Escort parts (clutches, suspension etc.) are modified within the regulations of that series. I have always assumed that it was a fairly stock series like the UK 944 Turbo championship hence the parts may not be especially radical. Add to that the fact the series was a good number of years ago and it won't be cutting edge technology either. I could be wrong in some fundamental assumptions there though.

The Bilstein kit to have os PSS9 I believe, but they don't do it for the 924/944/968 chassis.

 

[Diver944]

I think Dave is referring to the fact that the Bilsteins are a straight bolt-on (he's had a number of fitment issues with the Ledas [] ). All sorted now, and the Ledas are mightily adjustable from soft and compliant to 'wheres my dentist' []

 

[frogisland]

I have the Bilstein Escort set-up (with 475# front/400# rear springs) - albeit on my 968. Very happy with it - i like the simplicity (and bullet-proof reliability) of it - with no bump/rebound adjustability. With the 030 bars, the car rides VERY flat around corners.

Would say that it is the absolute limit for the road (and on bad A roads it can get hairy at speed - 2 handed steering needed at times)

For mainly road and occasional track i would perhaps go for the KW system.