Centregravity and Chris Franklin

Alex Postan · Oct 1, 2008

I have just used Chris to do a full set up on my 2.7. It took a whole day and cost quite a lot of money (more than a monkey for you Londoners) but I can thoroughly recommend his service to you all.
He will talk you through what he does (and tell you his life history, but fortunately that's quite interesting) and give you the set up that you want.
Most importantly, he has the best equipment out there (Beissbarth and Intercomp) and is used to doing Porsches.
The car drove like a dog before and now does what it should in the way it should.

nathan 1981 930 G50 · Oct 1, 2008

Was stuff seized or was it just that everything needed tweaking?

911hillclimber · Oct 2, 2008

Seems any full or part set-up takes for ages on an old 911, even with the split rear arms. Setting the rear by 'splitting' the spline numbers on the first 911's must be a nightmare.

Bob Watson spent ages on mine years ago, did the corner weights etc.

The difference was simply astounding on the road and quite unbelievable on the track when rapidly changing direction.
There is a danger of the car being set too low though I think in the persuit of stability that spoils the fun on the road.

In the end I had him set the front crossmember high enough to take the height of my small hydraulic jack I take to hillclimbs.

Now perfect.

When you find a good specialist, stay with them and tell everyone!

Graham.

Alex Postan · Oct 2, 2008

ORIGINAL: nathan 1981 930 G50

Was stuff seized or was it just that everything needed tweaking?

No, it is all free and coppaslipped everywhere - Chris didn't waste any time freeing things off. Following an accident repair and then some attention from well meaning experts, every wheel was pointing in a different direction and carrying a different weight. A complete widowmaker.
Bob W is a tremendous guy but good as he is, he doesn't have the Beissbarth equipment (or he didn't last year!). What is so good about the kit and when it is used on a dedicated lift, is that each wheel sensor talks to the main ecu by wireless and the ecu then can send a read out to a laptop. The net effect is that the operator can wriggle about inside the suspension making changes that will show up with an immediate reading for all four wheels as adjustments are made. Uncanny magic.

oliver · Oct 2, 2008

Any idea what equipment the OPCs use, for comparison?

38F3E1 · Oct 2, 2008

It's the results that count not the equipment in the workshop IMO.

Ian.

Edited to say that's not directed at your question Oliver but the posts above on the two different approaches. We must have posted at the same time.

Alex Postan · Oct 2, 2008

OPCs should also use Beissbarth kit but I doubt if they have the load pads for corner weight. I am not sure that OPCs are the right place to take an oldie. Having seen Chris using his stuff I doubt that an OPC would be as experienced as a guy who does nothing else than set up cars. OPC would be on at you to buy new this and new that and I doubt if they would stray from the safety first "what if a granny was to drive it?" H&S settings. Chris will do you a set up to suit your own requirements.

nathan 1981 930 G50 · Oct 4, 2008

When I enquired to my OPC approx 7 years ago, they were going to take my car to the local BMW dealership. Of course they only told me this after I reminded them that my car does not leave my sight...
Needless to say I declined and took my car to some people that build race cars from scratch.
And yes, what a difference [8D]

911hillclimber · Oct 4, 2008

My hillclimb Impreza was set=up by Powerstation using this advanced gear, dedicated ramp etc.
The results were great and checked chassis alignment and the whole job was done in 2 hours (major set-up)

Bob still uses the 'old skool' way I think, but the results showed. But the time does show in the bills too.
Car to share the alignment details at all? I can't remeber what Bob dialed into mine now, but would be in his filing cabinet somewhere.(as opposed to a lap top?)

nathan 1981 930 G50 · Oct 5, 2008

I wish I'd have recorded what my angles were. But, IIRC I went for Camber 1.1 on the rear 0.1 on the front. Max castor which was the max tolerance. Toe stock.
Seems to be a good compromise for me.

911hillclimber · Oct 5, 2008

Interesting.

iirc: Bob set the rear and front a bit more neg than that, certainly the rear looks far more closer to 2.5.
I found the max caster made the steering a bit wooden compared to stock, but very very little understeer in the dry. Maybe the best bit is that the front end does not bob up and down which so many 911's seem to on a hillclimb as well as a track. The damping (custom Bilstein damping rates by Bob) must be just right.
My Impreza was 3 deg neg all round and 7 caster, but the camber was backed off to 1.5 for using crossply slicks as opposed to road tyres.

Alex Postan · Oct 5, 2008

I wanted a road/rally/race setup and so we ended up with:
Max castor at front, 1 degree camber and 7 minutes toe in
Rear 2 degrees negative and 8 minutes toe in
I have thicker anti roll bars (forgotten sizes) standard front torsion bars and 26 mm rear torsion bars. Billies all round, can't find the bill for the front dampers.