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914World.com _ 914World Garage _ Front suspenion questions

Posted by: patssle Nov 5 2016, 10:09 PM

My car seems to roll and sway when turning the wheel back and forth while at speed. And I've been having problems spinning out in autocross. So I took the car to a tech friend today and he drove it to confirm it's a suspension issue and not me being a terrible driver.

I have Bilstein strut/shocks and tested the compression on them today - they seem fine needing both hands and strength to compress then popped back up slowly. Factory front sway bar bushings need to be replaced and I'm going to upgrade my tie rods to the turbo.

Bushings and ball joints are a bit more of a task to replace so I'll leave those to fix later if the issue is not resolved.

Should Bilsteins have the 3 hollow rubber springs that are in the drawings and photos I see? Mine don't have them.

I also need to check the torsion bars tomorrow as this does not look good:

Posted by: raynekat Nov 5 2016, 11:25 PM

Read your 914-6 build story, so am assuming this is the car?
Has a 3.0 liter 911 engine now?

First off there is a big difference between (out of control) spinning if that's what's happening vs "fine tuning."
Seems like you have some big issues?

First question.
What year of car, how many miles...shape of suspension in general, any recent suspension work done?

You've got a lot more weight with the 3.0 911 vs 4 cylinder VW engine, so your suspension will be stressed more.
That said, your suspension is likely worn out if it's old with lots of miles and not up to the task of taking on the extra power the 3.0 liter is making.
Over twice what your factory 4 cylinder makes.

What are your goals?
Mostly street with some auto-x/track? Serious about these?
I'll assume the former.

It is very likely that all your rubber bushings are toast at this age of your car.
So that's your rear trailing arms, the upper front strut supports, front A-arms and all the sway bars.
At the very least replace all those for a street friendly/refreshed ride.
Elephant Racing is your friend here, but it's not inexpensive.

Unlikely your front torsion bars are a problem.
Torsion bars don't generally wear out.
Your car's light and hasn't been pushed that hard in your life.
If you'd like to clean up the front torsion bar adjusters great, but probably not the source of your handling issues.

What's left?
Dampers of course.
Try a set of Bilstein HD dampers for the front and Bilstein Sport dampers for the rear.
Should really help a lot.

If you're more than a little bit serous about auto-x/track, then you'll want to upgrade the torsion bars up front and springs in the back.
Think stiffer with less roll.
Up to 21mm torsion bars up front should be livable (can go smaller, stock is 17mm so even 19mm would be an improvement) with 140-160 lb springs in the back.

A little lowering with a nice performance alignment will go a long way.
You might even start with an alignment.
If the front or especially the rear is off, you experience very weird handling.

Hope this helps....

Posted by: 914Sixer Nov 6 2016, 06:30 AM

I am seeing a problem with the way the torsion bars are adjusted. One has been run out all the way to one side, the other seems to be about in the center where it should be. You might need to soak the adjusters in PB Blaster and back them out. Bars may need to come out and be checked. Indexing may be off. Use the information in the books on ride height. I made a stick up the correct length to measure to the center of the torsion bar adjuster to the floor.

Posted by: patssle Nov 6 2016, 02:51 PM

Pulled the torsion bars - they look good. Cleaned them up and will adjust once I get the wheels back on.

Can ball joints be replaced without removing the arms or struts?

Posted by: jmill Nov 6 2016, 03:48 PM

Ball joints are actually easier to replace with the arm on the car.

Posted by: jmill Nov 6 2016, 06:09 PM

I highly recommend Rebel Racing if you replace your bushings.

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Posted by: patssle Nov 6 2016, 09:15 PM

Got the tie rods out...waiting for nice new turbo tie rod upgrades hopefully by Thursday!

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